Thrillin',Chillin', Feet Are Killin': August 2015: Day 1 Travel Day ; Terminal Trials

[WileyCoyote]

4 airports, 3 flights, 2 teens, 1 hour delay and 0 meltdowns .
Remember this from yesterday ? Link is here

LHR-PHA-ATL-MCO

It looked so simple written down.

It was cheap.

It would be a doddle.

I just needed to remind myself of that before the day ahead.

So we sprang out of bed fully refreshed from a night of deep and restful sleep.

No wait , that was the family next door.

I woke up at 0550 . Normally I am just leaving home at that time so even this feels like a luxury.

Andy and the boys were up soon after and even though we were all pretty tired there were not many grumps or moans and amazingly we were out the door by 0640.

Or may be that was because the Hoppa bus was due at 0645.

And it was bang on time.

As the others told me because I had to make a final loo stop on the way down – so the bus had to wait. Total cringe time.

The bus was empty though and only charged for myself and Andy ( £9 for the two of us)

It rattled off down Bath Road and I was fully expecting it to make many stops and take an age to get to the Terminal.

But it only stopped at 1 other hotel and before we knew it we pulled up at T3.

A short walk down to the Heathrow Express ( make sure you take the free HE and not get on the Underground by mistake ! ) .

We arrived at 0707 ( I know this as I looked up at the train board)

The train for Terminal 4 came 10 minutes later – very smart and lots of room. Definitely one of the benefits of early travelling.



There were only half a dozen people before us at Bag Drop which all went very smoothly with the instructions to collect the bags at Philadelphia.

Onto security, which did not have a long line which is just as well as we took up about 15 trays with hand luggage, ipads etc.

We were delayed a little due to a very large family all wanting to go through together and not seeming to understand the instructions. It always staggers me how hard “EMPTY YOUR POCKETS” seems to be for people to realise that means NO you cant leave your keys , phone and money in there:angry:

Sigh.

We were soon through though and at 0740 – just 55 minutes after getting on the Hoppa Bus we were out onto the Airside wonderland of emporia that is Terminal 4.

First stop was breakfast .

We had declined the Travelodge meal deal as we knew 6.30 am would be too early for the teens to eat and we had a 15% off voucher from eatdrinkfly website for the Bridge Bar. We had eaten here at the start of our 2013 trip. I still think its a bit pricey in here but hey, captive audience and all that.

Plenty of seats available and we were served really quickly.

We had :

Cumberland Sausage Bap (me)



Eggs and Bacon on Toast (Jamie) - this had nice sourdough bread



Pancakes (Connor) and Full English (Andy)



Plus coffees and Cokes.

After the discount it came to £42.

It was all very nice, very fresh and good service. We left Andy to read the paper while we went to WH Smith to buy drinks, sweets and snacks for the journey. I bought a book as well. It came to a slightly staggering £30 for what seemed like a very paltry amount of shopping !
Can you tell how thrilled the teens were with this photo opp ?



But we parents know, its just got to be done !

Andy and I went off for a wander on our own looking at all the lovely things in the Bulgari store – I think I may have been a magpie in a former life. I am totally attracted to shiny stuff !

By the time we got back to the boys, our gate had been announced ( 0905 by now) and after a slow walk down to the gate, we found ourselves boarding at 0945 – a real plus of the economy comfort seats is the priority boarding.

I know , where else can pics of aircraft be sooooooo exciting



Happy travelling band ..



Honestly





Love these ELR seats



These seats seem nice and wide and lots of leg room for a small person like me.

After we had endured the squabble over who had the window seat – Connor likes the window seat, Jamie doesn’t really but doesn’t want Connor to have it. I say I will have it but they say no, as they don’t want to sit next to each other – so Jamie sneaks in and the deal is they swop half way. This does not in fact happen and they were STILL going about this on the bleddy journey home !

So, I am wedged in between the Chuckle brothers and Andy is one row ahead of us in an exit row seat for his infeasibly long legs.

Happily , beavis and butthead soon made up for the poor nights sleep by getting some shut eye almost straight away.

