LONDON TO THE USA

Thursday, November 10, 2011

It was an eventful trip across the pond yesterday; we were almost placed into quarantine when we arrived in the USA. A woman became ill on the plane and we were told to stay seated with our seat belts fastened until further instructions; and if we didn't comply we could be quarantined automatically.

Midway on the flight there was a request for anyone who was a doctor to please come to the aft section of the airplane. We knew something was going on from that point forward. After landing, there were armed police officers and a medical team who boarded the airplane. After about ten minutes they left with the patient. After another ten minutes (or at least that was what it seemed like) we were told that they'd determined that it was not necessary to place all of the people on the airplane under quarantine. Big sigh of relief from everyone as we pulled out our hand luggage and headed for customs inspection.

Our flight didn't leave Heathrow Airport until 2:05 pm; giving us a leisurely morning to get things together before leaving in a taxi for the airport. Once there we all checked in and then headed for the Sky Lounge for some quality waiting time thanks to Barbara's Business Class ticket. Enjoyed a light lunch and then some last minute shopping with the benefit of lower prices because we didn't have to pay the VAT on what we purchased. I snapped a few photos of the Christmas decorations in the airport; they were very impressive. Notice even Harrods has a shop at the airport.

After a two hour layover in Minneapolis, Nancy headed for Chicago and Barbara and I traveled together to Los Angeles where Jim was waiting patiently to pick us up at 10 pm. Long drive home and then off to bed after being up for 25 hours straight. We lost eight hours on the trip home. It was a little over eight hours flying time from London to Minneapolis and then another four hours to Los Angeles.

Our journey included 1,407 miles driven over the two weeks that we had the car. We spent enough money that extra suitcases had to be purchased to bring it all home. But we did get everything home and as far as I know...nothing was broken or missing! It was a great three weeks and we enjoyed sharing our journey with you.

I'm taking a few months off from my blog for the Christmas Holidays. My next travel journey will begin next April when we head to France for two months. This trip will be a bit different as we've rented a studio apartment in Paris for the first twenty days! We'll live like Parisians and share the experience with you....see you in April.