Getting to England and home agian
We planned this trip pretty quickly. We applied for passports at the end of May and then relaxed for a month or so. Around the beginning of July, we decided we had better start planning this trip. First, we had to decide what we wanted to see and then plan the order. For half of the trip or more we would need a car, so we decided to do everything we needed to see with the car first. This meant, renting the car at the airport, driving to Dover, seeing the sites there, and then taking the channel tunnel to France and driving to the Normandy area (there are a lot of little towns down by the beaches of Normandy that were made famous in World War II). Then we would drive back up the coast to Dunkirk, where Jon's grandfather was one of the last soldiers rescued off the beach. Then we would take the tunnel back to England and head down to Bath and Paulton (the town his mother grew up in). We would visit her childhood home and some cemeteries in the area, explore Bath, then head to London and return the rental car and use public transportation to explore London.
Once I had the order of cities we would be visiting and what days we would be where, I could book hotels. Our stipulations were parking and air-conditioning. In Dover we stayed in a Holiday Inn, which had both. In France, we had to find something nicer to get air-conditioning and stayed at a golf resort. A lot of the hotels on the northern coast of France are older buildings and have not been upgraded to include air-conditioning. In Bath, parking was the main issue and we stayed in a swanky hotel that cost a bit more than the others. It came with a concierge and valet parking, and was by far the nicest place we stayed in all trip. We had booked a normal room with a queen size bed, but were upgraded to a beautiful 2 room suit with a king size bed. It was so nice and in a great location. It was across from the Thermea spa and very close to the Roman baths. In London, we again stayed at a Holiday Inn that was, to our happy surprise, close to tube and bus stops. London has transportation zones, most of the fun stuff like Buckingham palace, the Eye of London, the Tower of London, and Big Ben are in zone 1. From what I understood, if you purchase an oyster card, it is pretty cheap to travel between zones 1 and 2. We stayed in Zone 2 where the cheaper hotels were, but where traveling to zone 1 was quick and inexpensive. We spent a little less than 10 pounds each a day traveling on buses and in the tubes. It cost us 5 pounds each to travel from zone 2 (our hotel) to Zone 6 (the airport)
Airports
We were flying out of Las Vegas with a layover in Fort Worth Texas, then onto England. We nearly ended up starting our vacation a day behind. We thought we had given ourselves a decent layover with 2 and 1/2 hours, but with weather problems earlier in the day in Texas, our plane was delayed. The pilot on the plane coming from Texas and planning to return us there, now had too many hours due to the weather issues and not being able to land. Another flight crew had to be called in. Luckily, miracles never cease, there was a pilot in the airport that they recruited for our flight. Someone waiting to board with us commented that someone must be doing something right for a new pilot to be found that quickly. Jon said to me, "it is us, it's us." We were on an important mission to find his ancestry and connect him to his mother's homeland.
We were finally on our way. We still weren't sure we would make our connecting flight. I started praying hard in the airplane. We had already booked ourselves on the next fight just in case, but that wasn't leaving until the next day and we would lose a whole day and have to pay for a hotel we never stayed in. We got some great news on our way from Vegas to Texas, our next flight was delayed a bit, then delayed again. By the time we we made it to our gate, it had been delayed even more and we ended up waiting a few hours before boarding. We made it to England about 2 hours late than planned, way better than a day late.
Going through customs in England was a breeze, but they scan your passports and record it online, so no stamp. We could have asked for one, but didn't bother. Now coming back home to our country, was difficult, we waited in two very long lines, or ques as the English say, with no guiding people from line to line, so people were moving into the line in front of others who had been waiting awhile. it was chaos. We had to recheck our bags and go through security again, because we don't trust other countries security measures. We thought we were going to miss our next flight, but we were blessed again and it was delayed enough for us to make it.
