This Tuesday and Wednesday I went on a business trip to the United Kingdom. My collegue and I flew to London Luton, with Easyjet (mind you: why do they call the aiport “London” Luton is beyond me: London is actually not close at all: it’s over an hours drive!). There we took a rental car and drove to our hotel in Peterborough, about one hour north on the M1. Now, on June 15th I also went to the UK to and I flew with a tiny turbo-prop plane with an airline I had never heard of (Scott Airways). We flew on Southampton and I really enjoyed my trip: I got to Schiphol, got my boarding pass, checked in, went through customs, got to the terminal, got in he plane, popped out, got picked up, did the meeting, then did everything in reverse and popped out at Schiphol again. No hassle, no problems. In and out, just like that.
Now, if you watch TV and you like those ‘real-life’ TV-series, you might have watched the one that features features Luton and Easyjet (I think it actually is called “Airport”). You might have noticed all the crap going on with Easyjet. People complaining, trouble with getting on and of planes, delays etc. etc.. Well, I can confirm officially: Easyjet is crap! Both on the flight in and out we had delay of 30 and 45 minutes. But if you are late checking in, then they just cancel your ticket. All in all it just is like taking a bustrip to Spain with one of those cattle herding bus companies: no service and the stewards and stewardessess seem just dumb as a rock. Yup folks, I know I have to fly into Luton again in September, but I will try my utmost to do it with another company! You’re treated as cattle when you fly Easyet. My advice: just say njet to Easyjet!
Another story was driving from the airport to the hotel and back. The English are incredible. They are part of the EU but they just refuse to become Europeans! I mean: they refuse to use the Euro and instead still have the Pound and while 99% of the world drives on the right side of the road, they still drive on the left side. So naturally we had a “right-hand” drive car as well: a crappy crispy Kia Picanto. Mind you: why they call it “right-hand” is a mystery to me, because there is nothing “right” about it! Luckily my collegue was brave enough to drive (next time I will have to do that myself). Boy, having the gears on the left and the signals on the right (wipers on the left) is a pain in the ass. I think he did admirably well: no mistakes, just a little one when we got to the hotel (we turned into the street on the right side, which actually was the wrong side).
The meeting went very well and it looks like we will get the project. So all in all that was very positive. Now, when we got back to Luton around 2.30pm and checked in, we already noticed how security suddenly had tightened. I never before had to open my luggage (except a couple of times at Schiphol at customs) for security reasons, but this time they singled me out and sniffed out my laptop bag. It seemed like every 3rd or 4rd person passing the machine was routinely checked. Off course this meant that huge lines were forming at the security checkpoint since they only had two machines there. All in all that seemed a bit odd.
Anyhow: after the check we went on and had to wait in the lounge and then flew back (with a delay) to Amsterdam. I had a dinner (nice Teriyaki salad) with my collegue and his wife and drove home (on the right side of the road).
When I woke up this morning it was all over the news: the big terrorist threath and all the extra airport security and the incredible chaos as a result. So now it made some sense why yesterday they were already upping the security so to speak. I hope everything is over by the time I fly again next month! Because if I have to check in my hand luggage as well, it’s just going to take more time to get in and out of the airport! That sucks! Also I will make sure to get an automatic shift car so I don’t have to bother battleing my instinct to shift gears with my right hand.
Easynjet