Which is good because the first 30 minutes was spent with them constantly talking across me to each other ( and there I was thinking they wanted nothing to do with each other).

We take off on time at 1030 and after it being a bit bumpy at first out over Ireland, it soon settled down.

My view for the first few hours looked like this



And this

Jamie



Connor



Ah well, all the more peace for me to enjoy this then !



Of course, I am in the infamous white trousers so consumption of clear liquids is highly desireable. Slurp. More white wine please.
I settled in to watch the Marvel Avengers film , pausing briefly for a very nice lunch .



hmm, marinated chicken rotation - sounds yummy.

It was nice , once you had got past the "seaweed" as Andy described, er, that would be spinach then. The creamy potatoes and chicken were nice. Virgin - take note. Delta serve Chicken Breast not the tough thighs that you do !



I think cookies were a bit of a lightweight dessert but did dunk nicely in my coffeee ( which stayed in the cup , no spillages, phew)



Yes i really did take a pic of my coffee

After lunch I ventured to the loos – oh they were fab , clean and not in the slightest bit whiffy so no need for the trusty Dove. I did also note the sign that said aerosol use could trigger the smoke detector – they clearly knew I was on board. Oops.

I watched Insurgent - hadn’t seen the first film but picked up the thread and did enjoy this one. Although what was Kate Winslet’s character Janine doing a Keith Lemon impression with that bandage for ? Or maybe that was a key bit from the first one ?

Next up was one of my all time fave books, Far from the Madding Crowd. Oh I love that story and the film did make me a bit teary. Beautiful film, loved it.

ooh , then some ice cream , it was just like being at the piccies !





Jamie had woken by now – just as the afternoon snack arrived.



I am told this was nice. I wouldnt know as he ate it ( he had missed lunch being asleep and was starving)

Chicken and Sweetcorn wrap with Chocolate tiffin



Overall , the flight went smoothly and was very pleasant. The boys got 4 or 5 hours sleep and the food was very nice. This was our second Delta flight and continues to impress us with their service.

Dinky amenity packs too





We landed on time at 1.30 and were off the aircraft pretty quickly.

We also had the best landing announcement ever
“ please stay seated until the captain turns off the seatbelt sign. You may try and get up beforehand to be the first to get your luggage but never in the history of aviation has a passenger made it back to the terminal before the aircraft so that’s why we suggest you stay in your seat” . Very droll.

There was a queue for immigration but the line behind us grew even quicker so we were pleased to be fairly near front.

After about 30 minutes they opened up the line for returning US citizens and starting sending other people through so we were lucky to get called forward and after that nailbiting few moments of eye and finger print scans , we were waved through – so all in all 45 minutes from landing to being at the baggage carousel.

[WileyCoyote]

All our bags came through quickly and we moved on to the next area to drop our bags again ( being told they would now go through to MCO and we did not need to collect them at Atlanta) and go through the whole security malarkey all over again.

Now, this was a long line.

And a hot airport

And an unhappy small person behind us.

Bingo, the officer moves us into the TSA pre check line which means we don’t need to unpack our electronics or take our shoes off , thus saving us time and being in a much faster line.

For some reason I thought Philadelphia was not a large airport.

Well I sure got that wrong.

Its blimmin mahoosive.

And I had made that absolute schoolboy error – new shoes.

Yes, there was me thinking – ooh travel day , good day to break new shoes in, not much walking and I can get used to them.

Wrong.

We must have walked the equivalent of Philadelphia to Atlanta through the terminal.

It’s a really impressive airport – but big.

I set off at a quick march. As a commuter through London, I cant abide dawdlers as I am invariably on a tight schedule to catch a train.

Bimbling about is just not helpful. But it means I just don’t do slow walking.

So after about 5 minutes Andy had to call me back to slow the pace as the slack badgers were still in the first terminal ( oh, I exaggerate, but the boys were way behind)

So we did stop to look at some of the stuff around the airport – having established that we were about as far away as possible but that we did have plenty of time to get there.







You know when they say a picture says a thousand words …



The exhibits were all really interesting





We eventually made it to Terminal B



Which was another blooming mahoosive one.

