12/20/2014 Saturday
Depart the Danube Holiday tour. Say so-long to Glenn & Marylou. Fly to London, then Atlanta and a bed somewhere.
BA0865/BUD/0815/1000/LHR/BA0227/1430/1855/ATL
20141220 to Atlanta Saturday
We woke several times in the night but finally remained awake around 0400 CEST (GMT+1). Cleaned up and went to breakfast. Back to the cabin to put out all the luggage (we use four small rolling suitcases) and to check we hadn't left anything.
Then wait for the bus trip to the airport.
At the airport, a Vantage person showed us to the check-in line for the British flight to London. But there were also people off a Viking cruise and people off a AMA cruise trying to check in. The counter had only three people working plus one person who was supposed to be guiding passagers to the right line. It turned into small-scale chaos. But we all got checked in.
Security was another effort at frustrating departing passengers, but we all slogged through the process and the lines. Then wait for the flight boarding, another exercise in frustration. People here have no concept of orderly queuing. We only had little bags that fit under the seat easily, so we had none of the problems some of these people had who insist on huge carry-ons.
The flight to London was uneventful after all that. We each napped.
When we arrived at Terminal 3 at Heathrow, we began our walk for the day. The walk from the plane to the connecting bus for Terminal 5 weaves for several hundred yard through the building to accommodate 1) passengers transferring to other flights, 2) EU arriving passengers who don't have to do immigration screenings, 3) non-EU arrivals who get screened before entry into the UK.
But we rode to T5. It would be a nice drive if it weren't mostly underground. Then T5 (again), wherein you weave once more according to your category. A nice coordinator of the line for the security process let us into the quick lane, so we did better than most. Finally through that mess, we pulled up a table in Giraffe (a lunch place).
The Hungarian waitress told me they hadn't caught any fish that day when I asked for fish-and-chips. We laughed and had other things. Then off to wait for the flight. The board stating gate location to be used first said “TBA 1315”; after 1315, it said “Please Wait”. Then it said “Will Use B Gates”, so we used the underground train to the T5 “B” building. After a while longer, it admitted that B32 would be used, so we waited there. So did a few thousand other people. You may be getting the idea that we did; anyone who travels at Christmas time is daft.
The flight to Atlanta was nice but longish (9 hours). But it was interesting seeing the lights of Goose Bay, Labrador and Montreal. The entry to US for US citizens is much improved with the kiosks available that read your passport, note some information you put in, and gives you a printed form to take to the agents. The whole process went smoothly, as did the shuttle to the domestic terminal and the little train to GICC and the Marriott.
The hotel is nice, and on weekends it's cheap because they mainly do conventions during the week. We had another small meal and went to bed around 2200 EST (GMT-5).
20141221 to Jax Beach Sunday
We slept and rolled over and slept some more. I couldn't sleep anymore when 0730 came around so I got up and did things for the web page.
When we finally got going, we had breakfast in the hotel's small-meal facility. Nice to have a standard American breakfast for a change. Then we put the luggage on a cart and wheeled the whole works to the Hertz Gold counter. We found we weren't on the board.
Consulting with a rep, who found our reservation time to be much later today, we deduced that placing a reservation from Budapest confused their reservations program. Hmm. She made a Chrysler Town n Country minivan available. We wanted to try one of these things anyway, so that was ok.
We cleared Atlanta on Interstates, then shifted to US-23 & US-1 to get into the Jax area. We unpacked & started laundry and in general just got comfortable.
Thanks for coming on our trip.