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| Fitting goodbye to Dublin |
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| Arriving at Gatwick |
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| Leaving England |
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| Passing over Greenland |
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| Approaching Los Angeles |
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| From Atlantic to Pacific within a day |
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| Night view of Los Angeles |
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| Approaching Phoenix Airport |
She travelled like a trouper though. As far as our trip went, it was pretty good. We had SO much luggage we had wondered how we were going to deal with it all. Four large suitcases and the four carryons. But Gatwick Airport is a great, manageable airport. We had booked into the Hampton there as it was attached to Terminal 2. We arrived in Terminal 1 but trolleys were right by the baggage claim. They use the same principle as the supermarkets in Canada and the UK/Ireland do--slide a Euro/pound/dollar coin in the slot and the cart dislodges from the carrel. When you return the trolleys, you reattach them and the coin becomes available to you. So the trolleys were free! Excellent!
And we were able to wheel the trolleys over to the Hampton with no difficulty. It was a good hotel but checking in was a nightmare. The receptionist was very slow and tentative. Good thing I had the reservation on my cellphone; otherwise I don't think she would have been able to find it. Then the first room she allocated us was already occupied. We had struggled with our trolleys up the elevators (which require a key card to operate, always so awkward) and then we had to struggle back down. And when I told her the room was occupied, she said "You're kidding!" She had to tell the cleaning staff about it although she didn't mention it to the other receptionist who was standing not three feet from her. Which was too bad because when she gave us the second room and we got in, I had just gone into the bathroom when the door opened and a couple came in saying "Oh, this is supposed to be OUR room." Thankfully they saw immediately that possession is 9/10 of the law and off they went.
We went down a few minutes later to eat dinner at the restaurant. Huge queue at the bar where you had to order and pay before you get the food. I gave the bar staff our room number and--uh oh--they said the "system" had no record of us. So I reached in my wallet for my credit card. No credit card. The receptionist hadn't given it back to me. At that point I somewhat testily said that yes we were staying at the hotel and yes that was our room number. So the bar staff put our order in and I went back to the front desk. The other receptionist said, "Oh here she is, she's looking for her card." But our original receptionist had forgotten where she had put the card and had to be reminded by the other receptionist. And then the manager told us we would have to change rooms again because the system had some kind of glitch where some rooms--ours being one--were not being shown as occupied. If we didn't change rooms, we would run the risk of having people barging in on us through the night. Now, as someone who trained customer service people and who implemented several computer systems in the Dark Ages, I knew that what he said wasn't the best way to handle the situation. Leave rooms empty when people were being turned away? I leave you to figure out what solution I would have come up with, email me if you would like to know the solution. At any rate, he comp'd our dinner and helped us move out of the room. And the rest of the night was uneventful.
Norwegian Airways is a delight to travel with if you choose Premium +. Seriously worth the extra money and it is far, far less than First Class on the regular airlines. We actually ended up paying less for two Premium + seats on Norwegian than we would have with any of the other airlines' Economy. We were able to relax in the special Lounge that Norwegian has at Gatwick, glorious free food, free drinks and very comfy chairs. Onboard the seats were generally comfortable, plenty of attention from the hostess and just a great flight overall on the new Dreamliner.
We arrived slightly late at LAX. I was worried whether we would make our next flight given that we were going to have to reticket with Delta and would have to go through Customs too. I had originally left three hours between the two flights and we were late by an hour. But Customs went really smoothly, free trolleys at LAX as well and we were flying 1st Class on Delta--they had given me a voucher from our December snafu--so check-in and Security were a breeze. We landed at PHX 20 minutes early and Laurie, bless her, was right there.
She had picked Mitzi up and checked into Aloft, the dog-friendly hotel that is quite close to the airport. And had brought her monster SUV. So all bags were loaded into the car, we went over to the hotel. Richard had his own room and immediately disappeared; he was a zombie. Laurie, Mitzi and I shared a room and after about an hour of talking and licking, we both fell asleep.
I woke up first at 1:30 a.m. Then at 4:00 a.m. I finally got up at 5:45 and quietly took Mitzi out for a walk. What a different landscape--dry sandy soil, cacti, vs the green grass. I wonder what Mitzi thought. And it was already 88 degrees; it had been 98 when we arrived at 9:00 pm the night before.
But this is familiar territory for me and, tired as I am, I feel like I am as close to "home" as I can be. We had a wonderful reunion with the grandkids and are now getting used to the Extended Stay hotel. Our "home" for the next 21 days. It is pretty basic but it has a/c, a fridge, stove and microwave, and is within walking distance of the grocery store, the library and the public swimming pool. Thankfully Autumn is on its way so hot as it is, it isn't horrible.
So the next phase of my life begins. We have arrived with all of our luggage and the car search continues. Waiting to hear that we do indeed have a rental home for November 1st. I have already signed up with Verizon so I once again have a Canadian phone number.
All in all, life is grand.
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