Hovering above London Gatwick Airport, the pilot's voice pops up over the speakers: "We are sorry to announce that due to heavy snow, we're diverting... to Amsterdam"... Oh! So, after a sleepless 10 hour flight next to a screaming child, we headed East to Amsterdam. It was fairly heartbreaking after 6 months away from home, we'd built up a lot of excitement and hopes about seeing friends and family again, but never mind - only a few hours more to wait!

So we thought, anyway. The cabin crew had decided that they no longer wanted to work, so BA kindly put us up in a hotel at Schipol airport. We were held on the plane for 3 hours before they came to this decision, then in baggage claims for a further 2 hours. After a 5 hour wait, we queued outside for our bus, in the cold, cold conditions of Amsterdam, for 2 more hours... By the time we got to the hotel, we grabbed a shower, and hit the sack pretty promptly!

We awoke slightly grumpy at about 4am Thursday, enjoyed our continental breakfast then headed for the beloved Schipol airport again! We finally boarded our plane, after it was delayed by half a day, and headed back to the homeland. We thoroughly enjoyed our 45 minute stint in first class, with the other 7 passengers that shared our Boeing 777, the rest had boarded a plane to Scotland!

Now just to get home, John and Dawn had come down to pick us up from the airport the day before but had to return to go to work. We met some local people at the airport hotel in Amsterdam in the same situation as us who happened to live just around the corner, so when we arrived in the UK we hired a car and shared a road trip home from London Gatwick with some new company and a lot of Jelly Babies!

Finally arriving late on Thursday night, it was lovely to be home after such an awesome adventure.

Until next time,

The End.

Hol and Pete

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