[liveblog] morbing at the airport by Anika H. '26

I’m doing a misti internship in the uk this summer, so I’m at the airport to fly out. I have been stuck in purgatory (aka. boston logan airport) for so long that blogging is the only thing that can keep me sane. the toilet got clogged and the gripping plot is slowly revealed over the course of the next many painful hours.

Is the blog still live: Nope (last update 7:05pm EST)

Am I there yet: Yes!

Hours in the airport: ~17

Hours on plane: 7

Gate changes: 4

Help desks visited: 3

Candies eaten: 9

Tears shed: not yet

People punched: thankfully none

 

4:15pm (etd 6:35pm)

i get to the airport with jebby. we’re planning on rooming together in the uk but we took separate flights.

 

6:35pm (etd 8:15pm)

the flight was supposed to takeoff. we get an announcement from the captain that we’re experiencing delays due to “lavatory blockage maintenance”. translating from corporate to normal speak, it means the toilet is clogged and they’re desperately trying to fix it so that people don’t have to hold their business in for the entirety of the 6 hour flight.

 

8:30pm (etd 10:15pm)

i’m still stuck in the airport after an imaginary gate change, a real gate change, and at least two more hours to go before i get on the plane to amsterdam. i’ve already missed the connecting flight to bristol.

oh, but it’s okay! because delta airlines gave me a 12 dollar food voucher! i can get 2.5 entire granola bars from the airport. definitely enough for dinner.

the two poor employees at the counter for our flight have been swarmed by concerned passengers for the past hour, and i’ve passed several groups of people discussing whether they want to cancel and switch flights. nobody’s having a good time, but i’m probably having a better time than the engineers stuck trying to unclog the toilet.

i’m hungry but don’t really know what to use the meal voucher on. if anyone is alive on the internet right now, you should put food suggestions in the comments :p

 

9:00pm (etd 10:15pm)

there’s no one in the comments, but a friend suggests i go find a dunkin or mcdonalds nearby. we change gates again.

 

10:02pm (etd 11:15pm)

we haven’t started boarding, so it’s probably going to get delayed again. dunkin’ was closed, so i got 8-piece dumplings with the voucher. It cost all 12 dollars save a quarter.

 

11:08pm (etd 12:05am)

i am dead. i am dying. on my grave it shall read anika huang, death by airport. we changed gates for the 4th time and the flight is still delayed.

in the hour i was not posting, i went out to the presecurity area to find the delta help desk to ask about changing flights. they said there was one two-plane flight at the same time, same locations tomorrow, and several three-plane flights tomorrow, which would require two layovers. given the option, i would ask to rebook straight to the london airport, but if my current flight doesn’t get cancelled, then my bag would still get sent to the bristol airport. i think i’m going to try and wait it out for another hour. if there is no good update, i’ll probably have to find a flight tomorrow, take the hotel voucher, and then cry myself to sleep.

the dumplings were sad, i am sad, and the toilet is probably still sad. it is known that boeings’ doors fall off mid-flight, but let it also be know that airbuses are prone to toilet problems.

i’m melting into a little puddle on the floor as jebby arrives in london within the next hour and i am still stuck in boston.

ellie has given me the idea in the comments that someone may be competitively pooping against the employees unclogging the toilet.

 

11:27pm (etd 12:05am)

i heard someone at the counter say it’s fixed! they just have to have the flight attendants and pilots go through security again or something. it’ll likely be delayed a little bit more, but it’s definitely not getting cancelled anymore. then again, i’d rather not get my hopes up in case things go to shit (haha gettit) again.

 

11:43pm (etd 1:00am)

i briefly chatted with one of the passengers, and she said that she heard it was a baby bottle stuck in the toilet. while I’m glad no one had a catastrophic world-ending bowel movement, i’m also disappointed that someone lacked the common sense to know bottles go in the trash can. i take back my previous statement, i don’t think this is airbus’s fault

i have now spent 7.5 hours in the airport with only my cockroach plushie for emotional support. send help.

