Sept 22 Heading home Gatwick airport

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Sept 22, Monday, heading home - boring details about the transfer to the airport, and what Gatwick is like.

No luck sending email at the airport, put a pound in a coin-operated computer station for 10 minutes of time - but email wouldn't send. Someone helped me find the @ sign on the keyboard, but that didn't work either (it hadn't gone thru using my address book). At least it didn't appear to. Guess I need to Google “how to use the Internet internationally” to try to find all the different sites to sign up with, and how to pay for them, and other keyboard conventions that might be needed. Hotels and airports seem to have many different systems - there were several different companies, and I don't know if you buy time with one, if you can use others. Swisscom seemed common on the continent, but didn't see it in England.

I got up at 4;30 am. which seemed earlier than necessary, but it's a good thing I did - dot2dot came early - they called my room at 5:15 looking for me. Fortunately I was pretty much ready to go. I was rushing down to get there and someone at the desk called me over to where I could use the “bacK' elevator to get my suitcase down - the hotel has an entry up escalator, but only stairs for down. The driver did help with my luggage - she put it on the train at Victoria Station for me. (I was at the airport 4 hours before my flight - dot2dot figures out what time they're going to transfer people to the airport-- they had assigned me a 5:30 a.m. pickup time).

Train ride was about half an hour; it dropped us at the South terminal, and of course I needed to go to the North one. Only found out I could take a trolley (smart-cart) on the airport train after I got on the train. Fortunately I'm mobile today, so was able to manage my stuff. I got repacked into my one large bag, my carryon that I planned to check, and a small carryon for my laptop, and a string backpack (not full). And nothing was overweight - I put most of the guidebooks, and paper literature in the small carryon. I got my luggage checked and then was able to get around quite well. Part of the check-in process involved a weigh-in for the large bag, before getting to the counter to check it - mine came up about 19.86 kg -- “perfect” according to the fellow doing the weighing. I didn't buy anything large like some people did, and then they had to buy another suitcase as well.

There were lots of useful shops in the first part of the terminal I went to, and I didn't know what lay ahead past security, so I had breakfast (good French toast that was warm) and checked out the shops to kill some time. Security was almost pleasant. They even provide small plastic bags for the “liquids, pastes, and gels” -- which I needed because I bought a tube of Ibuprofen cream at Boots in the airport (it's a drugstore chain). They do the bag and person screening, then there was a second go-through for taking off shoes and having them scanned.

There were even more shops back in the departure gate area, so I could have gone there much earlier. Getting from the check-in counter to the actual gate takes a fair amount of time. I was making my way that direction when there was an announcement about heading toward gate 48 (my gate) for Delta 37, telling us that it takes 15 minutes to get there. There are conveyor sidewalks along the way - but I definitely got my day's walking in around Gatwick airport. Even tho Gatwick involves long distances between places, it was a reasonably pleasant airport experience. It would have been unpleasant if I had to cope with it in a hurry, so I guess it worked out well to get there so early.

They started boarding the plane an hour ahead of departure, which she had told me at check-in. This plane doesn't have the fun personal video screens, darn. And it's a daytime flight (obviously) so it would be nice to have that entertainment - they are showing movies throughout the day, but the earbuds are uncomfortable and kind of hard to understand. We had an early lunch that included a complimentary beverage. If I had set my watch back sooner, I would have been having a beer at something like 4 a.m. US time (I'm sure there was a time in my youth that I've had a beer at that time as well).

Nine hours is a long time on a plane - I don't know how the folks from :down under” do it, as long as they have to fly to get to Europe - no wonder they stay for 6 weeks. But I don't know how they last that long traveling either.
I finished reading a Martha Grimes novel - Richard Jury mystery - now that I've been to England, it's more fun to read books based there - have a much better understanding of what's being described. And even got to say “I've been there” to myself a few times.

Once again I flunked technology - I tried to make a credit card payphone call (which I used to be able to do); didn't succeed in getting it thru, but the family was waiting for me at the airport when I got home, just about on schedule. For being on the road for a month, it's amazing how well everything went. Except for the occasional hip/back problem I had, nothing major went wrong, and only a few little annoyances that were maybe that I (and some other tourites) had incorrect expectations for the motorcaoch touring experience and itinerary. It was a wonderful trip, and i'm so glad I took it when I did. I came home to a regional gas crisis - the stations here are often without gas, and when there's a delivery, there are long lines. Glad I don't need to be going much of anywhere for a few days - it's supposed to return to near normal soon.

Now to sort through thousands of pictures, and try to get some posted (of course they're mostly of things that millions of other people have taken photos of, and that many have already posted). That's likely to take several days, but since I'm kind of stuck at home with the gas situation, I guess it's a good project to fill in the time.

(p.s.) -- got up at 0 dark 30 this morning (Thursday), and found a gas station with a line that wasn't too bad -- so have a full tank now -- hope that will last til the pipeline is fully flowing again.

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Photos

Saying goodbye to the "Queen"
One of the wax figures at Warwick castle -- the day before heading to the airport

One of the final sights in London!
People watching is fun! And I'd have to say these blokes definitely want to be watched!