An Easter return to the Isle of Man COMPLETED 5/10 About This Page:

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Not much you can do about it! Too bad the vouchers weren't going to help much in the way of snacks. They need to update the value for today's costs!

I know, right? It was like "thanks for the gesture, but actually it's totally meaningless in reality..."

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

What a fiasco with the fog and the flights! Unfortunately, you really can't do anything about it. Seems like things are improving and hope your flight gets out soon. Sorry to hear that you weren't feeling well and the overally experience at the hotel wasn't that great! Especially with the bath towels!

Oh that was just crazy...

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Pris

I can't believe how nice that hotel looked only to have one towel in the room and such poor soundproofing!

I know. I think that was the worst thing, as I'd admired it quite a few times, thinking it must be wonderful to stay there, and sadly it's not.

[Colexis Mom]

How frustrating!

[chezp]

Monday 6 April – part two: “holding overhead”…

When I got back into the terminal building, our flight had been told to go through to the departure gate, which we took to be a good sign, so we headed through security, this time clearing the queue that had built up, thanks to Barb.

We grabbed some seats, only to hear the dreaded words that our flight was “holding overhead” because of the weather. Oh please let it land! If it lands, we can go home… so close, but still yet so far…

And that’s exactly how it turned out to be… Our plane circled above us for an hour, before diverting back to Gatwick. In fairness, they kept our plane out here the longest, as there was another one for Gatwick, and that got diverted back to Gatwick about a quarter of an hour earlier. We were told by the people at the gate that the priority was trying to get those of us home who’d already had to spend an extra night here. We did hear our plane try to make a landing, but it had to pull up at the last minute.

After that, the fog came back down again, and we all knew what was coming next, and sure enough, a few minutes later, surprisingly enough, we heard that our flight had diverted back to Gatwick as well.

We were told to wait until 2:30pm for a “logistics” announcement, and the members of staff told us that they thought they’d try everything to get us home. Well, I guess there was nothing else they could do, as just after 2:30pm, we heard the flight had been cancelled, which is what we’d all been expecting.

I immediately ran off to the check-in desks, and was near the top of the queue, but unfortunately they decided that people had to go to the information desk instead. Thankfully I spotted Mark and he managed to get in line.


Just to give you an idea, this was the line an hour and a half later!

Now the panic started, as until we had rebooked a flight with EasyJet, they wouldn’t sort out any accommodation for us. Thank goodness Mark was in that line. I tried to get on to their website, which was a nightmare in itself, as their Internet connection was terrible. Once I did get on, twice I managed to get bookings on flights, but by the time you’ve got to input everyone’s names, details etc., and then you go to pay, of course the seats were gone. It wasn’t looking good, as the next day was sold out, and the day after.

Meanwhile Mark and his dad were making their way up the line, and I was trying BA’s website, as I knew there had been a flight out to London City Airport that had left earlier today. In the end, I went up to sit by them, as they were getting increasingly near the front of the queue. I was almost up to payment, and I asked Mark what to do and he told me to carry on, as the first flight available with EasyJet was Wednesday night. I don’t think so.

Dave handed me a card with BA’s customer service number on to try, and it’s just as well I did, as just as I was trying to pay for four adults on a flight out the next afternoon to London City Airport (not the airport we flew out of, but we’ll deal with that when we get there ) the Internet cut out. It came back on again, and I was able to proceed to purchasing tickets, then it locked up again.

In the meantime, I got through to a guy, and was able to book those four seats on the flight for the next afternoon. They weren’t cheap - £720 ($1,080) and I know there’s probably no way of getting that money back. Don’t get me wrong, I will try, but I know from our experience in Egypt that everyone will bail. Our holiday insurance company will say it’s the airline’s problem, and the airline will say they offered us an alternative flight, and we chose to go with someone else. All they will credit back is what we paid for the price of the original flights, and annoyingly, they weren’t that expensive.

Anyway, with Barb and Dave both having medical appointments at home on Wednesday, and Barb running out of tablets for her heart, I wanted to get them home, and equally, I’d prefer to only miss one day of work, rather than two, and the Wednesday night flight with EasyJet would be the same time we were due to go out on last night, so it would still be a stupidly late night.

So, now booked on to the 2:40pm flight tomorrow afternoon with British Airways to London City Airport, and with EasyJet at 8:45pm on Wednesday night. The EasyJet booking was important to have, as without that, they won’t pay for a hotel room on the island, which is fair enough. We did have a word and say that, with Barb being in a wheelchair, the quicker they could sort us out with a hotel room, and we could get out of the airport and have a break, the better, and they were very good about it.

We were one of the first names to be called, and we were told that we would be in the Sefton Express, which is the airport hotel. Now there was a bit of discussion about how far away it was, and eventually I decided to go for a walk to see for myself, as I felt like I needed some fresh air by now. The route I took at first wasn’t great, as I had to cross a roundabout on to a grass verge, so I knew that wouldn’t work for Barb.

