It's been two weeks that I have been home

My husband and I were looking at plane tickets to USA for me. I really liked the idea of flying on 9/11 and making it into good luck. He really was hoping I would set another date, either before or after the 11th of Sept. I wanted to travel on this date to make it a lucky day. 

This is what happened

  I left my home in Turkey at 3:30am, Istanbul time and we arrived at the airport and I discovered a huge hole on one of my bags. It was too big to ignore. It was about 4 inches. (really big!) 
So I wrapped it it with a "Secure Wrap" at the airport.
I went to the check in and discovered that the wrapped bag was too heavy. Then I had a huge 5 foot long bag (not too heavy!) and a 26 inch long that Erkan bought me a few days before I left. If we had discovered the hole before there is no way we would have used this. We would have thrown it away.
The agents asked me to please unwrap the one that was too heavy, and disperse the weight to the other bags.
We were able to do that. She said it would be a certain amount to get all three bags to USA. We thought... Well we have to do it, and lets just get me on the plane. 
 Erkan had the bag re-wrapped to make sure nothing came out. I went back to the counter with all three bags, and everything was in order. She retyped in the bags and said I can not charge you it is so much. And lowered it to more than 50% off because she was so sweet!
(THANK YOU!!)

I said my tearful good byes and thought Erkan was going to leave the airport. But his mother wanted to see me go through the customs before she left it. And they did. I was able to wave goodbye to my beloved husband and go to my gate. We went on a little tiny plane that held about 100 passengers.
I was tired so very tired and it was a 3 hour flight and so I fell asleep and missed breakfast.
I woke up 15 minutes to landing and got off the plane and walked about the Terminal 5 of the Heathrow airport.
 It is not a bad place to wait four hours. Lots of shops. My critical part of the airport is this: Internet is terrible there. It is only usable to 45 minutes for free. after that you have to pay a service fee of up to 10 pounds a day. (I  think that is just not right) And if you want more free, you have to join what is called "Heathrow Rewards". What this does is allow you to have 90 minutes of free internet and you then have a card that gives you discounts and discounted internet if you buy things at the shop. (good for people that go to the Heathrow and shop all the time) I found a way about that. I went on to the internet with my phone for 45 minutes. Then went on the internet with my phone with my laptop for 45 minutes. Boom. I did not have to sign up for another rewards program.
I bought some food at the food court. And of course got me a Starbucks. Would you know it the Heathrow Starbucks uses the Heathrow airport Rules so no, you don't get "Free Starbucks Wifi"
I got on the plane and we were supposed to take off. Everyone was seated when I hear, "Will Miss Jensen please make yourself known to a British Airways employee ASAP"
 I found one right away and they said you need to get all your things and come with us. It was rainy in London and in my opinion a bit cold. 8I had no jacket) But I went with them. They explained to me that they were supposed to do a security screen before everyone got on the plane, and they chose a random passenger I was it. Well, they forgot to do the screening. So ,they ended up searching my carry on and me, in a tram because the ride back to the airport was a bit away. I agreed because if you don't, you cant leave.
we left about 5:30 pm London time. We were supposed to arrive in Las Vegas 7:15 pm Sept 11th.
a few hours later, as we were flying over Canada, we had about 6 hours of flying time left, the Captain came on and said, It is a federal law to not smoke in the bathrooms or anywhere on the plane. It is dangerous and you will be arrested if you smoke.
There was a lot of yelling and rukus in another section of the plane, I was in the very back, but the section ahead of me. Just then, Hostess asked if the seats two rows and to the left of me (the middle row) all four of the guys sitting there can move because there is a patient that needs more oxygen.

The woman and the 3 girls she was with were loud, and the three girls she was with were being really annoying. She (woman) said she was having a heart attack and needed oxygen. The British Airways employees were obliging. Well, she was not doing better and in fact there just happened to be a cardiologist who came on to help and said that the woman really needed to land. She felt the woman needed a Doctor. The cardiologist said that she really needed to go into the hospital especially as she kept complaining that she was so ill. The Hostess told the captain and because the plane we were in was a Boeing 747, needed to get permission from the Military to land, and because it was so big, needed special skills to land in Manitoba, Winnipeg. (The land and take off strip is too short for a 747) Well, fortunately, the Captain happened to have been experienced with landing in a short landing strip due to his experience in the Royal Air force. The Captain came on the loud speaker and asked for cooperation as he landed because he got permission to divert the plane. As soon as this was said, lady (now I have since renamed her to Crazy Lady) decided she was not that sick, and started to take off the oxygen and say that she was not ill at all and wanted to just go back to her normal seat and head on to Las Vegas. Lauren, the B.A. Hostess said, that is just not happening the plane will be diverted, and it is because she has a heart problem and said that she was having a heart attack. Crazy Lady started yelling, and said that there was nothing wrong with her and that she was just faking it, and just wanted to get to Vegas. B.A. hostess, Lauren said that that was not happening and she needed to sit down in her seat. Crazy Lady stated to get really loud and disturbing everyone around her.
The Crazy Lady would not stop yelling and would not sit down. She kept saying she was not going to Canada, but Las Vegas and that she paid for her ticket to go to Las Vegas. another thing she did was get her daughter involved and her daughter said that she was really upset and asked what they were going to to do because now her mom is fine. They were more worried about money more than anything. It was ridiculous. As we were landing the Host, Hostess and Crazy Lady were going through what was given to the patient for the hospital. They said that the Crazy Lady had told them she took two Valium, drank 4 mini bottles of wine, and then before that had 4 shots of whiskey.We landed and the EMT showed up with an ambulance on the concord. We waited to see what the verdict was. She did not want to leave the plans and she needed to be strapped. She was cursing and swearing at the EMT and everyone around her. She started cussing at the pilot also, for landing the plane.

