August 13, 2015—Day
19, Disembarkation and Homeward Bound
My alarm went off at a very early 4:30am so I would have
time to shower, get dressed, finish packing, have breakfast, and get ready to
get off the ship by 7:15am. It was
another cold, cloudy, and windy day (welcome back to England ), so we had to dress in
layers again knowing that when we landed in LAX it would be hot. All went smoothly until we presented our
cruise cards to be scanned one last time before getting off the ship.
Just after we were scanned off, but before we had actually
left the ship, the line came to a stop and we stood there waiting…and
waiting. Finally after about 20 minutes,
one of the security guards told us that the gangway was broken (not sure what
exactly was broken on the gangway) and that an engineer had been called. In the meantime, the crowd behind us that was
waiting to be scanned off the ship had grown larger and larger, and the
passengers were getting angry saying they had a flight to catch—there were
hundreds of people behind us all waiting to get off. After another 10 minutes, the crowd behind us
had been directed down to Deck 5 where another gangway had been opened. Finally, with the crowd behind us clearing
away, we were turned around, had to be re-scanned back on board the ship, then
directed down to the other gangway where we were scanned off the ship again and
made our way into the terminal. We found
our luggage right away (it usually takes us a few minutes) and we were out of
the terminal less than 5 minutes after finally leaving the ship. There were no immigration or customs lines to
go through like we usually did when leaving a ship, so we ended up outside
sooner than planned even with the unexpected delay.
I had hired Smiths for Airports to take us to Heathrow Airport
with a 1-hour stop at Stonehenge on the
way. Our flight wasn’t due to leave
until 4:15pm, so we had time for this last sightseeing stop.
The drive to Stonehenge was
only about 45 minutes, and we arrived before most of the tour buses. I had booked an hour at Stonehenge ,
and asked the driver how much it would be if we went over the hour. He said since our flight didn’t leave until
4:15pm we had plenty of time and not to worry about any additional charge, that
we could safely take over 2 hours if we wanted and still be at Heathrow in
plenty of time. He told me had to stay
at the airport for a pickup at 5:00pm, so he was in no hurry and it didn’t
matter to him if we took longer.
I had pre-purchased the tickets for the tram out to the stones
on the Stonehenge website before leaving home and only had to present the receipt to collect
them. The visitors center is quite a
ways from the actual stones and you couldn’t see them from there, but the tram
bus only took a few minutes to take us out.
We walked out to see these famous stones which are even larger than I
had thought. I can’t image how they were
moved, or how the large cross stones were placed on top of the others, especially
over 4,000 years ago (without cranes to lift them). Visitors aren’t able to walk among the stones
themselves, and there is a small roped line to keep tourists out. This actually is a very good thing since you
can take pictures without having a bunch of people in them around the stones.
After taking the tram back to the visitor’s center, we
wandered through the gift shop, then to the café for a warming drink (tea, hot
chocolate, and cappuccino). By then,
several tour buses had arrived and it was starting to get crowded, so we
decided we’d better leave. Just as we
were walking back, it was starting to sprinkle, and by the time we were well no our way to Heathrow, it was raining hard. The drive took a little longer than usual as everyone was driving slower.
With visibility down, I decided to check my emails on the drive to the airport (there were quite a few since I hadn't checked in a while). Air New Zealand had a program where you
could place a bid for an upgrade and I had placed a very small bid of $300 to
be upgraded from premium economy to business class. I had received an email a week ago saying
that they had noticed that my bid was extremely small and did I want to
increase it in order to have a better chance of getting an upgrade—guess they
pretty much laughed at my bid. I had
another email a few days ago saying that unfortunately, my bid was not accepted
(no surprise), but that we would be placed on the standby list (I guess in case
they didn’t receive any other bids).
During the drive to the airport, I received a “Congratulations, your bid
has been accepted and you have been upgraded to business class.” This was a very happy surprise since there
was no way I thought they would upgrade the three of us for such a small amount
(I guess that from their standpoint, it’s better than giving away a free
upgrade). While we had enjoyed the
experience of flying in their spaceseat on the way over, now we would be flying
in business class on the way back (Air New Zealand was quickly becoming a
favorite airline—too bad they don’t fly all over).
We had also been very lucky with the weather. While it was cold, and windy, and cloudy, and
certainly not typical August weather, we hadn’t had any rain at any of the
stops while we were actually outside and sightseeing and taking pictures. Oh, it would rain while we were in the cars,
but not whenever we stopped to get out.
Unfortunately, our luck had run out and it was pouring rain
at the airport. We unloaded the luggage
and wheeled them into the airport and we were really wet by the time we got inside
(there is no protective covering roof which seems strange in a country that
gets lots of rain). Finally, we check in
and were assigned seats 9J, 9K, and 10J.
We were also able to use United’s business class lounge since Air New Zealand is in the Star Alliance. How nice to get complementary food and drink
in a very nice setting while waiting for our flight.
Once on board, our flight attendant offered us Champagne or orange
juice, and explained all the seat controls.
As I mentioned, when we flew out, economy seats were configured in a
3-4-3 design, while premium economy was 2-2-2, but business class was 1-2-1, so
much more room. The seats were like
little pods that you had all to yourself and they were lay-flat seats, meaning
they would convert to a fully flat bed!
Service on the flight was beyond compare. After such a long day with disembarkation, the
stop in Stonehenge , and getting to the
airport, we were all tired. How
wonderful to be able to stretch out completely, covered with a nice quilt, and
fall asleep to the droning of the plane’s engines. While I can’t imagine paying 3-5 times as
much for business, it sure was nice to be able to experience it on this flight
(probably the only time I will ever be able to—unless I win the lottery or
megabucks of course).
I think we all slept a good 5-6 hours when growing activity
in the cabin woke us. My dad had no
sooner lifted his head, when the flight attendant handed him a glass of orange
juice! I think he could definitely get
used to that kind of service!
Debarking the plane, going through immigration, getting our
luggage, and clearing customs went fairly quick, and we found someplace to sit
while we waited for my son to pick us up.
Unfortunately, the traffic into LAX airport was horrendous, but he
finally made it and we loaded up the van and drove to my house for the night,
getting here around 11:00pm California time
(while it was Friday morning in England ). My parents' continuing flight from Orange County
airport to Sacramento on Southwest was leaving at 8:00am, and I had to go to work the next morning, so we all
tried to get some more sleep.
This trip to England
had been a bucket list item and we were able to see all the places we wanted to
see. While there were some issues with the
ship, and the weather could have been warmer with less wind, there were so many
other things that went well and we enjoyed being able to see so much including
Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, and Windsor Castle in London. Especially memorable was the trip to Leominster , visiting the
town, walking the same streets as family members long gone have done hundreds
of years before, and finding the graves of our ancestors. The private excursions we took were wonderful
and exceeded our expectations! We
visited five countries: England , Ireland ,
Wales , Scotland , and France . We saw numerous castles and churches and
cathedrals, and visited the Outlander sites we wanted to see. We saw the Champes-Elysee,
Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower , the Louvre, and Notre Dame Cathedral, and
cruised down the Seine
River England
(over 30 years ago) and in Germany
(almost 20 years ago), it was nice to be able to visit them again, and it was
especially nice to be able to share all of this with my parents!
It had been a memorable vacation, another once-in-a-lifetime
experience, and yet, it was good to be home.
Till next time….
No comments:
Post a Comment