So in my previous blog I left you with basically Katie, Andy and Laura dropping me off at Mal and Ken's so we could head off to Heathrow.
What then transpired was a near disaster...
You see, Ken hasn't been very well this past week, and has actually had to have time off (very very VERY unusual for him). So when I arrived at Mals at around 2.30pm, bearing in mind we wanted to be at the airport around 3.15, we basically took the bags straight out to the back porch and dumped them all there. I then went to say goodbye to Katie, Andy and Laura, and then came back inside. Mal said something about having to carry our bags down the back as Ken wasn't well - I misunderstood her at first and thought she was talking about when we get to the airport, which I thought was odd as Ken always drops us off at the drop-off lanes and then leaves.
So I didn't think any more of it until it was time to leave - and then I realised what she'd said. So I grabbed as many bags as I could, and headed off down the back yard. Mal grabbed some bags, and basically Ken followed behind. I thought he was carrying some bags too. We dumped them in the car and then headed off for Heathrow.
Once we arrived at Heathrow, we unloaded, said goodbye to Ken, who then drove off, and I ran off to get some trolleys whilst Mal stayed with the bags. We loaded our luggage up on the trolleys and set off for check-in.
At the check-in counter the chick, who to be honest, was just more than a little stressy for her own good, asked about how many pieces of carry-on luggage we had. Now I had checked the Singapore Airlines rules on the website, and it distinctly said that you could have 1 carry-on, plus a number of 'free' items - including a garment bag, a handbag, a laptop, an umbrella.... yada yada. So I'd planned my carry-on stuff with that in mind, and I had a backpack, a laptop and a handbag. Therefore I announced to the stressy chick that I had 3 bags - and she freaked. Well, she would - she's the stressy chick.
But as I went to hold them up, I realised a grave, terrible thing. My backpack wasn't there... MY BACKPACK WASN'T THERE!!!!!! Where could it be? It's got my hard drives, my big camera lens, my camcorder, my money, all my clothes for Singapore.... where is it? I left Mal at the counter, arguing with the stressy chick about how much hand luggage we had, and I raced, literally tore through the airport, back outside to where we had unloaded the car. Frantically looking around for any staff, I rushed up to the first I could find and practically screamed at them "Have you seen a black Targus backpack?" No, he hadn't - maybe I should try the police. I ran to them, but again, no luck. They suggested going inside to the information counter - and they hadn't seen anything either, or had anything handed in. Aaaaggghhh!
I raced back to Mal, we finished our check in of our regular luggage and then tried to think what might've happened to it. And that's when I realised it - no one had gone back up the back yard to check that all the luggage had been taken from the porch. I hadn't done it, I had assumed that Mal and Ken, having followed me down the yard, would've done - and Mal said she hadn't - so I could only assume that probably Ken hadn't either. I had actually thought about it at the time, but thought they had brought everything, so I didn't bother. Why oh why didn't I go with my gut instinct?
Thus began the frantic phoning of Ken - but he never answers his mobile, and most definitely not when he's driving - so what to do? We decided that, as we had a little time, rather than just go through Departures, we would have a quick coffee, keep trying Ken, and make a decision once we'd heard from him.
However, it took Ken a good 45 minutes to get home, and even then, because it was so dark, if the backpack had been on the porch, he mightnt've noticed it. I went off again to ask airport staff about whether they'd seen my bag, and when I got back to Mal, she'd finally got on to Ken - and fortunately, he had my bag. She put me on the phone to him, and in the background she was saying "he's really sick, he can't come back out here with it", but at the same time I was saying to him "well, how can you get the bag to me if not now?". There was absolutely nothing for it, unless Ken came back out now, it would've been extremely difficult to get the bag back - and with all the important things in it, it would've been a real pain to be without it. So Ken, being the trooper he is, jumped straight back in the car...
I sent Mal through Departures and told her to please try and hold the plane, or at least, not to go without me (but with Mal's panics she assured me that would not happen), as I knew that we would be cutting it very close to the mark if Ken managed to get back to Heathrow in 45 minutes - and that could only happen if the traffic remained good. According to our boarding passes, our plane was due to board at 5.15pm, and we'd managed to get on to Ken a little after 4 - so theoretically it could work. It was just whether it would work in practice.
But hallelujah, Knight in Shining Armour Ken rocked up with his Cadillac cavalier at 5.10, and I raced back in to the terminal, flew through customs, dived through the scanners (even the silly shoe one), and made it in time.
What a lucky break!
So the moral of the story is - always check to see if you've left anything behind...!
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