Thursday April 19 After returning the car, we returned to the Sheraton for some final packing, and we checked out of the hotel and caught the shuttle to the airport. Boy, did we have some luggage, and in hindsight there were some things we didn’t need to bring along, but hey, we made it, and that’s the main thing. Arriving at check in, we were told that the computers were down, but after about 15minutes wait they were up and running again. We were given our boarding passes and told to take our bags to the 1st class line at [View Full Entry]

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Monday April 16, We arranged a Lincoln Town car Limousine to take us to Kennedy Airport this morning for our flight to Los Angeles. Check in was a breeze, we didn’t have to take our bags anywhere for scrutiny at all, it just went down the belt, quite different to other airports where it is taken aside and X rayed. We walked to the Admirals Club, which is the American Airlines lounge. It was quite roomy, but all they were serving was coffee, tea, juice and a plain bagel. Paul got on line to read the Sydney Morning Herald but [View Full Entry]

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New York Thursday April 12 We checked out of the hotel and caught a cab to Reagan National Airport for our flight to New York. We went to the self service check in, but was given a message to go to Customer service. We were then told by a very indifferent American Airlines employee that our flight had been cancelled. We asked if he could re book us, but his response was “No, get in the line over there”. Jeff was really annoyed, and asked him when the flight had been cancelled. His reply was “What difference does it make, [View Full Entry]

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Washington April 9 Up early, and with the last bit of packing to do, we looked out our window towards the lake to see it snowing. We checked out of the Park Hyatt and caught a taxi to the Airport. On the way we discussed and dreaded the Airport Security, due to our experiences on our last visit here. Pleasantly enough, we breezed straight through with little problem. We had a cup of tea in the food court, and waited to board our American Airlines flight to Washington. Our flight today was operated by an American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80. [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 5 April An early wake up call, and off o the airport for our 7.25am flight to London, with a connecting flight to Chicago. A short taxi ride away with a pleasant and helpful taxi driver, and we were at Tegel Airport. It is a very small airport, and has an unusual concept of checking in right at the gate, then passing straight through Immigrations and Security and directly into the gate lounge. The flight was very full this morning, with a mix of business travellers and families. We settled into seats 3A and B on this Airbus A319, [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at the Park Hyatt hotel. What a lovely hotel! The staff were all smiling and welcoming, and so efficient. We were checked in quickly, and escorted to a wonderful room, overlooking Michigan Avenue and the lake. It was so large, beautifully furnished and very elegant with a huge marble bathroom with every conceivable convenience. Apparently this is one of Jennifer Aniston’s favourite hotels! After unpacking and showering, Paul went to Walgreens pharmacy across the street from the hotel, for some drinks and snacks. He asked directions for a liquor store from a traffic Warden, [View Full Entry]

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Sunday April 1 After a drive just over 2 hours, we dropped off our rental car, and took the shuttle to Terminal1 at Heathrow airport. We checked in at the Premium check in area, and then passed through the very strict security and went to the British Airways Terraces lounge. It was large and busy, but well designed to still have enough of a feeling of privacy. Our flight to Berlin was delayed 30 minutes. We boarded the Airbus A319-200, and had a long taxi to the runway, then a short wait for take off. Heathrow is a very busy [View Full Entry]

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Friday March 30 Arrived at our hotel, Holland House, in Bristol. Yes, a change from our original itinerary. It’s a new hotel only that only opened a 9 days ago. Its very smart, a few minor teething problems, to be expected at this stage, but very comfortable, a good find! Unpacked, we freshened up and walked into the city centre for dinner. We eventually found a small restaurant near the pub we had planned on visiting later, called Johns Café. Despite the name, it was Thai, but with several strange influences like Pappadums and Naan and Roasties (small potatoes), all [View Full Entry]

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Monday, 26 March We awoke at 6am after 12 hours deep sleep, much needed after the . We read the papers, wrote some blog, and watched British morning TV. The news of the moment is the captured British Sailors and the murder of cricket coach Bob Woolmer. Breakfast and a cup of tea later, we checked out of the hotel and the car company picked us in their shuttle bus. It turned out that the car we had booked was a Môndeo, and it was manual. Jeff is sure that he booked an automatic car, which was described as a [View Full Entry]

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Off to England today, bags are packed and ready to go. We checked out of the Emirates Towers and caught a cab to the airport at 7.30 am. We decided to leave earlier just in case there was a traffic hold-up, but the traffic was constant and we arrived at the airport within 20 minutes. At the security check prior to reaching the check in area, Paul's bag was searched. They really weren’t looking, I’m sure it was just for show. It was a long walk to the gates and the Duty Free was huge and very busy. We made [View Full Entry]

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