I found the place, got some photos outside…



… then headed in.



I checked into our room, but couldn’t finish the process for Dave and Barb, as one of them had to sign to complete the booking. I did everything else, and then headed off to see what our room was like. My goodness, it was a heck of a lot better than the Empress last night, and apparently much cheaper, as Barb said later that she’d found out rooms here started from £49 ($74) and last night, double rooms started at £105 ($158).



Photo duties done, I headed back to the airport, but this time I knew the right route to take, the one that had path the whole way along. Once I got back, I bumped into two guys that had been on our flight, as by now, just like in Egypt, faces were starting to look familiar, and we knew each other by sight, and could all commiserate together. They were also there, and asked for directions, and I explained and told them it was only a five minute walk.

When I got back, there was some debate about whether to go there straight away, or wait for the rental car. Mark had already been to see if he could get one, at my insistence, as I suspected we’d be back in a hotel in Douglas. Now if that was the case, I wanted to be self sufficient, and able to get around as we needed to, especially now knowing Barb was running out of medication. Of course, now we had an airport hotel, so really we didn’t need it, but then again, it would at least give us the freedom to do what we wanted in the morning, so I figured it was still a good investment and, heaven preserve us, if we didn’t get off the idea tomorrow, then at least we’d have it to get around it for another day. I can’t even think of that right now.

After I told them how close the hotel was, everyone opted to walk over, and the walk was fine. Dave signed his name, and the room was theirs, and best of all, for the first time this trip, no steps for Barb to get to their room!

We headed off to our room, and I did some emergency washing, as we were both out of clothes now, already having stayed a day more than we’d anticipated. My goodness, that took me back. I haven’t hand washed anything since I was at university more than 20 years ago!

Mark headed out to pick up the rental car, and my dad phoned to see how we were getting on, as I’d left them a message earlier, knowing I’d promised to call them this afternoon to let them know how our trip had gone.

When Mark got back, I grabbed a shower, and finally washed my hair. Annoyingly, I hadn’t brought my shampoo and conditioner with me, as I tend to only wash my hair when I swim. It doesn’t need doing every day and it’s such a pain to dry, I try to do it a couple of times a week. I know to some of you that may sound gross, but I promise it’s not… usually! Well, today my hair was gasping for a wash, so I pinched some of the shampoo and conditioner Mark had nicked from one of our Disney cruises, and I felt a lot better for that.

We headed down for dinner at around 7:00pm with Dave and Barb, as the guy on reception had told us that’s when they’d start serving. Frustratingly, it looked as if they’d started sometime earlier, as there were already two tables of four seated. It soon became clear that food would take some time to arrive, with the guy warning us that it could be up to 45 minutes. In fairness, he was on his own and dealing with a huge number of people.

We settled down to wait, and I got the laptop from the room, so that Barb and Dave could see some of the nice comments on Facebook, and some of the photos I’d taken this weekend. Barb is on Facebook, but never really accesses it or posts, so I was hoping this might encourage her to…

Finally, my food turned up on time about 45 minutes after we ordered. I’d gone for a mozzarella and tomato pizza slice with micro chips and salad. Let’s just say that these were literally microwaveable items, nothing special at all, but heck, EasyJet were picking up the tab, so we couldn’t complain.



Now I happily started on mine, assuming that the others would get theirs soon afterwards. Well, Barb’s was out next, and I was pretty much finished with mine. By the time Dave and Mark got theirs, I was done. The guy did apologise a number of times, and I think he was just overwhelmed, bless him Certainly they wouldn’t have had the staff to cope with an influx of this number.

While the others ate, I went to see if I could book a taxi back from London City Airport home, as we realised that would be our next challenge. We were going to see if one of Mark’s sisters could collect us, but we figured that for the £50 ($75) a taxi would cost us, that would be the simplest solution. Thankfully, I got it booked with no issue. Of course, then we’d also have to work out at some point how we were going to get the car back from Gatwick.

Just as we had all eaten and we were getting ready to go to bed, the women’s rugby team rolled up. At first they were seating on some sofas, but then they obviously decided they were going to get something to eat. Talk about girl power! They grabbed all the chairs they needed and then two of the women grabbed tables, to put them altogether. They were just classic, and we all watched in admiration at their antics. They were such a fun, good hearted bunch, and I liked the fact they cared, as they were pulling the tables together away from the family seated there. However, we suspected it was going to get noisy soon afterwards, so we decided to call it a night. At least tomorrow we could get up late for breakfast, and then enjoy ourselves in the morning, before hopefully finally heading home….

The weather today was very foggy, with some sun, but reasonably warm weather later in the day with temperatures in the low 50s.
The best thing today was at least getting to a hotel a lot earlier than last night…
The worst thing today was not getting off the island again – for a second day running!
The funniest thing today was the women’s rugby team at dinner.
Today we tried staying at the Sefton Express airport hotel
And the result was it was much better than the Empress Hotel last night.

