I've 'accidentally' booked a trip to Boston - day 1 26th December 2017

[Goldia]

Day 1 - 26th December 2017

I slept pretty well for the night before a flight (which is really unusual for me, perhaps it was because I was in my own bed, perhaps it was because Christmas Day was exhausting as we were up very late on Christmas Eve and then up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day itself). I'm hoping this good nights sleep will become a pre-holiday tradition, but I won't hold my breath.

DH got up around 6.40am and we had a cup of tea in bed. I woke the kids up around 8am and I made everyone leftover gammon ham (not quite bacon but near enough) and fried eggs with toast for breakfast. We got ourselves ready, packed our carry on personal bags. DS packed ALL the chocolate and Christmas treats he had received . I was putting away some washing and found the thermal underwear we had bought a couple of days ago in his PJ drawer :angry:. I packed them into the cases!

The flight was at 4.45pm and I like to be at the airport early. We aimed to leave at 11am and in the end we were out the door at 11.15am, this should have had us arriving at 1pm. We'd tried to decide if we thought the M25 would be quiet as it was Christmas and everyone would be at home or busy as it was the Boxing Day sales and it turned out to be the latter. What should have been a 1 hour 40 minutes journey turned into 2 hours 40 minutes. We made it to the long stay car park at Heathrow just after 2pm and parked up. I was in a mild panic about the (lack of) time remaining, but fortunately everything else was smooth after this point. Phew. A bus was just arriving at the bus stop and the kindly bus driver waited for us to scramble through what felt like a tiny whole in the hedge with our huge cases (this cannot have been the proper route as it definitely didn't feel like a pathway).

Terminal 3 was very quiet and we did the Virgin bag drop very quickly. Security had almost no line at all and we were through to the duty free shops and restaurants with no trouble. Of course the kids were 'starving' by this point and so we wandered about and decided to eat in The Curator as kids eat free with each adult meal purchased.

As usual I started the holiday with a cocktail. I wanted a Negroni but they didn't have the ingredients so I settled for a Bramble Gin. DH had an Old Fashioned, DS had a hot chocoloate and DD had a coke.

DS was not too impressed at having to order from the kids menu. He had a burger with fries.

DD had bangers and mash (I don't know what happened to this photo, sorry).

DH had fish and chips with mushy peas.

I had an adults burger with fries and said I would swap with DS.

In the end though his was burger was the same size as mine and he decided the chips he had on his plate were a larger portion than mine which were in a tiny little bowl (and his meal was half the price of mine).

The bill came to £42.70, not too bad for the airport.

The flight was all on time and we had been allocated a row of 4 seats together which was great. We all settled down to watch our movies of choice.

When the drinks service came around I ordered and gin and tonic .

Of course, this went down really well. The meal was a turkey roast dinner - perhaps they had lots left over from yesterday as this was not what was advertised on the menu and there was no other option apart from a vegetarian pasta.

It was quite tasty really as airline food goes and we all enjoyed the Gu pudding.

I watched a couple of 'Ok' movies. The child in the seat behind me was kicking the seat constantly (it certainly felt like it was constant anyway) so I found it somewhat difficult to focus on the movies. I know the child couldn't help it and I just tried to ignore it. When I went to the toilet I saw that it was toddler and at that point I decided to be grateful that he hadn't made a sound at all during the flight and so hadn't disturbed anyone else and the kicking on the back of my chair was something that I could suffer in silence as really he had been very well behaved for an 18 month old. Also, I was fairly pleased that the person in front of me didn't recline their seat during take off and then leave it that way for the whole flight ... poor DH he does get unlucky sometimes.

Otherwise the flight was fairly uneventful. We landed 2 minutes early, which the pilot was very proud of and announced to us all. The family in the row in front of us thought his smugness at being early was hilarious, especially as 2 minutes is not really something to brag about.

