As the captain's voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing that the plane was just about to begin itsherhis descent ontointoon Heathrow Airport, Maria looked around thereither . TakenTakingTook off from Rio, the plane, atheone 747, had been very tightlyalmostnearly full, but a quitequitequite a few passengers have gothad gotgetting off in Lisbon, so with luck it didn'twouldn'twon't take her too long to get her luggage and get through customs. Looking byaway fromout of the window, she was catchingwould catchcaught a first gazeglanceglimpse of London through the clouds and felt a sudden shiver of excitement. She was so far distantawayremoved from home and on her own for the first time ofinfor her life. She reflected briefly that it was only the second time that she has beenwashad been outside her own country, the other beinghadwould be a short holiday she had had with her parents in the U.S.A. for 2 years2 years earlier2 years ago . Now she was on her way to start a university course in the North of England. She was really looking forward to becomebebeing a student there, though she was also quite nervous at the prospect of no longernot longerno more being able to depend offromon her family's close support. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didnít notice the plane landing. Suddenly everyone on the plane was gettingwere gettingwould get off. Maria realised that she would really have to hurry if she hadwaswere able to catch the train from King's Cross that would get her to her destination tobyon time. She had lessfewerlower than 2 hours to get to the station and it was so crowded it would obviously take nosomeany time to get out of the airport. ArrivingArrivedTo arrive at the baggage hall, she looked for the right carousel to collect her luggage. It wasThey wereThere were so many peoplepeoplespersons there she had great difficulty to finddifficulty in findingdifficulties to find a place to stand where she could see the luggage arriving. She had been waiting for about five minutes when she suddenly remindedwas remindedremembered that she needed to getgettingget to a bank forso asto get someanyfew of her travellers' cheques changeto changechanged . She only had littlea fewa little English money and thiswhichwhat she had certainly wasn't enough to buy her ticket inforto the train. Another 10 minutes pastwere passingpassed and there was still no sign of her case. She started to wish she hadwould haveshould have changed more money at home. She knew it was no usepointsense worrying about what she hadn't done, but she couldn't help feelingto feelit feeling cross with herself. After half an hour with no sign of her case she had just about resigned herself not only to misshave missmissing the bank, but also her train. 'By the time II'llI'd get my case and get out of here', she thought to herself, ' II'llI'd probably have missed the last train and have to spend the night in London'. She was just on the point of going to look for someone who could give her an informationsome informationssome information about where to find lost property when her case appeared. 'I'd still hadneedn'tbetter try to get there tonight', she said to herself as she made her way through passport control and customs. Suddenly she spotted an open bank and just beyond it a 'standby' ticket office. 'Well, I mightcouldcan as well give it a try,' she muttered (to her surprise in English). An hour later she was in the air on her way north, with an air ticket that had cost less thanthatas she'd thought the train willwoulddoes . As she settled back to enjoy the rest of the flight, she wondered if the remainder of her time in England canwillwould be as eventful as her first hour or so. She hoped not, but she decided she was going to enjoy herself, come what may.