Tuesday, May 20
This is the day we departed for London.  Leslie and I were going to London to welcome our new grandson (and probably only grandchild) into the world.  He was due on May 26 so we arrived a few days early.  We were flying on Air Canada leaving Seattle at 4:30pm and connecting in Vancouver for a non-stop flight to London.  Bernie and Edith gave us a ride to SeaTac and we arrived a 1:15pm, plenty of time to catch our flight. We went to the gate and watched the 2:30pm Air Canada flight to Vancouver board and depart on time.  When we returned to the gate at 3:30pm we were told the flight from Vancouver to Seattle was late due to maintenance issues but should depart around 5.  We were still in good shape to meet the Air Canada flight.  However, as time progressed the announcements said the flight would arrive much later.  Fortunately the gate agents said that since there were 14 people on this flight going to London they had made arrangements to book us on a British Airways flight departing at 8:30pm and arriving in London at 2:40pm.  That was two hours later than the Air Canada flight but would work out fine.  This is when the crisis really began!  We lined up at the gate to get our booking for the British Airways flight.  Since we were near the end of the line we discovered the gate agents took an inordinate amount of time booking passengers on the flight.  In the meantime the late Air Canada plane arrived that was to take us to Vancouver.  One agent seemed like she didn't know how to book a flight, but only meet the existing aircraft.  The other agent knew what to do but was overworked and now was also having to deal with the arriving Air Canada flight.  When we got to the head of the line he told us there were no more seats available.  We could either proceed to Vancouver (Where he said no hotels were available) and take the London flight the next day or go home and start over on Wednesday.  A gentleman behind us in line booked the British Airways flight on his phone and shouted that seats were available.  The agent was very frustrated but Leslie insisted he get us a booking on the BA flight.  He went to another computer, wrote the confirmation number on a scrap of paper, and told us to go to the British Airways desk and we would have seats.  At the same time both agents were telling us we needed to board the Air Canada flight to Vancouver NOW!  It was ready to depart and they had no control over the departure!!  With the scrap of paper we rushed to the flight and arrived in Vancouver at 7pm.  Once we arrived we had to go through Canadian customs, pick up our luggage, go outside to the ticket agent, book our ticket, and then go through security, and proceed to the gate. There was a customs agent who was extremely helpful and very understanding of our situation.  The crowds were small and we went through customs quickly, went to the British Airways ticket counter where they booked our flight, gave us boarding passes, proceeded through Security (again the lines were small), and arrived at the gate in plenty of time for the flight!  It turned out to be a great flight.  While we've never flown on Air Canada we have always enjoyed British Airways so had a lovely flight.  Once on board we observed there were a large number of empty seats so the flight was never full!!!  We arrived at London Heathrow at 2:40pm, Wedl