Almost Untied

I'm not a big fan of unplanned, spontaneous travel, so when I was invited to interview on Tuesday for a fellowship at Oxford with less than a weeks notice my first instinct was not to go. But after persuasion by Mary and various others that it would be a good idea, I booked some flights for Sunday night.

I arrived at O'Hare in what I thought was plenty of time, but on check-in was told that 'seats would be assigned at the gate'. Having never experience an oversold flight before, at this point, I wasn't too worried. But at the gate, things became a little worrisome. If it wasn't for the fact that I had the interview on Tuesday morning I might have accepted their $600 voluntary bumping offer, but in the end I didn't get a seat until almost everyone else had boarded, and then in part due to the kindness of a Mr Roy Chubbs, who when I told him about my imminent interview offered to give up his seat for me. Thanks Roy!

In the end everything went smoothly, with a tidy 13.5 hour journey door to door. Now let's hope the jetlag doesn't affect the interview too much...