They're all in London. Crocodiles of them everywhere one goes. An awful lot of French adults as well. Wonder who's minding the store in France?
Have been unable to post due to hotel's “limited connectivity,” whatever that might be. In my view, you're either connected or you're not. I'm not. Also have not had time, as we've been going nonstop. Yesterday when I had a bit of time to post, discovered that apparently I hadn't shut the computer down properly when I left the sky lounge in Detroit, so the battery was on its last legs. My adapter plug really is semi-functional—I have to force the three prongs into two (with the other one hanging out below), which isn't doing my computer brick any good, I'll bet.
So I'll try to recap the adventure thus far and post this if I ever get connected. Assume the ship's connection will work, although it's slow. And it actually has an American plug I can plug into to recharge!
Monday, May 16
Flight left Minneapolis on time. Can't remember the last flight I was on that left on time! Had a fairly long layover in Detroit since I was worried about missing the connection to London. Turned out to be a piece of cake—just across the hallway. But if I had taken the flights they originally set up with 40 minutes connection, the new gate would probably have been in Siberia. No problem. Off to the Sky Club for some R&R and free internet.
Flying first or business class beats the heck out of steerage. My last flight across the pond was in steerage, and it wasn't fun.
We got hot towels, snacks, drinks, and then a delicious (really!) dinner served course by course. Ahi tuna in the sky for an appetizer? Works for me. Best tomato bisque I've ever had. Desert cart? Bring it on.
Dinner finished, it occurs to me that if I'm going to get any sleep at all it had better be pretty quick, so I take my flat bed seat for a test drive. It's flat all right, but it could use a mattress pad. It's an interesting design—your seat reclines and slides into a hole under the table of the person in front of you. OK, so now I'm flat and I have my sleep mask on and my pillow and duvet, but, Lord, it's hotter than hades in here. Last time over I about froze to death. Heidi reported it was cold in steerage on her flight and Carolyn said it was hot on hers in business class.
Any way, I felt like I had finally gotten to sleep when a persistent alarm starts sounding. I noticed the sun was coming up. Sure enough, they want to wake us up so they can serve us breakfast. Started with the whole hot towel routine again. Breakfast was good—juice, yoghurt, granola, fresh fruit, assorted rolls, and LOTS of coffee.
Tuesday, May 17
We were given cards to expedite our passage through immigration, which turned out to be a good thing. The lines were very long, even the expedited one. Having finally passed muster with immigration, I went in search of my Heathrow Shuttle driver, who was supposed to be monitoring my flight. We were about an hour early. No driver. I waited for about half an hour, chatting with the drivers who were waiting for their passengers. One of them offered to call Heathrow Shuttle for me, which was good, since my phone doesn't work in Europe. They said he was at terminal 1 and would be along shortly. Not. Called again after about 15 minutes, was told he'd be there in about 10 minutes. Not. In the meantime, I've been joined by another passenger from my flight who hadn't had the benefit of expedited processing (it took him an hour longer to clear immigration). By this time, my new best friend with the phone has connected with his passengers and departed. Luckily, the new person comes to London often and has a phone that works. We call yet again. Great surprise on the part of Heathrow Shuttle (right) that we haven't been picked up yet, promise they will send a special van just for us in ten minutes. Driver shows up about 20 minutes later. Took about an hour to get into London to my hotel, arrived 3 hours after landing.
Bottom line is—should you happen to be traveling to London Heathrow, do not under any circumstances book your transport to London with Heathrow Shuttle!
Hotel is in Victoria on Belgrave Street. Luna Simone Hotel. Absolutely fabulous location. Bus 24 stops outside the door and will take you virtually anywhere you want to go. I've only taken two other buses in the time I've been here. Riding up top in the front row is an experience not to be missed! First of all, it's as good a view as the folks who have paid major money to ride the tourist buses, while we're paying about a pound/ride with our trusty Oyster cards which we ordered in advance and had mailed to us. Secondly, you get a bird's eye view of the bus driver's seeming attempt to crash into things and run people over. The bus runs about every four minutes. Have not even tried the tube, no scenery down there and the buses go everywhere you want to go.
Now, hotel is in fabulous location and the owners are wonderful and the breakfast is good. Only one problem (aside from the fact their internet connection doesn't work)—we're on the third floor (fourth floor to Americans) and there's no lift. We've taken to calling it climbing Mount Everest. Not only that, but breakfast is served in the basement, another flight of stairs! We decided we'd either be fit or dead by the time we leave! Passed a woman giving out passes to a health club on the sidewalk. Told her we didn't need a health club, we have our own stairmaster!
Somewhere during the journey, I have acquired a really nasty blister on the bottom of my left foot. Think it was from wearing socks with some Clarks that I normally wouldn't wear socks with. So, instead of setting off on my own, I decide to wait for Heidi who is due in an hour or so and give it a rest. Just what I need at the start of a journey that will be all about walking!
Heidi arrived and we set off in search of a chemist for some sort of miracle cure for my blister. Couldn't find any moleskin, but found some sort of sticking plaster that promised relief, so got that.
Had a pub lunch around the corner from the hotel and then off to the National Gallery for some great art viewing. This was our first encounter with the French schoolchildren.
By this time, both us were a bit punchy and very jet lagged, so we hopped on our trusty #24 steed and returned to the hotel, with a pit stop at Sainsburys for dinner provisions. Ate dinner and went to bed and slept for 12 hours straight!
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