THE JOURNEY
Departure Heathrow 20 minutes late, arrive in Lisbon 30 minutes late. Walking into airport there was a woman asking, "Recife?" So I go, "yes" and she points towards arrivals, so I carry on walking with all the other arrivals on the same plane. I wait for a couple of minutes by the luggage carousels for my luggage, but I was concerned about the time, so I wandered over to a TAP desk in the arrivals area. The woman tells me the plane has already left and to go to Customer Services. Thus I was not off the plane 10 minutes before I had gone to a TAP representative.
I then went to customer services panicking somewhat. They confirmed the plane had left and arranged a flight to Sao Paulo at 10 immediately, gave me the phone card and a meal ticket. They said they had been calling my name on the tannoy ??? And that others off the plane had got on the right flight. I should have got more info off the woman saying, "Recife" but I thought she was just waving people on, she certainly didn't say much when I said to her,'yes Recife' I was a bit panicky for an hour or so, I could only get the answer-phone in Caruaru and I felt really vulnerable in Lisbon, I felt pretty spaced out though ever since leaving Cornwall, just couldn't believe the journey that lay ahead. Once I'd had my free meal I felt better and just headed for the departure lounge. 3 hours early but at least there were no weirdoes hanging around, so I sat there phoned mother and grandma and waited until 10.
The flight to Sao Paulo was so very long, 10 hours, I kept falling asleep and waking up again. Eventually we got there.
Sao Paulo airport was really cool. All the staff I chatted to were really friendly, recommending places to go to in Recife and Caruaru. Some pilot helped me with the phone, I had to dial 00 21 before the 44 to phone the UK, so from then on it was cool, even though I still could only get through to an answer-phone.
The school met me off the plane in Recife and apparently had picked up the messages from the office phone. However the night before they knew nothing!! Shellene said I wasn't on the plane but they thought I was and insisted on waiting. They eventually went to the TAP counter where all they could confirm was a no-show, they then got the messages off the phone. All is well that ends well.

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