I have always been an anxious traveller. I have to be ridiculously early to airports and train stations ‘just in case’ there are delays. My friend and I, who is an equally anxious traveller, were flying to Edinburgh from Luton, so we got to the airport about 2.5 hours before our flight (way more time than the airport advises).
We were organised. We were happy.
BRAS ARE DISTRACTING, OKAY!
However, we relaxed. We let our guard down. We were too busy smelling perfumes in Victoria’s Secret. We had been listening out for the tannoy, but because there is music in shops, you can’t always hear it. And we didn’t... We left Victoria's Secret, and looked at the board. It said the gate was closing in 5 minutes! We had to run for it. Past bemused travellers, we battled the crowds to reach the plane. Unfortunately we were 1 minute late. A few anxious calls and £80 later, we got a transfer flight 2 hours later. Luckily my friend and I laughed about it afterwards. It was good, because it wasn’t just one persons fault - we had both been too invested in perfume. The irony is that we are both the kind of people to arrive early for everything. And to miss our flight over something like shopping is so unlike us. Hasten to say, I bought those perfumes on the way through. I still wear them to this day.
WHAT I LEARNT FROM THIS EXPERIENCE:
You can’t always prepare for everything, even if you are ridiculously early.
The best thing is to go with the flow. It's impossible to control everything. There will always be a second flight.
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