Believe it or not, I picked G up from the airport last evening, just 24 hours before our flight to London takes off today. It’s not an overstatement to say that this cruise was shoehorned into our schedule. G unpacked, did laundry and repacked, and I gave him a haircut, all in about four hours this morning. It’s a good thing he’s pretty practiced at this! Luckily, he had shut down the sprinkler system and prepared the house and yard for winter before he left in late September, and I did my best not to break anything (including me, which I am wont to do) while he was away.
I took advantage of G’s absence to go to sleep earlier and earlier each night, eventually getting to the point where I was naturally waking up at 2am. It’s nice to have the luxury of doing that (I don’t always) and I really think it helps reduce jet lag. Granted, those cold, dark hours before sunrise were pretty spooky, but they were perfect for getting critical things done (like Wordle, Strands and Connections). ;-)
I may not be traveling quite as much as I used to, but I had to laugh at how easily I fell right back into old habits, with notes sprinkled around the house to help me remember those last minute items to pack and things to do. If I don’t write things down, they tend to get lost in the push to get out of the door (like that contacts case in June).
In the bathroom…
in the kitchen…
in my backpack
Our driver Michelle picked us up about 1pm, and that is a mighty fine time to leave the house for vacation. I love living fairly close to a major airport, but major airports are large airports, and navigating ours these days is a caution. It's a given that we’ll meet our daily 10K steps just getting through security and to our gate. I’m sporting some new hardware since my July surgery, and had a photo of my latest X-ray on my phone just in case TSA raised a fuss. I’ve had hardware for more than 30 years, and it has rarely been an issue, but I can’t say it never has (I’m looking at you, Rarotonga, you hot bed of terrorist activity 😉).
With some extra time after we checked our large suitcases, we swung into the USO. I always love the greeting we get there, and it’s impossible to leave without having several snacks in hand. The volunteers insist, and they came in handy on the plane, during those long, sleepless overnight hours
We took the same non-stop flight to London that we’ve taken several times in the past, but added a twist this time. When I priced flights through Princess EZ Air, the price for a seat in Economy was a bargain, $300. Premium Economy was about $1500 and Business Class was over $4000. I know I said last year that I was spoiled forever by flying Business, but the Depression-era frugality I was raised with hasn’t totally left me, I guess. Instead we booked two seats in Economy, and, once we knew that I would be having surgery, decided to put our savings toward an easy private transfer from Heathrow to Southampton and a nice hotel for a pre-cruise night there. No sightseeing this time; we planned to get to the hotel, eat something and crash.
By the time things got complicated with “that” foot, it was too late to second guess our choice. I really miss that 45 day window for making flight changes with Princess EZ Air; instead, we opted for the next best option. I used miles to book a second seat for me, giving us a guaranteed middle seat between two aisle seats in the middle section of the aircraft. While Princess. EZ Air did not want to get involved, United was as efficient and friendly as possible, especially considering I didn’t make my original reservation through them. So, for $600 plus 25K miles, we both traveled in relative (Economy Class) comfort to get to our cruise.
This flight to London is historically as reliable as death and taxes, and today was no different. I decided to take 10mg of melatonin instead of a 5mg Ambien and removed my contacts and glasses (with prism) before we boarded. As a result, I was drowsy, nearly blind AND seeing double, a dangerous combination, though once I’d stepped into the aircraft it was impossible, if I stumbled, to fall too far. The empty seat between us made all the difference in our personal comfort and allowed us both to stretch out and move our legs. I had “prescribed” one 81 mg aspirin for both of us for the past three days, and even doubled up on mine yesterday and today given my recent surgery. I supplemented that with compression socks and I arrived in London in good condition, though not as rested as I had hoped.
I don’t know if every flight circles extensively before landing at Heathrow, but every flight I’ve been on there has. Watching this on the route map, the entire map spinning in tight circles, actually made me nauseous, though, if I shut my eyes, I couldn’t feel it at all. It was a weird phenomenon.
Finally cleared to land
There is a lot of walking to get from aircraft to Arrivals Hall in Terminal 2 at Heathrow, but once we reached it, I knew I really was home free. Our Britway Airport Transfer driver Ali (nicest guy ever) was waiting for us as we entered the hall, took our large suitcases from us and led us to his vehicle. We sunk into its comfort and knew for certain that we had done the right thing paying extra for the private transfer this year. We have used Britway in the past, though only for a transfer into Central London, and found them highly reliable once again.
The drive to Southampton took about 75 minutes, and we arrived at our hotel, the Harbour Hotel in Southampton, before check in time. Fortunately, the front desk was very accommodating and let us into our room immediately, where we dumped our luggage and did the kind of extensive scrubbing up one craves after a long travel night and transiting through two crowded airports.
Our goal for the afternoon was to go to tea in the hotel, but the plethora of snacks plus three meals on the plane left us far more tired than hungry. We had been up for about 28 hours and just wanted to crash, though I’ve never seen Southampton look prettier. Sunny and 63°, the leaves were just beginning to change, and our room featured a beautiful view of the marina with its multimillion dollar yachts.
The hotel offers free shuttles to the cruise ship, but the only time slot left when we arrived was 2pm, so I’ve reserved an Uber for tomorrow morning at the suggestion of the hotel clerk. She said there are multiple large ships in port tomorrow, and traffic is going to be extremely heavy. G thought we should just walk to the ship, but it’s about 20 minutes over rough surfaces and I do not want to subject my new luggage wheels to that. Still, it’s a viable alternative in case of a no show; stay tuned to see how this works out.
