I awoke early, bathed and packed up the last remnants of my belongings. After a quick double check, I rode the lift down to the lobby and checked out. I had to be at the airport for about 1, so I figured I'd catch the tube around 11ish as I was told it would take about an hour to get to Heathrow.
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| Ahh, comedy |
About twenty minutes later, I retrieved my bags and walked around the corner to the tube station. One train was all I needed to get to Heathrow. I was excited and felt like a local! Woot!
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| Counter Weight |
I had my headphones in, my bags between my knees and a good seat on the tube. Granted, it was a long ride. A little over an hour, but I was entertained by the young woman seated opposite me. She spent the time applying make up. It was certainly a feat. I don't know know how she did it. She must have used her hand as a counter-weight. Not only did she apply the make up once, but being unsatisfied with her ranking on hootchi scale, she re-applied everything in a darker shade. She really looked better with less on. I don't know how she didn't notice I was transfixed watching her, but I suppose messing with your face in a moving vehicle takes quite a lot of concentration. And talent.
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| My Ameribag Healthy Back Bag. I likey! |
I get to security and pull out my Nexus
and put it in the bin. They tell me I don't have to take my boots off so I don't. I go through the metal detector and of course, since my boots have metal on them, it sets it off. I then have to remove my boots and get patted down. All in all not a painful process as this was Heathrow and not LAX. Had it been LAX it probably would have taken upwards of an hour.
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| I got this |
I got through Security and I heard a very sweet sound. I sound I hadn't heard in a good while. It was intoxicating, this sound. It was... the siren song of the Duty Free Store!
I tried to resist. But I couldn't. My resolve had been used up. Christmas was a few days away. Did I have enough presents? Have I spent enough money? I don't know! Whatever to do? Before you ask, yes I went in and bought Traveler's Special Scotch. Why? No idea. I blame subliminal advertising left over from the 70's.Since I had last visited Heathrow on a return journey, I found out about another lounge and not just the VA guest list. This lounge is called the No 1 Traveler's lounge. It's only a fraction of the cost of the VA one, so I tried it out.
There was a buffet of hot soup, cheese, fruits soft drinks, crackers coffee and tea. For starters, I got a bowl of tomato veggie soup with a cracker and some kind of cheese. I'm guessing it's English Stilton. Or something else just as blue.
I added to that a salad and potato salad. I washed it down with my mimosa which is called a Buck's Fizz over there.
Although I was stuffed, I wanted to try everything I could. So I ordered from the Hot Deli Menu. You're allowed one free choice. I was in London still, so I went with the most obvious choice. Fish N Chips.
What you see behind there is a white wine mixed with Sprite Zero. DON'T JUDGE ME!
By this time I had a nice little tummy ache and a buzz going. It was time to board anyway, so off I went to be what's known as 'gate lice' to await the call of my row to board.
Here are some more pix of No 1 Traveler if you're interested.
I boarded the plane. My seat was on the aisle of the middle row. Up until about 10 minutes before take off, I had no seat partner, but of course that didn't last. I had to get up and let the guy in.
The flight attendant came around with the 'Welcome Beverage' which was, of course sparkling wine. Seriously? Yes. I down my bubbly, put on my snuggie, buckle up and...
Why, why, why ,WHY, WHYYYYYY???!!!!! If you're interested in hearing me pontificate on why children should not be allowed on planes, drop me an email and I'll send you an .mp3. For now, I'll move on.
Not too long after take off was dinner. I chose the Chicken Tarragon. It came with a salad that I didn't eat. I'm pretty
sure I'll never eat an airline salad again. This is because of some of the homework we had. Truth or fiction, it doesn't matter. I can't do airline salads for a while. The pastry that was with it also had that 'play dough' flavor. Maybe it's an English thing.
I also got a Virgin Atlantic cocktail.
I should have taken the other half of pain killer and drifted into a nice snooze. But did I? No. I actually forgot about that. I ended up suffering through brat-tantrums, the guy next to me trying to climb over me and flight attendants skipping me for snacks. I didn't actually want the snack, I was just feeling left out. :( Note to self: the next time you're ignored by a flight attendant and not given a snack, TAKE IT AS A SIGN!
I couldn't take a pic of it since my phone had died, but it was supposed to be a pizza. Next to a Nutri-system pizza, this was the most godawful thing I've tried. It was like a pseudo flavored wood with pretend cheese on top. Why would I do this to myself??? It was TURRIBLE!
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| Charles knows what's up. |
We landed at LAX without incident. I proceeded through immigration. The same people that checked me through last time checked me through this time. I had nothing to declare so I went through nice and easy.
Our luggage was at carousel 5. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that they hired one little old man on a tricycle carrying one bag at a time back and forth from the plane. It was odd and took a really long time. I was almost a little worried. I did see one bag come down the thingy and get destroyed.
Eventually my bags arrived. I snatched them up and ran for the exit.
I called my mom on the ride home and told her about the rat. Oh what fun that was!
When I got to my residence, this was waiting for me:
And all was right with the world.
