This is: Vietnam 2010
Having slipped effortlessly into the final day of the trip, it was finally time to make for the gate and get on my way for Frankfurt.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
A bit of an incident occurred while I was passing through Security at Frankfurt. I'd forgotten to put some insect spray in my case while packing and ended up carrying it in my hand luggage. It was confiscated in Frankfurt, as it bore the prominent, bolded inscription HIGHLY FLAMMABLE and I was advised that it shouldn't even be travelling in checked baggage. I had to admit that they did seem to have a point. What made the situation ludicrous, however, was that the offending item had been purchased two weeks previously, airside at Edinburgh Airport and had since travelled on eight flights.
That little drama concluded, I soon found my way to the Senator Lounge allocated to the non-Schengen B gates and instantly recognised it from at least one previous trip. I indulged in a few nibbles and experienced a strange feeling at one point when a glance out of the window revealed a Vietnam Airlines 777 being towed off-stand.
In due course, it was time to go down to the usual bus gate, where it soon became obvious that all was not well. Eventually we were told that Edinburgh Airport was closed due to snow and that they were awaiting further news of a possible re-opening. There were many relieved-looking faces in the gate area when the news eventually came. We were transferred by bus and were soon boarding our aircraft, which most unusually was an Airbus A319 rather than a Boeing 737. As I took my seat in the sparsely populated Business cabin, I consoled myself with the thought that the delay wasn't so bad after all. Hand luggage was stowed, seat belts were fastened, 'Boarding Complete' was announced, and then came the bombshell: Edinburgh Airport was closed again and the flight was now cancelled.
We were bussed back to the terminal, where I struck up a conversation with a fellow-passenger, whom I had earlier overheard saying that he was doing contract work and that we shared the same Edinburgh-based client. After a bit of a run-around, I got myself re-ticketed via London Heathrow. Obviously there were no guarantees of making it to Edinburgh that day, but at least it was a move in the right direction.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
I went through the usual transfer procedures at Heathrow's Terminal 1 and soon found myself in the thoroughly familiar territory of the London Room, now feeling seriously tired. Although bmi's domestic programme was experiencing severe weather-inflicted disruption, my flight was called on time.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
I had eventually made it back to my home airport! Perhaps not surprisingly, however, my checked bag had not been blessed with the same good fortune. I filed a report, confident that it would turn up eventually at my front door. (Note: it did.) My journey, however, was far from over: I still had 35 miles to drive in adverse conditions. Once I had completed the unpleasant job of getting my car into a driveable state with unprotected hands, 90% of the journey proceeded easily enough, until I exited the motorway just outside my home town. Conditions immediately deteriorated dramatically and it became clear that local roads had not been treated at all. I drove the last three or four miles at about 15mph and in as high a gear as the car could stand, but it was a hair-raising finale to my long trek. I cursed whoever it was that invented roundabouts as every unnecessary turn, even at low speed and with the gentlest of driving technique, caused the car to indulge in a desire to go off in a direction contrary to the one I intended. With about one mile left to go, I had resigned myself to the inevitability of hitting something.
Somehow or other, though, I made it home in one piece and even coaxed the car into my drive and safely off those treacherous roads. I'd finally made it through a pretty but dangerous winter wonderland scene, nine hours late but safe and sound. The steamy heat of Saigon, sitting by the river in Hoi An at sunset, a beach barbeque in Ha Long Bay, the incessant purr of the motorbike and a sea of smiling, friendly faces - it all seemed like another world.