Glamorous travelling
Categories: Personal Life
Written By: James
We recently had to fly from England to Rotterdam and then obviously back again. And as much as we all tend to think that the process of flying is exciting and glamorous, in reality, it is anything but enjoyable. Those few fleetings moments of pleasure as the plane takes off, turns in the air and lands again are all encompassed in hours of waiting, mixing with tiresome and rude people, and having to spend far too much on basic requirements such as food and liquid.
And as anyone who has travelled in recent years will confirm, the security measures and the longer waiting times as a result, are just about enough to make us stop travelling altogether. A one hour flight turns into 5 hours if not longer. Arrive at the airport 2 hours ahead of the actual flight time, line up for check-ins [and wait], go through customs and be treated like criminals [and wait], go the departure gates and be treated like sheep going through a dip [and wait]. It’s not a pleasant experience.
The security checks are a farce too. I was told to open my bag and remove the dangerous substances. What dangerous substances I asked. Turns out I had made a mistake and left my recently purchased [and very expensive] water bottle in my bag and not declared it. It was thrown in the bin marked dangerous items! Then, back through the scanner and arms in the air, belt off and I am given a quick touch up as they check me for more dangerous items on my person. Ever tried hold ing your hands in the air as your trousers start to slide down because you have had to remove your belt - all in front of hundreds of onlookers? Oh yes, it’s fun, let me assure you.
Finally, after hours and hours of all this waiting and then the flight, you arrive at an airport such as Leeds-Bradford in Yorkshire. The flight is 10 minutes early and as it is already getting late in the evening, everyone is tired and just want to go home and climb into bed. But wait [pun], there’s more waiting in store. In the backyard operation they like to call an international airport, you are not allowed to leave the plane until the buses arrive to take you the 500 metres to the terminal. Only trouble is, no-one seems to have told the bus driver [yes only one bus for over 200 people] we are here, and so we wait again. Tempers begin to fray, people are starting to show their agitation and there are constant calls from the ladies and gentlemen in security outfits for everyone to turn off their mobile phones and behave as good sheep do in these experiences.
So after all this waiting we are eventually allowed into the airport and you guessed it - another queue - only this one is huge and it’s hardly moving. So you count every tile on the floor, put up with the person behind who seems to think that pushing you in the back will make you go faster, and you stretch your neck and try to see what the hell can be holding up everyone when only two planes have arrived in the last hour. And it is the security procedures again. Just three faceless morons on the customs terminals who are loving every single minute of their moments of power as they scan your passport and stare you in the eye as if they are the right hand of God Him/Herself.
Let me blunt here! Honest but blunt! Leeds-Bradford Airport is a joke. Rather than make your journey an enjoyable experience, the procedures and lack of organisation is a nightmare and thy seem to delight in making it all so very, very bad. This is not based on only this experience either as we have seen it again and again. Any further travel for us will most likely involve driving to a further away airport just to avoid this whole Leeds-Bradford nightmare.
And the biggest shock after all these hours of travelling? We walked out of the departure gates to be greeted by a whole different race of people. I actually looked up to see if I was actually in England. Maybe it is time to move on and journey to other lands again soon after all..