This last leg of our flight has a missionary on it who was flying home, so I talked with him a bit and let him borrow my phone. He was going home to Las Vegas after serving in Mexico. He was stopped at customs and his bags were searched causing him to miss his connecting flight home. He needed to let his parents know what happened and when to expect him. I was more than happy to help out and couldn't help think of my own missionary returning soon and traveling alone.
This was such a fantastic trip and I'm so grateful all worked out well with flights, hotels, the rental car, and public transportation. It was a trip of a lifetime that I hope we get to repeat sometime.
Once I had the order of cities we would be visiting and what days we would be where, I could book hotels. Our stipulations were parking and air-conditioning. In Dover we stayed in a Holiday Inn, which had both. In France, we had to find something nicer to get air-conditioning and stayed at a golf resort. A lot of the hotels on the northern coast of France are older buildings and have not been upgraded to include air-conditioning. In Bath, parking was the main issue and we stayed in a swanky hotel that cost a bit more than the others. It came with a concierge and valet parking, and was by far the nicest place we stayed in all trip. We had booked a normal room with a queen size bed, but were upgraded to a beautiful 2 room suit with a king size bed. It was so nice and in a great location. It was across from the Thermea spa and very close to the Roman baths. In London, we again stayed at a Holiday Inn that was, to our happy surprise, close to tube and bus stops. London has transportation zones, most of the fun stuff like Buckingham palace, the Eye of London, the Tower of London, and Big Ben are in zone 1. From what I understood, if you purchase an oyster card, it is pretty cheap to travel between zones 1 and 2. We stayed in Zone 2 where the cheaper hotels were, but where traveling to zone 1 was quick and inexpensive. We spent a little less than 10 pounds each a day traveling on buses and in the tubes. It cost us 5 pounds each to travel from zone 2 (our hotel) to Zone 6 (the airport)
Airports
We were flying out of Las Vegas with a layover in Fort Worth Texas, then onto England. We nearly ended up starting our vacation a day behind. We thought we had given ourselves a decent layover with 2 and 1/2 hours, but with weather problems earlier in the day in Texas, our plane was delayed. The pilot on the plane coming from Texas and planning to return us there, now had too many hours due to the weather issues and not being able to land. Another flight crew had to be called in. Luckily, miracles never cease, there was a pilot in the airport that they recruited for our flight. Someone waiting to board with us commented that someone must be doing something right for a new pilot to be found that quickly. Jon said to me, "it is us, it's us." We were on an important mission to find his ancestry and connect him to his mother's homeland.
We were finally on our way. We still weren't sure we would make our connecting flight. I started praying hard in the airplane. We had already booked ourselves on the next fight just in case, but that wasn't leaving until the next day and we would lose a whole day and have to pay for a hotel we never stayed in. We got some great news on our way from Vegas to Texas, our next flight was delayed a bit, then delayed again. By the time we we made it to our gate, it had been delayed even more and we ended up waiting a few hours before boarding. We made it to England about 2 hours late than planned, way better than a day late.
Going through customs in England was a breeze, but they scan your passports and record it online, so no stamp. We could have asked for one, but didn't bother. Now coming back home to our country, was difficult, we waited in two very long lines, or ques as the English say, with no guiding people from line to line, so people were moving into the line in front of others who had been waiting awhile. it was chaos. We had to recheck our bags and go through security again, because we don't trust other countries security measures. We thought we were going to miss our next flight, but we were blessed again and it was delayed enough for us to make it.
This last leg of our flight has a missionary on it who was flying home, so I talked with him a bit and let him borrow my phone. He was going home to Las Vegas after serving in Mexico. He was stopped at customs and his bags were searched causing him to miss his connecting flight home. He needed to let his parents know what happened and when to expect him. I was more than happy to help out and couldn't help think of my own missionary returning soon and traveling alone.
This was such a fantastic trip and I'm so grateful all worked out well with flights, hotels, the rental car, and public transportation. It was a trip of a lifetime that I hope we get to repeat sometime.
Comments
Post a Comment