I was in Heathrow airport in London for the first time last week. Severely sleep deprived and lugging about a back pack with a laptop, two external hard drives, all the electronic bits and pieces that go with a laptop and two external hard drives, various adaptor plugs, a change of clothes and some other bits of pieces.
I had about a nine hour wait in Heathrow, and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I was nervous to sleep in a public place, especially with my laptop and other works stuff on me. It just felt too vulnerable.
Anyway, eventually I really just couldn't keep awake. And I saw so many people sprawled flat on airport chairs, suitcases next to them, fast asleep. So I just bundled all my stuff into my backpack and slept on it.
But the reason I am telling you about Heathrow is actually that I wanted to tell you a funny story that happened there...
Before I passed out on my backpack, I went to the bathroom.
And it was pretty gross.
Not unlike the kind of bathroom you'd find at a petrol station on a road trip. And actually, on the scaffy side of that even. Water all over the basins. Toilets without proper seats. Toilet paper gunk on the basins. Generally it all looked like it really needed to be cleaned.
And in my sleep deprived state I smiled to myself and thought "how shocking, this is supposed to be a first world country!! And I am scared of touching anything in the bathroom!!"
I was walking out of the bathroom thinking this, and as I walked I overheard a conversation between two ladies in front of me, with what sounded like Nigerian accents. They were also complaining about the state of the bathrooms.
One of the ladies obviously heard me mentally agreeing with her, because she turned to me and the three of us commiserated about the dirty British airport bathrooms!
:)
(The picture at the top is of the luggage trolleys at the Chicago airport - you have to pay $3 to use them! As if! Although I eventually crumbled and payed the money, after ages spent wandering looking for my bus)
