20111107  to London and Baltimore

Owen Photos

We woke to our alarm at 0345 and began getting ready. At 0400 the hotel gave us a wakeup call. We were ready and walking down the hall when the hotel porter came along and wrestled our luggage.

We checked out. The taxi came a few minutes later – nice little Mercedes. We were the only passengers. The taxi headed for the airport rapidly – at one point he was doing more than 130 kph on the freeway.

We went into the airport, found our check-in gate (closed) and went for coffee and croissant. Later, we checked two bags and went to the gate. After a while, the gate opened, we boarded and so did other people until the plane was full. Then it flew smoothly to London Heathrow and parked. I slept most of the way. We took a bus to Terminal 3, then a bus to Terminal 5. After entering through security again, we went to the Giraffe restaurant for drinks and food and a spot to sit.

Food & drink were good. We went to the bookstore and bought a couple of books. Then to the waiting lounge. We waited a while, then went to our plane via yet another bus. 

The flight was smooth and comfortable. We both caught up on sleep and read the books. The headwinds were less than usual, so we landed a half-hour early. After the usual immigration and customs delays, we took the shuttle bus to the Four Points Sheraton on the airport grounds. 

We’ll have something light in the hotel restaurant later, and start re-acclimating to the new time zone.

20111108  BWI to ECP and home

We ate last night and went to bed around 2100. We woke a couple of times in the night and finally just got up at 0430. Still have some adjusting to do.

We'll have breakfast here at the Four Points and then take the shuttle to the airport for our 0850 non-stop flight to ECP (Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport – sheesh what a name). 

We'll redeem our car at the airport lot, drive home, unpack, start the laundry and otherwise get back to normal. Son Bill, Lana, and his son Jamie are coming for Thanksgiving, so we have some cleaning to do.

The forecast at home today is for partly sunny and 77*F, which isn't too bad for November 8th.

Unless something worthwhile happens today, that's it for this trip.

Thanks for coming along.