So, our flight left at 1:45 and Alia & I decided to get to Heathrow 2 hours beforehand, a relatively generous amount of time for intra-European flights. We were going to take the Heathrow Express at 11:25 and arrive at 11:45, a perfect two hours & a great plan. Well.... we decided to meet at Paddington Station at 11:10 AM and Alia was nowhere to be found. She eventually showed up on the Heathrow Express platform exactly at 11:25, when the train was just pulling away. Apparently she had been caught up in something and was late taking the tube to Paddington. We weren't worried though since the next train left at 11:40 and we would make it to the airport at 12 PM, an hour and 45 minutes beforehand (which is cutting it slightly close, but still do-able).
We arrive at Heathrow. No big problems with the train, we arrive at departures at 12 PM. I had already checked in and only brought carry on luggage, but Alia had a large suitcase that needed to be checked since she was continuing on her 6 week Eurotrip. She couldn't check in for some reason so we had to seek help to get her checked in...now it's 12:15. I was starting to get a little worried since I know Heathrow security lines can be TERRIBLE but Alia told me to relax and that we had plenty of time.
Welll.... apparently throughout Terminal 5, the luggage conveyer belts stopped working and they couldn't move checked baggage to whatever magical place they did to scan, sort and then transport baggage to the airplane. So there were MASSIVE lines by each bag drop and we had no choice but to get in line and wait. After waiting in line for 30 minutes, it was 12:45 and some lady told us that if our flight was within the next hour, we should get out of line and see some other British Airways person. When we went to see that lady, she was so incredibly rude and unhelpful and said she had no idea why we were sent to her and told us to get back in line. We had no choice so we cut back into our original spot to wait. I went to ask someone if the flight would wait for us since EVERYONE was backed up and the guy said sorry, all flights are leaving on time. Right about now, Alia is freaking out and being super anxious. After another 20 minutes, we finally reached the counter and the man working told us he wasn't sure if Alia's suitcase would make it on to the suitcase. No worries I said, let's just get our bodies into Paris and they can deliver the suitcase if necessary.
It's around 1:15 now and we rush to security. Luckily for us, they opened up all the security lines and we got through security in about 3 minutes. Wheeeee, except my carry on was flagged and the guy removed everything from my bag! Literally completely emptied it out, took out all my clothes, underwear & apologizing while going through my delicates.. Apparently I accidentally left a small hand cream and they took it out and said I was good. Now it's about 1:25 and me & Alia throw all my stuff back into my bag and make a break for the gate. We get there on time and board the flight....
Alia's almost praying to get her suitcase on the plane but we're happy that at least we still made the flight. The flight was only 45 minutes and we get to Paris a bit before 3 PM. When we got to the baggage claim, only one suitcase came out. Alia's reallllllyyy praying now for her suitcase but after waiting for 30 minutes, NO suitcases come out of the belt. I told her she should ask if her bags actually made it because if not, we could just leave and not wait around. She asked and the lady working said that her bag was probably here. So we decided to wait... and wait.... and wait.. an hour later, still NO bags have come out and the people at baggage are almost rioting. They told us that the belt wasn't working & the people asked why they wouldn't move to another claim and the workers were just on the phone jabbering away in French.
Eventually, after an hour and a half of waiting, we found out that EVERYONE'S checked baggage was still in London and never made it out of Heathrow. Which totally makes sense since we knew Heathrow's baggage system was down... but apparently there must have been some kind of miscommunication and France had no idea what was going on. So, everyone with checked baggage, including Alia, had to fill out a delivery form & we're going to continue with our Paris plans and wait for them to call.. ugh
Now we head off to the train from the airport to the apartment that we're staying at, sans Alia's suitcase. It's about 10 euros for a ticket and the train that we get on is SO HOT, has no AC, and has soooo many people. The 30 minute ride into Paris was absolutely miserable and when we pulled into Gare du Nord, we were almost run over by the herd of people trying to get ON the train. Alia pushed her way through the crowd and I followed. Once at Gare du Nord, there were so many people EVERYWHERE and everyone was just running into us and we were like oh god please don't let us get pickpocketed.
We make it outside and we are so confused because the lady whose apartment we're renting gave us really sparse directions but eventually, with hand motions, some french and a kind old French man, we found our place. At this point we've been traveling from 11 AM- 6:30 PM and are absolutely pooped... our plans of going on the Seine river tour and the Louvre are just shot & we'll just reschedule to some other night.
hoping tomorrow's a much much better day :)
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