Immigration was speedy for us as we used the scanners due to us having used our ESTAs already earlier in the year. Our bags had already come through the carousel and had been neatly placed over to one side - I'm really liking the efficiency of Boston airport . We found our way to the taxi rank and the coldness hit us. There were piles of snow on the sides of the road. But we didn't have time for the cold to get into our bones tonight as we were in a taxi within 2 minutes. It cost us $30 to get to our hotel and we all enjoyed the night time view out the window as we drove there.

We were staying at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. It's on the Cambridge side of the river and overlooks Boston. We were all impressed with the glass elevators (can't call them lifts as we're in USA now).

This next photo was taken later in the holiday as we made our way to the hotel lounge, but as I mentioned the lifts I thought it would be a good idea to share it now. Plus, it shows the beautiful tree in the lobby area.

Check in was speedy as well. We were given room 1201, 12th floor and directly opposite the lifts. I was bit concerned that this might mean it was noisy due to people walking past us, but actually we weren't disturbed at all. We did some unpacking (well I did some unpacking and everyone else flopped on the beds), DH realised he'd forgotten his toothbrush and so he popped back down to reception.

I've noted that at 9.23pm local time (2.23am for us) the kids were in bed. I was feeling excited about following the freedom trail tomorrow and I took the opportunity to write up some trip notes while DH bathroom-ed. Then we admitted defeat and went to sleep too.

Day 1 Stats
8213 steps
3.36 miles walked
3256 miles flown

[Melbatb]

Sounds like quite an efficient travel day! Well apart from the M25 being busy!

On our BA flight to San Diego on 23/12 there was also a Christmas dinner. I reckon the airline caterers just did a massive job lot!

[jocat]

Good job you spotted your son’s thermals in his drawer!

A very smooth travel day, despite the initial motorway panic.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Sounds like quite an efficient travel day! Well apart from the M25 being busy!

On our BA flight to San Diego on 23/12 there was also a Christmas dinner. I reckon the airline caterers just did a massive job lot!

See more...

We kept checking alternative routes but there was nothing sensible. Actually the roast dinner wasn't too bad.

Thanks for reading again Mel, I hope you enjoy Boston!

How was San Diego? In the 90s I went as a teenager and stayed with friends, amongst other things we did a day trip to Tijuana, but my friends say this isn't safe now...

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by jocat

Good job you spotted your son’s thermals in his drawer!

A very smooth travel day, despite the initial motorway panic.

See more...

It was lucky as the temperature plummeted so we'd have had to buy him more. Thanks for reading the next update should be up next weekend.

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by Goldia

We kept checking alternative routes but there was nothing sensible. Actually the roast dinner wasn't too bad.

Thanks for reading again Mel, I hope you enjoy Boston!

How was San Diego? In the 90s I went as a teenager and stayed with friends, amongst other things we did a day trip to Tijuana, but my friends say this isn't safe now...

See more...

We loved San Diego. And Joshua Tree. We were lucky with the weather (20C + most of the time) and everyone was happy that I didn't bootcamp them at all

The downside is that now DS16 has his heart set on California for university...

[Skittl1321]

Can't wait to read more.

[Frankie & gang]

Originally Posted by Goldia

It was lucky as the temperature plummeted so we'd have had to buy him more. Thanks for reading the next update should be up next weekend.

See more...

Thanks for posting, we’re off to Boston in Oct so following closely.
I’d forgotten about returning Esta’s - ours from Cali will still be valid. Liking the sound of an efficient airport!

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Skittl1321

Can't wait to read more.

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Shakira, I'm glad you're enjoying it (or should that be Jessi?).

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

We loved San Diego. And Joshua Tree. We were lucky with the weather (20C + most of the time) and everyone was happy that I didn't bootcamp them at all

The downside is that now DS16 has his heart set on California for university...

See more...

Oh Lordy that sounds £££. Do you mean one of the San Fran uni's?

I've earmarked your Cali trip report for later. I don't know how you do a live report though...it takes me a good few hours for each day (not that I'm moaning as I enjoy writing it).