Nervousness, excitement, curiosity: These are all words you could use to describe my feelings as I awaited my highly-anticipated expedition to the Olympic games inside the New Orleans airport. Time was ticking for me to board the plane, but the Delta airline, unbeknownst to me, had far better plans.
On my way to the airport, my friend Bella sent a picture of a rainbow to the group chat, captioning “It’s good luck!” A rainbow almost always symbolizes new eras and rising hope in humanity. Well, I needed that and manifested that message very seriously, so seriously, that I ended up adopting a new era altogether. My original travel plans included a layover in Paris, before flying towards my final destination in Marseille. England was never part of the agenda, but rainbows did indeed symbolize new beginnings. In an attempt to escape sleeping in the Atlanta airport for a night, I was rebooked onto British Airways with a straight shot to London, followed by Marseille.
Three other teammates were on the unexpected journey with me to the London Heathrow Airport. None of us really anticipated what was going to happen next due to frantic ticket changes amidst the flight cancellation chaos: I was supposed to have a quick layover in London on the way to Marseille while the others were unfortunately stopped in Barcelona 8 hours before departing. At least we could talk it all over a Shake Shack burger in the MSY airport.
When we did get to London, we had the slip-up of exiting the airport altogether while trying to find customs. Turns out I was officially scanned into the UK! Yay! All fun and games until you don’t know your way back in. To my mysterious luck (which is a common theme in my life, according to my mom), a British Airways cabin crew member stopped in his tracks and turned around with a smirk that had me questioning if I was still stuck in my current reality. He said I looked concerned and asked if I needed guidance. I wasn't going to say no. This British lad, Andre according to his nametag, figuratively grabbed my hand to drag me around the Heathrow Airport. If I were a dog, my tail would be tucked. But I wasn’t a dog, I was a young blonde girl from LSU on her way to her college study abroad.
Speaking of, Andre told me that it was okay that I got lost because I could just pull the dumb blonde card. He thought it was funny. I wasn’t sure if I did.
So on we went, running around the London airport. We talked, we laughed, we cried. I learned that he loved his job as a British Airways employee but found it lonely at times. I found it rather surprising.
Once I made it to the airport TSA, the conversations had come to a sad end. I waved goodbye to Andre, wondering if he had enjoyed the interaction as much as I did. His friendliness gave me the energy to conquer my next adventure… finding fish and chips…No, I’m just kidding. The next adventure included safely reaching Marseille and meeting up with my LSU teammates for the 2024 Paris Olympics. I was so ready.
The flight into Marseille was quick and easy, and I had a feeling Andre’s day was as well.
