Our scheduled flights to England were fairly standard. We boarded at American Airlines flight at around 3pm taking us from Kansas City to Chicago (O’Hare Airport). In Chicago, we were scheduled to board a British Airways flight from O’Hare to London’s Heathrow Airport. These are pretty typical flights for people traveling from Kansas City to London. In fact, when I flew to Africa, these were the same flights as the first half of my journey.
When we got to the airport in Kansas City, we checked in for our flight, handed over our luggage, and then wandered around the airport for a couple of hours. (remember, for international flights they say you should check in at least two to four hours early!!) We got a late lunch at a very strange deli. Kansas City International Airport is not known for their food, and there’s a reason for that! There are none of the common fast food restaurants (like McDonald’s or Burger King). So we had lunch at the Great American Bagel Bakery.
The employees of this restaurant were definitely immigrants. Their mastery of the English language certainly had room for improvement. They were very polite, though. However, we received VERY unique bagel sandwiches. Mine was a bagel that had been cooked in cheese and tomado sauce. It was then placed around slices of roast beef and American cheese. Remarkably, it did not taste too bad. That said, I would not choose to get another sandwich like that again!
Eventually, we finally boarded our flight. We had three seats, all in a row (window, middle, aisle). Most of the people around us were typical airplane fodder- they had brought books, laptops, or mp3 players, and happily occupied themselves and ignored us. However, the three seats behind us were filled with three ladies whom I will call the “Sorority Girls”.
These three ladies were, I would guess, around 30 years of age. All three wore wedding rings. All three were perfect representatives of a stereotypical sorority girl. Their hair was bleached blond. Their skin had been tanned so dark that it looked fake. Their fingernails were long, fake, and perfectly manicured. You get the idea.
The sorority girls didn’t just look like sorority girls. They also TALKED like sorority girls. They were LOUD, almost yelling over the sound of the airplane’s engine. And they NEVER STOPPED.
Around this time, the pilot came over the loudspeaker and told us that we would be delayed slightly because of a storm over Chicago. The plane had pulled away from the gate, but this was no big deal. I’m not one to complain about being “trapped” on an airplane- I didn’t feel trapped, and the cabin crew worked hard to ensure our comfort during this time. The pilot eventually came over the loudspeaker multiple times. We spent a total of about ninety minutes waiting at the end of a taxiway.
The sorority girls talked THE WHOLE TIME. What’s worse, their conversation had no substance whatsoever. They talked about fashion and made fun of friends and coworkers (who obviously knew nothing about fashion). They discussed their inability to repair cars- even something as simple as changing a windshield wiper blade! – and remarked on how glad they were that they had married men who would fill their cars with gas for them. They discussed makeup. They discussed a friend who had an eating disorder (in disturbingly glib terms). They discussed their inability to lift things and how glad they were that they had husbands who could open jars and change light bulbs for them.
It gets worse, unfortunately. They began discussing their upcoming SORORITY REUNION in Chicago! Not only did they look and talk like sorority girls, but they WERE sorority girls!
Once the flight took off, all three ladies requested Bloody Marys. We hoped the alcohol would quiet them, but instead it seemed to open their lips all that much more!
For a ninety minute flight, it became a remarkably LONG flight. We waited in Kansas City for ninety minutes and spent 90 minutes in the air (a total of three hours). The Sorority Girls talked the whole time. Sometimes we (or another passenger) would shush them, particularly when the pilot was on the loudspeaker and we wanted to hear him. It never lasted. Their longest silence lasted about four minutes and thirty seconds. (yes, we timed them!) They complained about the “awful turbulence” of that flight, which I found quite strange since I thought the flight was VERY smooth.
Needless to say, we were relieved to land in Chicago. The remainder of our journey was unremarkable. We had missed our connecting flight, but British Airways put us on a later overnight flight to London. We ate McDonald’s for dinner while we were at Chicago, then we boarded our flight to London. We had another beautifully smooth flight, this time with no annoying passengers. From London’s Heathrow airport we took the “tube” to our hotel… and you’ll hear more about that soon!
Oh goodness! I hope the rest of your vacation goes better than that first flight. It’s funny that they actually were sorority girls!
I always seem to be by loud people when I just want it to be quite. :/
Have fun in london!!