I feel old

Well I arrived back from my holiday in dire need of another one! I had a wonderful time with my family and duly arrived at the airport at 4.00am on thursday morning to join a very large queue. Three flights were all checking in at the same desks and there is no room for the very large queue so people zig zag around the terminal. As I reached the front of the queue I told my family to go as they had work to get to and it was a very early start. Two minutes later I was being told that I was not on the list my flight was for the next day! My family by this time had driven off and I had no contact telephone numbers for them. The thought of spending the next 27 hours in the airport reduced me to tears. I was told for the price of £270 I could still get this plane out! I turned them down.

The decision was taken to stay at the airport until the next morning. I booked my suitcase into left luggage had some breakfast and then got the bus into the centre of Warsaw. Armed with a little bit of information and a map I decided to see some sights. The sun was shining and it was like a lovely english summer day. I headed to the Warsaw Uprising Museum something I had wanted to see for a long time. There was a slight problem there I needed the toilet and when I asked I was told there was none! Whilst looking at the exhibits you can hear what sounds like a heart beating, each beat getting louder and louder. At first you hardly notice it, then you can feel the vibrations on the floor it builds up and up until you realise its the sound of bomber planes flying over and then they start to drop bombs. Even though I knew it was "pretend" it made you realise how scarey this would have been in real life. It made me feel sick to the pit of my stomach.

After I left there I went back into the centre. The bus and tram service is great you pay 7.20 pln (just over a pound) and you can hop on and off as many buses and trams as you like. Each bus comes up with the name of the stop on an electric board inside so you can locate where you are. I headed into a very large shopping centre and had some lunch. I had always wanted to visit the museum of science. It looks like a large cake in tiers, very impressive. I had heard the views from the top were magnificent and I decided that I would visit there. After a very quick lift ride to the top the views were indeed magnificent and with the weather being so clear it was well worth the 20pln (approx £4) to get up there.

I finally returned to the airport and spent the rest of my wait loitering between one terminal and the next, viewing planes departing and arriving from the observation deck. I sat in the sun and read a book I had purchased and tried to get comfortable whilst counting down the time.

Finally, it was time to depart. Thankfully I had booked extra leg room seats for only an extre £3.50 each way well worth the money. I arrived home to discover a large sore and itchy rash all over my legs. My skin is so sore to touch despite the rash now having gone.

I did not make it to my friends 50th birthday party, I had only had two hours sleep when I had woken up for something to eat. I decided to go back and sleep until 7pm which would give me an hour to then get ready and go to the party some 20 miles away. Unfortunately, I knocked the alarm off and slept until almost midnight. I am still feeling the affects of little sleep and fighting off a migraine. Tomorrow I will talk about the time with my family....