UK Trip - Day One
The journey began at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 13. We got up, took our showers, dressed, finished packing our toiletries, laptop, reading materials, and miscellany, and headed for Spokane. Our plane was scheduled to depart at 1:14 p.m. and we had been advised to be at the airport two hours early. We were to arrive at our oldest son's home at 9:30 a.m. so that he could drive us to the airport, eliminating the need to pay to park our car at the airport during our absence. That meant we had to leave our house by 8:00 at the latest. We left our driveway at 7:30, well ahead of schedule. In fact, we had time to stop for a Starbucks on the way. So far, so good. We arrived at Tommy's in plenty of time, he drove us to the airport, where we arrived with time to spare. I saw the Northwest e-ticket self-check kiosk and headed for it. It was pretty darned easy - just swipe my passport and it brought up all three of our names. In a matter of seconds, we have three boarding passes with seat assignments. Off we go to security. We decided to take only carry-on luggage. That meant we each had a carry-on suitcase with wheels and a backpack, or in my case, a large messenger bag which contained my laptop and important travel documents.
Security required every passenger to remove their shoes, regardless of type. We complied, placed our bags on the belt so they could be x-rayed, and went through the gates. They decided to pat down Tom for some reason, but beyond that, not a single hitch. We were over two hours early in Spokane International Airport. All I wanted to do was sleep. The previous night had been a restless and short one. Too bad there was nowhere to snooze.
The plane arrived and began boarding right on time. Almost three hours later we were landing in Minneapolis for a brief layover and a plane change. When we boarded our international flight, the bin with my suitcase in it didn't want to close. I did NOT want my bag checked in and watched anxiously as a passenger and a flight attendant worked to close the bin, finally succeeding. Unfortunately, on this flight, Tom, Jonathan and I occupied the middle three seats in a five seat row. Tom between Jonathan and me. We were squished, and would remain so for the next eight hours. That was the worst part of the trip. The plane was scheduled to land at Gatwick at 9:30 a.m. London time. The person next to Jonathan was obviously a frequent flier. He had the eye mask, the neck pillow, and the Bose noise-cancelling headphones. He told Jonathan if he needed to get out to just punch him in the arm. He was asleep almost before we left the ground.
I made the mistake of wearing my contact lenses on the plane. It didn't take long for my eyes to feel as if someone had poured sand into them and was rubbing it around. My contact lens solution and case were in my suitcase. Boy, was I dumb. I tried to snooze, but it just was not happening. We had decent food. Don't ask what it was because I don't remember anything except that it wasn't as bad as I thought airplane food was supposed to be. We had a movie, but I don't remember what it was either - one I'd seen before. The picture quality was horrible, as was the sound. You'd think in this day and age of amazing electronics they'd put in an LCD screen or a plasma. This was pretty terrible resolution and the color was way off. I got up to stretch my legs a couple of times and got a glimpse of first class... wow, what a way to fly. But not at triple the fare I'd paid. Although those wide, reclining seats sure looked inviting in the middle of the night.
We touched down at Gatwick right on schedule. I got off the plane first, Tom's suitcase in tow since it was nearest me. He and Jonathan were busy retrieving Jonathan's and mine. I waited for them at the entrance to the airport...and waited...and waited... and waited. Finally, a passenger coming off the plane said to me "you might be here a while. They can't get the bin open to get one of the suitcases." Great. Finally, they came walking up the jetway. Tom's body language gave his aggravation away from 30 feet away. Apparently, they almost had to get a mechanic to take the bin apart but a combined effort finally got the bin open and my suitcase was retrieved. Unfortunately, the delay put us at the end of the line for Immigration instead of the front of it. We had a half hour wait in the hot, stuffy bowels of Gatwick Airport. I was tired, thirsty, and my eyes felt like I'd been in the Sahara for a month. Finally, we were cleared through immigration and customs and headed for the British Airways gates.
Gatwick is weird. The gates for local flights are not pre-set. You have to watch a monitor and wait for it to tell you which gate your flight will be boarding at. It was barely 20 minutes before our Edinburgh flight was scheduled to leave that the gate was finally posted on the monitor. We nearly ran to the gate, but got on board, suitcases stowed, with no further mishap. Just a bit behind schedule, we landed in Edinburgh. Off to the Hertz counter to retrieve the car I'd reserved so we could embark on our Scottish adventure.
More to come...
