We left Topeka around 08:00 on Friday morning for my departure flight to Dallas at 12:44. After we arrived we found out that my first flight would be delayed long enough that I could not possibly make my connection to London. This was easily remedied by a quick stop at the airline desk where they issued me two new tickets, the first to Chicago and then from Chicago to London. The second flight to London was still scheduled to arrive in time for me to make my connection to Newcastle.

Since my flight would now leave at 14:15 instead of 12:44, we went to McDonalds for my final meal in the United States. We returned to the airport around 13:30 and I said my goodbyes to my family before going through security.  Surprisingly this was really easy even with all of the electronics I brought with me onto the plane. About 30 minutes later I boarded the plane and found that I had a lot of leg room (my new ticket was issued for economy plus). We took of slightly early and were not in the air for very long at all.The flight was so short that literally as soon as the guy next to me pulled out his laptop he had to put it away.

When I departed the plane, I had no idea where I was at the airport and had to ask the counter what terminal I was in. I was glad to find out that the gate I arrived from were on the same hallway in the terminal although, the hall was probably half a mile long. When I arrived at the gate, I still had about an hour to spare. While waiting, I noticed a guy getting on the plane that had a parachute as carry on (I didn’t anyone would actually take a parachute on a plane).

I finally boarded and we took off a few minutes after we were scheduled to. Seated across the isle from me was someone with a dog that was really well behaved throughout the flight. About an hour and a half into the flight we were served dinner. The two choices for the main entree were chicken and rice or cheesy noodles. I went with the chicken and rice. Included with the meal was salad with a vinaigrette, a sealed roll, Swiss cheese and crackers and, a brownie that tasted like Play-Dough.  It was not good at all but, what could I expect considering it was airplane food (The salad was good though). The next four hours were awful. You would expect being a seven hour long international flight you would get more legroom than you would have on a short domestic flight; at least I did. In real life it seems that the airlines must play a game called “How Many People Can Fit in a Clown Plane”. This was by far the worst part of the journey to get here. I tried sleeping but, could not. I ended up watching Mad Max: Fury Road a few hours before we were scheduled to land. Around 05:00UTC or 23:00CST, we were served breakfast which, consisted of yogurt with granola and dried cranberries. About an hour and a half later we landed in London.

When I got off the plane in London, I had to take a bus to Terminal 5 from where I landed in Terminal 3. It was no joke over a mile of walking to get from the plane to the bus. When I arrived in terminal 5 I followed the signs to where connecting flights disembark from. After waiting 10 minutes in the line I was told that since it was my first time in the UK I would have to go through Customs. I walked back the other way toward the line that I was really happy that I did not have to go through (The immigration line for connecting flights was much shorter). When I got to this very very long line they opened a line dedicated just for first time students (There was a lot of us, 7 at least that were on my flight coming to the University of Sunderland). This line was short and after 15 minutes I had my passport stamped. Now is when it got fun. Because we had to go through customs, there was no way to go through the terminal to get onto my connection. To reach my connection, I had to walk clear to the airport exit, take a lift back up onto the departure level, go through security again then, finally walk to wherever my flight was departing from. I was worried about time as I completed these tasks as I only had an hour to get to my flight from customs. From gate to gate, the time taken was about 2 hours.

We began boarding about 15 minutes before our departure time and took of 30 minutes after our scheduled departure time. This was the quickest flight of all. About 15 minutes into the flight drinks were served. The drinks served were not what you get on an American flight though. On this flight the drinks were juice, water, Hot Tea, and Hot coffee. Instead of pretzels on this flight we were given bacon or ham sandwiches which was good since I had not eaten since breakfast on the first flight. Before departing this flight, I met a girl from Colorado who was also going to UoS. After landing I retrieved my bag from the baggage claim which was surprisingly there considering that I had changed my first two flights after checking my baggage. Just pass the exit doors from the claim area the uni was waiting for the students that were arriving.

The representatives from the school took us to where we waited for the rest of the international students to arrive. After dropping my stuff off, I wandered the airport looking for a cold bottle of water. This was easier said than done as the market type stores all had warm bottled water. Starbucks was there for me though with their overly priced (still cheaper than the other places) cold bottled water. This water cost me 2 whole pounds or $3.09 at the time. After getting my water we went to the bus which seemed like a charter bus. I almost forgot to mention it was raining in both London and Newcastle. The bus departed and, the entire trip I kept thinking we were on the wrong side of the road. 45 minutes later we arrived at Clanny House, my home for the next year.

Tips

• If you can afford it fly business internationally. You get real blankets, better pillows, seats that lay flat and, Bose headphones for the in flight entertainment.
• Make sure that you have a long enough lay over. 2 hours was plenty in London even though I was worried about time. If you’re connecting in Heathrow to another UK town, you have to have enough time to go through customs or immigration.
• Pack at least 2 sets of clothes in your carry on just in case your checked baggage does not arrive on time.
• Take some Benadryl or an alternative as it is really hard to sleep with all of the noise, light and, the small space on the long flights.
• Bring a Towel if you’re studying here. They’re not provided.
• Optional: Bring sheets and a pillow. The provided sheets are ok but, not the best. In my opinion the pillow is really soft so if you want more support bring your own. The provided sheets and pillow are decent enough though and, if you don’t have the space in your baggage allowance I wouldn’t worry about it.