Part 2: New York Fashion Week’s on the horizon- but stranded in London…did I make it against the odds?
I had only a week’s time to try and get everything together, and while the numerous NY Fashion Week invites brought me close, the perpetual money situation brought me so far. I began asking friends and family for help but no one was able to give in time. NYFW would start on a Thursday, and so by Friday I decided to do something absolutely crazy- travel to London’s Heathrow airport with $25 in my bank account and try to “make it happen.”
What was the outcome? It surely took a lot of “bloodshed” to get to glory. I approached a couple of airlines to try and fly that day or the next day with a round trip ticket, and they’d all give me a price that was non-negotiable. Thankfully I never had to disclose how much I could give based on my bank account…for I surely would’ve been laughed at.
I had no access to Internet but for 20 minutes because of lack of funds (Wi-Fi at Heathrow cost a fortune). The phone booths ate up my money when I tried to call to New York to let family know what was going on. It was just one link of unfortunate lack after another…and I ended up staying over at night in an airport with no booked ticket and no money, trying to make it happen.
Make that 2 nights. I spent a total of two and a half days sitting (and laying) on uncomfortable seats, with only 1 Nutri-Grain bar, some cereal crumbs, some cookies, and one to-go pasta dish to eat during that entire time. And if you think I was not doubting or wavering I thought whether this was worth it or not, you’d be dead wrong. This seemed so stupid! There were so many times where I had just wanted to give in and just go back into London, at least resting on the fact that I’d be right there for London Fashion Week. Yet again, something in me, I cannot develop into words, would “tug” at me and just wouldn’t let me give up. Something was making me stay, and as “over it” as I was, I gave in. It Continue reading
