Escape from Heathrow Hell

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:46:50 -0500

This tale is getting published about a month later than I had anticipated, but I figure everyone likes listening to a good yarn of travel woe, so here it is.

Like most disasters, this one started out with a quiet whimper buried amidst the lull of complacency. True, I had checked the BBC the day before, and the headline story was about “severe weather disruptions” and cancelled flights at London’s airports due to snowfall. However, the amount of snow that had fallen (4-5″) was piddling by North American standards, and the article seemed to indicate that everything would be functioning normally by the next day. And so, I happily hopped on a flight out of Turin to London, where I would transfer to a connecting flight to New York. I was returning “home,” whatever that word meant after seven months of expat life in Italy. In Turin, British Airways staff boarded the flight with nary a hint of distress. Naturally, while we were in the air, my connecting flight out of London was cancelled.

Winter in Italy

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:12:35 -0500

Today I woke to find that everything was covered in a pristine blanket of fluffy, white snow. It was the first snowfall of the season in Bra.

Townspeople gather to read town notices on the bulletin board outside the church.

In Italy, umbrellas are commonly used by pedestrians to shield themselves from falling snow.

Playgrounds were hushed, save for the padding of dogs walking their masters.

Snow on adventures of an omnomnomnivore in NYC

Escape from Heathrow Hell

Winter in Italy