Two hours later we found out that the planes wing flap was not moving. It was not opening closing nor locking and unlocking properly. There was a passenger that was an Engineer working for British Airways  just going on holiday to Vegas on the plane who said he would look at the plane, and apparently the part needed to be replaced.
By then it was about 11pm and British Airways got permission for all 400 passengers to get  permission to enter to Canada with out a Visa. (some people were from Holland and other parts of the world)  We finally got to get off the plane and We had to wait in a long line for Customs, get our bags and wait in another super long long line for waiting to know where the hotel was and "further" information. And so I was the very last in line because, well I did not push  my way through.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada was nice in this regards. The city worked with British Airways in getting all 399 passengers to their hotel. I was the 400th they could not. I ended up having to get a taxi from Humphy's Inn near the airport to Holiday Inn South, not near the airport. And guess what? I really liked that hotel. The downside was that  I had to wait until 5:45 am to get to my room. That is 5:45 am Manitoba Time. Which was 2 pm September 12th "my time" meaning at that point I had been traveling more than 24 hours. Which meant I had been traveling 29 hours and that also meant I was awake for 36 (or more hours) I was just exhausted at that point.

I woke up at 12:15pm (Still Manitoba time) and I went to the front desk and asked when the plane was ready to take off. They said that they had no idea that I was not leaving and I made it very clear to them I was not leaving the hotel until British Airways told me it was time. The hotel thought I was paying for everything as well. I was so irritated. And Hungry. See, we were supposed to be able to eat but we had to stay on the plane the time we were supposed to be landing in Vegas. (I know! Go figure!) So we were given pretzels and water because there was nothing else on the plane.I missed free breakfast time and so now it was lunch and I was told that lunch was not paid by the airlines and that I had to save my receipts and they would reimburse me. Fine. But, I needed to get my room comped. So I went upstairs to my room, the key was switched and did not open and so I had to go back down the stairs and get new keys and open my door call the British Airways Customer Support and make a complaint and within a few minutes (ok... 45 minutes) I was up and running again. I was able to get some sight seeing in because apparently,the plane would not take off until September 12th at 10:30 pm. (I know right!!!) so I decided to enjoy Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I actually enjoyed it there and would like to go there just for a nice trip to see the Polar Bears, and spend more time buying maple syrup. But, I have to admit, I just wanted to get home to my family and cousin waiting for me in Vegas. So, got to the airport at 8pm and was one of the first in line. (which worked out great because I was having to go through security three times; that is normal when coming from Turkey and anywhere in the Middle East and Far East.) and while standing in line Lo, There standing in front of all the passengers and laughing and taking pictures of everyone was Crazy Lady and her daughters. (You read that right) She was waving and laughing and even accused a man standing in front of me threatening her, and so the more drama which she created began. Apparently, before she came to sit in front of me the night before, she was sitting in front of the man I was standing behind. He witnessed her drinking four shots of whiskey and several drinks of wine. he then saw her get up and go to the bathroom and just then many people behind him complained that it was her that was smoking in the bathrooms. She then was told to sit in her seat. She was also told that if she was caught smoking in the bathroom, she would have to go to jail upon landing in Las Vegas because it is a federal offense to smoke on planes. So, she took two Valium and then she drank more wine. At that point she did not want to get in more trouble and decided to fake her heart problems. The flight attendant, Lauren, said that she got a phone call at 2 am from the Doctors at the hospital telling her that they wanted her released from the hospital because she was not having any problems at all and causing problems and physically punching and biting the Drs and nurses. She also said that the night before (from London and to Las Vegas) she kept trying to replace the toiletries to the bathrooms and she said that 4 bathrooms were constantly complaining about nothing in the bathrooms. She was getting up about every 30 minutes to change the supplies. The Doctors said "Why does she have so much toiletries in her bags? 15 rolls of toilet paper, 20 boxes of tissues and 10 bottles of soap?" which Lauren replied, "She took it from our plane!"  So when the crew saw Crazy Lady sitting there with her daughters, they had said that the night before they would refuse her on any British Airways flights and in fact, told the Canadian Police that they did not want to see her on the plane at all. 
As we were flying, The Captain said that British Airways were seeking ways to compensate all us passengers and they wanted to come two hours early to the airport. So, we got there at 2 am instead of 4 am and we were able to go through customs in Winnipeg (because it is the #1 shipping port to and from the States, technically they were considered in  USA and there is a port there that is in fact U.S. soil. So, the airport worked in Canadian Airways and British Airways to allow the passengers to be counted on U. S. Soil. One more delay. Because the airport was so small, it was not fitted for a Boeing 747 and therefore the checks had to be manual and not computerized, and so they had to get it done. But, we in fact landed 2 hours later, and so we landed in Las Vegas at 12am, Las Vegas time. This made it literally 76 hours from the time I started my flight from Istanbul to Las Vegas.
I am so glad to be here. And happier that I am staying.
Now, Just have to get my husband here.