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Published: December 14th 2004
Flying north at sunrise.
The trip from TPA to Washington, Dulles (IAD) yeilded a beautiful sunrise.Boarded an United Airlines jet to Washington Dulles (IAD). Arrived on-time (546 - sunrise in-route to IAD) and met mom. Traffic to Dulles, said mom, was terrible. She made the international flight to London Heathrow (LHR) with just 20 minutes to spare!
The flight to LHR departs on-time. Service onboard is fabulous. Breakfast consists of yogurt, a croissant, and french toast filled with maple cream and oranges. Lunch/dinner starts with a salad and nuts. Filet is served with potatoes and asparagus. Due to fog and low ceilings we circled the field for a half-hour. Still we arrive into Heathrow twenty minutes early.
Clearing customs was a breeze. ATMs are as easy here to use as in the USA. I extract £100 at the exchange rate of $1.9426 to £1 pound. (eg it costs $194 to extract £100) Mom and I are now on a Heathrow express train to Paddington station (548).
Just outside Paddington station (London) are the bus stops. My plan was to take either the 436 or 36 bus to Hyde Park. The ticket machine just takes pounds so we buy a croissant and scone. Here’s the money breakdown: pence relates to the American pennies. They have a one pence, five pence and fifty pence coin. The pound (equating to a US dollar) is also a coin. They have 5, 10 and 20 pound notes. Sure, the 36 bus we board is the right route just wrong direction! Offloading we meet a girl, 18, who is very nice and starts giving directions. We did a poor job following them and end up in a cab to the hotel. The cab ride costs eleven pounds (£11) plus tip. I tip the cabbie two pounds and he looks at me very excited. Either that was a really good tip or a really bad tip! I don’t yet know.
The five star Park Tower hotel is our home tonight and tomorrow night. (639) The room is on the Executive Suite floor. It’s very elegant, yet small. They have all the typical US amenities. And have even included 110 volt outlets - a nice find. Bedtime.
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