We had passed a food court and the boys Subway Sensors were pinging madly so they went back to get something to eat after we agree to meet them at the assigned gate.

The terminal layout was really impressive – it had all these fab shops alongside the travelling walkways



The gate area was busy , and hot , and did I say busy. It was now 3.30pm Eastern time

We found some seats and camped down. It had been 2 hours from landing to get to this point – so it only took 45 mins to clear immigration and then 75 minutes to get through security and reach our gate !

The boys arrived back with their subways and drinks ($18)

It became very crowded – the 4pm flight to Atlanta had been delayed and hordes of people were trying to get transferred onto the next flight (ours) which was due out at 4.45.

They did board us on time.

We had pretty crummy seats at the back of the aircraft – it had looked full when I had chosen them and hadn’t gone for the economy plus ones as it was a short flight. Hmmmmmm.

Not much leg room here



Even less for Andy



Thank goodness the person in front didn’t recline or Andy would have had no knee caps

So, we are all on and ready to go.

And the pilot comes on.

Remember that the flight before has been delayed.

As we are taxiing out – we can see quite a few aircraft in a line



And my heart sinks when he says , so ladies and gentlemen - we are number 20 for take off

Yes 20, two zero.

And we are crammed into this teeny space

Apparently lightning in the area had closed a runway so hence the delays and the changes to more aircraft using this one. It was like the M25 out there, aircraft everywhere all on a road to nowhere ( mmm child of the eighties, must dig out that Talking Heads LP one day …)

And the clock is ticking – we have a connection in Atlanta and I just don’t want to miss it. It would be bad enough on a normal day but to miss the last flight out of 3 would be the pits when we have done so well so far.

But there is nothing I can do – except tutt a lot and look at my watch every two seconds.

And keep telling Andy that of course its fine, I am absolutely not stressed ( this is a big fat whopping fib, I am super hyper stratospheric stressed)

My stress was mainly induced by thinking our take off from ATL was 7.55. It was not. It was in fact 8.55. I did not check this until we were landing. Had I done so earlier, I would have been better – still grumpy but a bit more chilled.

Of course checking the onward connection that early in the delay would have been just too practical and sensible and not something that happens when you have your holiday head on.

Anyhow, we are sat on the tarmac playing musical chairs with the aircraft around us and shuffling up the line, Jeez, it was worse than Next in the Boxing Day Sale queue. And not helped by watching the landscape and the really gusty wind.

Finally, one hour late, it is our turn to take off and by now I am just grateful that we are away before the storm materialises properly and we find ourselves grounded.

The trolley service commences which looked a tad unsteady. I am gagging for a coffee by now and of course about three rows in front of us the pilot announces he is ceasing the trolley service due to turbulence.

Fan blooming tastic

Late and dehydrated !

We are now due to land at 7.14 and remember I am still panicking about a 7.55 takeoff so I have the boys all prepped for a dash off and the passengers around us are by now aware we have a connection and make way for us when it comes to collecting our bags.

But its still super slow – very slow.

We don’t get off till almost 7.40 and I am even more stressed when we check the gates and there is no 7.55 flight – heart sinks, it must be cancelled.

And then Andy checks the paperwork – and we realise we have an hour .

Phew.

We set off four gate which is of course another hike once we are off the train and by now we are very tired, hot and all a bit tetchy. It is past midnight in UK time and we have been on the go for 18 hours.

By now dinner had been a long time ago and we were tired, getting grumpy and feeling a bit sicky from travel and that general disrupted eating pattern. The boys were fine having eaten in Philadelphia.

We just had time to grab a Chinese near the gate - quite a few people took their suppers on to the plan - mmmm teriakyi chicken wafts for the whole flight ...

We both had Orange Chicken with a spring roll and rice.



What can i say, it was hot, sticky and the rice was a bit bleurgh.

Chicken was ok but its not Panda Express

Cost was $17 for the two of us

By now, I couldn’t ignore my feet any longer – all that air travel and walking , they were singing hallelujah chorus to me and had swollen to the size of two rugby balls

I also had this nasty rash that had appeared on my heel so I had a full on whingefest for 20 minutes at the gate – dutifully ignored by everyone . They claimed they were playing it down to make me feel better. I think they were just ignoring me.