 

11:54pm (etd 1:00am)

the crew and the pilots just arrived at the gate! a round of applause broke out since we were now sure the flight was not cancelled. the guy working the front counters (plural because we switched gates so many times) for this flight finally got a break and went to go sit down on one of the chairs to have a well-deserved sip of apple juice.

 

12:24am (etd 1:00am)

boarding starts

 

1:40am

takeoff. as soon as the seatbelt sign turned off, i went and found an empty row to sleep in. i fell asleep intermittently for 5 hours, but as far as airplane sleep goes, it was pretty good.

 

1:30pm Local time in Amsterdam (7:30am EST)

landed in amsterdam. they rebooked my flight for 8:35am tomorrow, and by then my job would have already started. i stuff my cockroach plushie in my bag, grab my skateboard, and hurry off to a transport help desk.

 

2:17pm CET

i hear amsterdam is a beautiful city, what a shame I CANT LEAVE THE AIRPORT. if i took the rebooked flight, i would be stuck at another godforsaken airport for another 19 hours on top of the 9 i already suffered. i’m waiting in line for the help desk, so hopefully they can get me a sooner flight so i don’t have to awkwardly explain to my supervisor that i missed my first day because a toilet got clogged.

 

2:50pm CET

they managed to get me on a flight at 10pm. it’s in 7 hours, which is better than 19. This means I can still make it to work on time and get some sleep before that.

pro tip: if your flight gets really delayed, ask for food vouchers. there are also usually refund/reimbursement forms for incurred expenses that you can fill out.

im probably going to find somewhere to take a nap, get food, then explore the airport a little bit.

 

4:47pm CET

 

i suppose airport food is sad everywhere. i saw mini pancakes up on a menu, and they looked really good, but they were about a tenth of the size the screen implied they were. tasted like a pancake. 6/10 (2/10 accounting for size)

 

 

 

 

5:19pm CET

i got 10 euros worth of candy, and i intend for this to last me at least an entire month. there was a bit of variety, so i tried a little bit of each. the hard candies take a bit to melt so i’m still working through them.

the butter waffle is my favorite by far, but there are still two more i haven’t tried.

 

 

7:58pm CET (etd 9:50)

woke up from a nap. surprisingly good for table sleep. the gate information still isn’t here, which is a little weird because there’s only two hours left until i’m supposed to fly.

 

9:15pm CET (etd 9:50)

i am now typing on my phone because i didn’t have a eu adapter for my computer charger, and my laptop ran out of battery. i got some more food (good ol’ mcdonalds) and came to the gate. it looks like the flight is still on time, and boarding is going to start within the next few minutes.

as i wandered the airport, i saw some of the netherlands’ finest exports, including miffy (one of my favorite bunnies as a kid), tulips, wooden clogs, syrup waffles, and tony’s chocolonely. the latter had an entire store, but to be fair, it is really good chocolate.

 

9:25pm CET (etd 9:50)

letsgooooo the gate is open! we’re on time baby

10:02pm Bristol

landed in bristol! i got stopped by customs, so it took slightly longer than expected getting out, but it didn’t take too long. the only thing they seemed surprised by was the very large, very soft cockroach.

i think i’ve learned a few things:

1. advocate for yourself. had i not yapped incessantly about needing to get to work tomorrow morning and being really hungry because of the delays, i would have had to spend another night at the airport starving. you would have witnessed more victorian dramaticism happening in this blog. if something unfair or unreasonable is happening to you, complain about it. that being said, don’t be rude, which brings me to my next point.

2. be kind to service employees. they work long days dealing with angry people and are probably not paid well enough. if you’ve had a bad day, they’re likely having one too. a little compassion and a lot of thank you’s go a long way.

3. skateboards are great for airports, especially if you are on a time crunch or plan to scour a large area for food. i zoomed around a lot, but did so carefully. skate slower around more people, avoid skating close to store entrances, and pay attention to your surroundings. also, if you’re going at breakneck speeds, you’ll probably get yelled at. i went at a relatively reasonable pace.

4. bring a soft thing. very good for naps. noodle was a great nap companion.

 

12:05am

I am alive and in Bristol, and I haven’t lost anything but my sanity. Jebby beat me by 11 hours to the apartment, but sweet reunions never come easy.