For once I seem to have got it right
Thought I would share with everyone what I have been upto over the past week. I had a paper to present at a conference in Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo for those who don't know) and was travelling out (24hr+ journey with 5 flights) on Thursday morning. Got a text at 5am from BA saying my flight (Man-LHR) was cancelled - no details so i decided to get my mum to take me straight to the airport to see if there was an earlier flight (at that point I didn't know everything was cancelled). Chaos and no info at Manchester airport but as she was driving I was looking up train times on the internet (hurrah for smart phones) - there was a train at 6.11 which got into Euston at 8.15 - no other options so I reckoned it was worth a try. Arrived Euston, jumped a cab to Paddington then the Heathrow Express. Arrived at Heathrow at 9.15 for a noon departure to Kuala Lumpur. At check in I was told to be at the gate early as the airport was closing so we might need to leave early. Arrived in KL (to be greeted by texts from head of Dept saying too bad I got caught up in the disruption and could they get me on a flight tomorrow!) on time made my three domestic connections and arrived at the conference venue very tired, very jet lagged, very bedraggled after a 28 hour journey but I MADE IT.
Needless to say most of the Europeans (not very many - mainly Aussies) were addicted to CNN (since net access was £8 per hour or part of an hour and was soooooooooo slow we didn't bother) and phoning home for updates. Had a great conference - loads of ideas to develop, some great contacts who are potential interviewees and an amazing location (a World Heritage Site in the rainforest only accessible by river (6 days) or 30 minute flight (which restricts the number of visitors).
Left the conference venue this morning for the start of the journey home - because connections were not great I decided to break journey in KL for 2 nights so am due to leave on Friday night. Looks like I will be one of the lucky ones as I have a reservation for then and flights have now resumed. Fingers crossed.
My heart does go out to everyone who is stranded though.
