People were worried when I had to fly all the way from Singapore to London while I was still on the crutch, only two weeks after my knee surgery. Especially this was so soon after the police uncovered plans of using liquid bomb to blast planes flying from the UK to the US. The security check at airports were thorough and the queue mightily long. Well i was worried too. It's not easy to walk with the crutch while having to drag the suitcases and carry a laptop bag. But it's an assignment from work, I can't say no. Well I can say no, but it's a good opportunity for me to work in this project. So I packed carefully, even packed the laptop inside my suitcase, safely (hopefully) hidden among my bras and knickers which would hopefully absorb the shock in the flight. And there I was, limping out of a taxi dragging this heavy suitcase behind me, walking to the check in desk. I felt sorry for myself.
But, the problem ended there. Once the lady at the desk noticed my physical problem, she asked me to sit down and wait. A few minutes later an old gentleman came out with a wheelchair, bringing my passport and boarding pass. He then whisked me through everything - immigration, security check at the gate - so I didn't have to wait in the queue at all. And I can tell you how glad I was - the queue was very very long. Before the rest of the passangers got on the plane I was already sitting comfortably inside with a glass of orange juice in my hands.
At the other end things were the same. As soon as the plane doors were opened in Heathrow I was whisked out in a wheelchair. While the others had to stand in the long immigration queue, I was wheelchaired through a special gate. The officer looked at my passport and took a cursory glance at me and in a few seconds I was inside Britain. My suitcase were wheeled beside me and once out the driver who picked me up took over. Instead of 30 minutes of disembarking process it was only 10 minutes and I was in the car on the way to Alton. Great!
So it seems that these days bringing a crutch to the airport and pretending to limp a bit is the way to travel. When I'm completely off the crutch I'll offer to lend it to anyone who's going to travel!
Alton, 28 August 2006
Posted at 06:45 pm by
koeniel
