Day 8: April 19-Kraków to Home

I slept in a bit this morning, but did one final walk-through of the city and the Market Square before heading to the airport. The train leaves right from platform #1 of the train station (the closest one to the mall entrance), and there's a ticket vending machine right next to it.

The biggest issue to face today was the transfer in London. Not the airplane transfer, mind you, but the airport transfer. I land in Gatwick and take off from Heathrow. Many AA and BA flights (they are alliance partners) connect in this fashion and they have the wise idea to call them connecting flights. It is up to you to pay for transportation between the two. I knew there was a bus which is the cheapest option -- at almost $40 thanks to our exchange rate.

From my earlier reading, most people recommend a five-hour connecting time in order to comfortably make it, while the airlines' site says a minimum of three. I had just under 3 1/2. Every second would count, and things would have to work perfectly.

The BA flight from Kraków (737) took off a bit late, in fact almost a half hour late. All the flights up until now "made up the time" in the air, but on this one, they announced that the flight time would be exactly what was stated, i.e. we'd land late. Rather than worry about making the next flight, I resigned myself to staying in London until the next day; things could be worse!

We landed, and as I was near the front of the plane, I got off first and began running to the terminal to catch the bus. It wasn't so much a run the entire way, but a fast walk using the people movers whenever possible. Customs was pretty quick, as most people were in the UK passport holders' line. I went through the "nothing to declare" and right out into the main airport. If you ever have to make this transfer, there are signs at Gatwick saying "Heathrow" and pointing you in the general direction of the exit. Not all directional signs include the Heathrow arrow, but enough do that I think it would be hard to go the wrong way.

The National City bus desk was open and there wasn't a line. I bought the ticket, and they had us wait in a small area for about five or ten minutes. Then the guy came in, took our tickets, and we boarded. There were only about ten people. It started out well; if I had needed to pick up luggage, I would have missed this bus.

The ride was uneventful; good, as it is just over an hour, with no traffic. Had this been an hour or two later, the rush hour traffic would have slowed us. Also, there was a major bottlneck in the motorway in the other direction, but ours was smooth sailing for the most part. It was nice seeing the English countryside (relatively); I will have to visit here again soon.

The bus pulls into Heathrow, and first drops off at terminal 4. Most of the people got off their; I was going to terminal 3. The bus actually goes to the "central bus depot" which is where you get off for terminals 1,2, and 3 and then walk underground. The ride between 4 and the bus depot was incredibly long, going through many roundabouts and generally crawling along. Heathrow is giant.

Departing the bus depot, I ran again to T3. Because BA couldn't print my onward boarding pass from Kraków (maybe because it was an AA flight overseas?) I had to go to the AA desk and check in, again. The line was very short; no problem. Things were going well....

Then I hit security. It was probably the longest of the security lines so far, but not terrible -- maybe 15 minutes. Here, they made me consolidate bags -- even though I considered the day pack a personal item, they limited you to only one carry-on of anything. No problem, as that's what I packed for.

After security, there was another separate line where you took off your shoes for X-ray.

Then it was passport control -- another quick stop.

Then you get to the concourse and gates where flights bound for the U.S. are. Now this is ridiculous: they have signs saying that behind this security, there are NO services and NO restroom! So I hit the restroom and went through the third security line at the airport and had my passport looked over again.

I had made it ... with about ten minutes to spare. The plane (777) loaded on time. And great news -- it was less than half full. In fact, I think it was maybe 35-40% full if i had to guess. My assigned seat was next to another guy's assigned seat...so after the flow of passengers seemed to end, I got up and moved to the back cabin. Lots of people were already spreading around, but I finally got a seat on the aisle in the center section. The only other person in that row and section was on the other aisle. The flight attendants then announced that everyone was on board. Yes!

The flight home was enjoyable as I watched a movie on my screen and had another screen next to me to flip through. The flight attendants were obviously in a good mood and served us a round of free drinks.

We landed on time in Chicago, and as usual the flight to St. Louis (the last one of the day) was completely full in an old 757. I got to Lambert and took the Metrolink home, transferring at Forest Park.

I threw my laundry in the basket, took a shower, and then...played around on the internet for a while. It was late and I was tired, but glad to make it home in one piece and on time.