Next: finally we can see it without the “low cloud”

[disney_duke]

Oh my. I can't help but wonder if the airline employees see the fog rolling in and start to mutter, "here we go again." This must happen with some frequency, I would guess?!

You guys are pretty positive about it all. I mean, there's not much you can do about it though. But I imagine some of the other travellers were not so pleasant.

And I totally get it about washing your hair. It actually helps mine if I skip a day here and there with washing!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Oh my. I can't help but wonder if the airline employees see the fog rolling in and start to mutter, "here we go again." This must happen with some frequency, I would guess?!

Could well be, although don't forget, it's "sea mist" or "low cloud", never fog on the Isle of Man.

You guys are pretty positive about it all. I mean, there's not much you can do about it though. But I imagine some of the other travellers were not so pleasant.

Actually I thought everyone was pretty pleasant, given the circumstances. I could've easily understood people getting nasty, but we didn't see that happening, thank goodness.

[mommapants]

what a nightmare - OK not like Egypt but still - what a pain. At time like this it is so important to have a good attitude as getting mad and rude doesn't help anyone.

[pamcarey]

What a pain to be stuck on the island for another day (and not for fun reasons!). I can understand your reasons for buying the British Airways tickets, but it would have killed me to pay that extra money in this situation! I hope you have some luck in getting reimbursed... but I doubt it, for exactly the reasons you stated.

[Cam22]

I do not envy you all this craziness with the flights out. And I don't blame you for taking matters into your own hands with another airline.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by pamcarey

What a pain to be stuck on the island for another day (and not for fun reasons!). I can understand your reasons for buying the British Airways tickets, but it would have killed me to pay that extra money in this situation! I hope you have some luck in getting reimbursed... but I doubt it, for exactly the reasons you stated.

Oh trust me, I haven't even bothered attempting to get the money back, as I already know what the answer will be.

[chezp]

Tuesday 7 April – part one: finally we can see it without the “low cloud”

I woke up at about 6:15am, but as we weren’t meeting Dave and Barb until 8:30am for breakfast (a lie-in after yesterday! ), I promptly went back to sleep for another hour, before getting up. Thankfully all the clothes I’d hand washed yesterday were now dry, so I had some clean clothes to wear after my shower – even better!

I did have a bit of a panic though first thing. As I’d gone to bed last night, it had occurred to me that I hadn’t had our booking confirmation from BA for our flights today, so I went on to their website to check them, and it wouldn’t find our booking with the confirmation number I had! What had happened?

I got straight on the phone to BA to try and sort it out, and just as the guy was asking me for the booking reference number, I realised what I’d done – I’d put one of the letters in wrong! I corrected it, and there was my booking. Phew!

I went through the website and got us all checked in, and selected seats for us. We won’t have anyone seating next to us, as the plane is a row of single seats on one side, and then a row of two seats on the other. That all done, I then got to the bit where you have to check your details, and I could immediately see why I’d had no email confirming my booking – they’d spelt my name wrong! Oh well, at least that mystery was solved, and we were all set…

We headed down for breakfast at the appointed time, and I have to be honest, they had a much better spread here than I was expecting.



We all made the best of it, given that this was on EasyJet… While we were there, we saw various familiar faces, some from our original cancelled flight on the Sunday night, and others who’d had their flights cancelled yesterday, but who we’d seen a fair few times. As I’ve already mentioned, there was a real spirit of camaradie amongst all of us.

It continued when we were heading out in the rental car half an hour or so later. I’d been trying to double check that our plane was on the ground, as it was due in at 9:55am, and we’re heard something land that sounded like ours, but the website wasn’t updating. I didn’t want to waste too much time in the room, so 99.9% sure it was down, off we went.

As we passed through reception to get to the car, everyone we’d came to know from the various cancelled flights wished us good luck and told us that, in the nicest possible way, they hoped they didn’t see us again, and we returned those wishes, saying that we hoped they were all home soon too. It was like leaving a little family.

We headed off towards the Sound, seeing the same scenery we had on Friday when we arrived here, but at least today it was a lot clearer, so we got some beautiful views.



Just outside Port St. Mary, I persuaded Mark to stop off, so that I could get some photos of these beautiful guys in the field just by the road…



…. and also these wonderful little cuties!



Look at the difference as we made the rest of the way down to the Sound – this time, you could actually see the buildings that make up Cregneash. Previously, you hadn’t been able to see anything at all when we passed through here on Friday.



Then, as we approached the Sound itself, we could finally see it laid out in front of us in all its glory. As I said later to Dave and Barb, they could now see why we fell in love with this place when we came here last summer.



Next: what an amazing sight!

[Colexis Mom]

Sorry about another cancellation! At least your hotel looks nice and you're able to see more of the island!

[disney_duke]

Finally your delay is turning out to be OK with this bonus tour - sans fog!
How cute - "good luck with your flight and I hope to never see you again."

[pamcarey]

The scenery this morning is beautiful! It's nice that there was a sense of camaraderie amongst your fellow travelers!