Glamorous manky foot shot



Look – no ankles !

[WileyCoyote]

Finally , onto our last flight after a 30 minute delay while they wait for the catering cart and also fill up the last seats. There was a humungous standby queue for seats no doubt caused by other delays There is no denying that we are all very very tired and doing incredibly well to still be civil to each other.

It is a very short flight and some great views of Orlando as we arrive.

Finally. We are here.

We land at 1023. I am so tired I don’t even take any pics in the airport.

AND We didn’t pay attention to the baggage reclaim message.

We agreed we would get the bags and Andy would go straight to get the car and we would meet at the Alamo garage.

Simples.

The last he saw of us we were heading to baggage reclaim A and he was just ahead of us.

But Delta bags don’t come off at A – they come off at B

So we trog all the way over to B and our bags are coming off as we arrive.

This is a result.

We pass the Alamo desk and no sign of Andy – hurrah – he must have the car and we will be off soon.

There is no sign of him here. Oh.

I walk round and round.

We wonder if he is driving round to meet us.

We have no phone.

It is hot.

We are tired.

A full on meltdown is immiment.

I go back in and ask the Alamo guy if he remembers anyone fitting Andy’s description.

And he says no

I might cry

And then he hits me with it ...

“ so you know we have garages at both terminals right?”

Doh – of course, Andy saw us heading to Terminal A so he must have gone to the rental desk there. That had completely escaped us when we picked up the bags at 1130pm

So back with our bags . I did get a bit stroppy as I suggested the boys waited while I ran back as I didn’t want to hoof the cases all the way there and find it was a duff idea so I got a bit miffed when they wanted to haul them along with us.

They were right – we had to go that way anyway. I was just so tired and cross with myself that I wasn’t thinking straight.

Anyway, up the escalator, across the airport, down the lift, past the rental desks and into the garage and there he is waiting for us.

And he is very pleased with his choice of car and all excited and we all look like we just walked from Atlanta – bedraggled and knackered and frankly we would have got in a wheelbarrow at that point.

So we both relayed the “ well I was in the right place” story and fortunately saw the funny side.

Andy is so chuffed with is car that he keeps telling us about this and that but we are all drifting off and he is a bit put out about our lack of enthusiasm.

Its around midnight as we reach the condo – the directions and instructions were perfect and we got in with no fuss. Thank goodness. I was having that panic about the keycode and all that.

First impressions are that this looks just perfect for us . More exploration will have to wait till tomorrow but here is the condo.

Our room



Our bathroom



Connor’s room



Jamie’s room ( it’s a double on the bottom)





I seem to have missed a pic of their bathroom – it was in between their rooms

Our storage


There was a travel cot, stroller and high chair in here as well as the ironing board. We stored our cases and bags in here – it was great, loads of room .

Living area















We dropped in to bed almost exactly 24 hours after setting off from the Travelodge.

We had made it.

It was an incredibly long day.

We coped really well.

I wouldn’t rush to do the 2 stops again but hey, it meant we got here and that was just the biggest bonus of all.

We were all totally knackered and sank into the very comfy beds grateful and pleased to be here.

The next day is here

[Merligan]

Sounds like an epic travel day. Glad you arrived safe and sound, looking forward to reading more about your adventures,

X

[FLAFantastic]

Wow - you are very brave! Not sure me and my lot could have coped with that travel day! You did well!

Where was your condo?

Looking forward to reading more

AnnMarie

[SammyScotland]

That was some journey but at least you arrived safely. Condo looks nice.

[Gem67]

It's not commuter syndrome that moving at pace and being frustrated by dawdlers - its little legs syndrome! At least that's what my DD & DS describe it when I do it

Glad you survived the travel, and the extended day - I hope you slept really well to make up for it.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your adventures.

[SEAWORLD FAN]

Wow that was some travel day! Time for a relaxing holiday I think. Oh wait... it's Orlando you're in!

Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

[P&S]

What a travel day

[Tartan Tigger]

Wow, that was some travel day. I don't think I could've coped with that. Condo looks lovely.