Transylvania to Pennsylvania and beyond! Day 11 – Bucharest to Heathrow

[BONZO]

Friday 19th July 2019

Cast list (the usual):

Me: Shaun, Intrepid Traveller

Her: Alison, Slightly less intrepid traveller, but planner supreme and finds the good deals!

Trip Report Index HERE

So, here we are, the last day of the trip but we still have some time to spend in Bucharest before heading home. We had breakfast in the hotel again this morning and we both settled for the continental version this time. We looked at various options for the rest of the day and found the city quite spread out and public transport looked a bit haphazard.

The answer to our dilemma was obvious – why not see if there’s a Big Red Bus tour or similar? As luck would have it there was! The only downside was that one of the operators had poor reviews on Trip Advisor but we thought we’d go for it anyway.

We walked out to the nearest stop, by the City University and searched for the right stop which we eventually found. Instead of the service that had poor review we found our go-to Big Red bus company, hopped on and paid our money. We sat up top in the heat (hadn’t mentioned before it was hot here but not in the same league as Phoenix). It turned out to be a really good trip for us as it took us past highlights such as the parliament building and the huge fountains and parks.

When new the whole place would’ve looked magnificent even if under communist rule.

Once we’d done the whole tour we did consider going back around and stopping off at a few places, possibly pulling into the Hard Rock for a bite to eat but the only thing in the back of our mind was the possible delays in getting back to the airport as the traffic was getting busier by the minute.

After getting back to the hotel we had a bit of time to kill so went and swam in the indoor pool and sauna for me. You’d think I’d had enough of dry heat by now! We’d arranged a slightly later check out so showered, changed and packed our bags and dropped them with reception whilst we had a bite to eat.

We walked out to Pizza Hut and waited and waited for any sort of service and eventually just gave up. The only other alternative snack place was KFC and thankfully they were a lot better staffed and efficient. We collected our bags and grabbed an Uber to come and take us to the airport. We had a long chat with the taxi driver whose English was very good. He explained he spent 2 years in Birmingham as a taxi driver but decided to call it quits and come back home to Bucharest.

We got to the airport and checked in, and chatted to the check in agent who explained that there was no catering on board the plane and we were given 2 x food vouchers for 52 Lei to be used only at the Peroni Bar.

We made a bit of a dash through the airport, determined to be either the first or amongst the first to the bar as we suspected there’d be a bit of a scrum. We offered up our tickets to the bar staff who looked a bit puzzled and they said they’d have to make a couple of phone calls and get back to us….hmmm, not looking good. Whilst waiting we made our selection ready for them to call us over. When they did they said it was only a Cheese / meat baguette, soft drinks and coffee - no substitutes, no choice! Pity the poor vegan or special travellers then!

We went to lounge, found a couple of seats and decide to have some of their snacks and drinks and save the baguettes for later on the plane.

We wandered to the gate in time for boarding but once on the plane we were advised of an hour delay before we were due to get going, due to bad weather over France, en route for London. We just read, chatted and dozed while we waited for the time to pass.
Eventually the plane pushed back from the gate and started to taxi out to the runway when all of a Sunday to plane came to a stop.
There was much talking amongst the crew, then eventually the captain came out and walked down to the back of the plane. Finally there was an announcement that one of the passengers had spotted something wrong with the seal around a window, and the captain wanted it checked from outside. Finally engineers came and checked, then they boarded and checked from the inside, then photos were sent to London, and also to the Airbus engineering base (in Toulouse I think).

The upshot of it all was that the wall panel needed to be removed and the window and seal all refixed back into place. (At one point the captain had to make an announcement for people to stop filming the engineers!)

By this stage we were grateful that we’d kept the food back from the bar and tucked in although I’m sure we could’ve sold them on the black market for a handsome profit. Many people were getting concerned about missing connections and the like but the crew remained very calm and professional.

My only concern was the site of a fire engine on the outfield nearby but I think it was just a precautionary measure.

As it got later it got darker and darker and I thought we might run out of operating time.

On the plus side I hoped it would continue so that we could claim compensation under EU Regulation 261. Eventually the problem was fixed and we taxied out and took off back to Heathrow although I wasn’t sure exactly how long we’d been delayed.

Drinks were still available luckily!

We touched down at Heathrow about 3 hours 15 mins late (woo hoo!) and boy was it chilly which was a bit of a shock to the system. We collected our car and made our way home via the M25 which was a joy being so empty.

The end of another interesting trip – final thoughts and Highs and Lows to follow

[Melbatb]

The tour certainly was a good way to see lots of sights!

A bit for the sudden stopping of the plane! At least they took it seriously!