Day 4 in London - Home again, home again jiggity jig
I checked out of the hotel, then put my bags into the locked room by the front desk and walked to a local grocery store. Well, more of a convenience store (no slurpees, though, ha ha). I wanted to try to find the dogs a little something. So I got a can, er, I mean a "tin" of dog food that had tripe in it (yummy) and a box of Pedigree mini bites dry food. Then at the counter I found giant Cadbury Fruit & Nut bars. Yes, Joanne, I got you two of them, so calm down. And one for me.
BTW, if you do go to London and don't mind not staying in the center of town, save some bucks and book yourself at the Days Inn (not to be confused with the Days Inns here - this one is part of the Wyndham hotel chain). The room I had was not too small, a double bed, new and clean and it cost the Digital Safety folks only 79 pounds a night (about $100). I really liked the hotel and staff and food (well, most of the food)!!
Went back to the hotel to have a cup of coffee and wait for the car service to come get me. It arrived promptly on time and the driver looked just like John Turturro. I kid you not. This guy drove like a maniac! He was going over 80 MPH (I checked the speedometer, it was in both MPH and KPH, that's Kilometers, folks) at times. Yikes. Guess he wanted to get this Yankee out of his country fast, ha ha.
At the airport, got to upgrade again to Premium Economy for half of what I paid just a few days before. Turns out Virgin Atlantic was celebrating it's 25th birthday and rates were slashed. I was a happy puppy.
Went through customs (a breeze) and then all passengers are put in the duty-free shopping zone. They don't give you a gate where your flight is until about 30minutes before it leaves. They MAKE you shop. I bought souvenirs for family, then found out the cigarettes were $10 less a carton and got Chris some Marlboro Lights. I called and talked to him for a few minutes, then my gate was called.
I got an aisle seat, some champagne, then we were off! Watched two movies, Inkheart (pretty good) and Madagascar 2 (funny - I laughed out loud a few times and people were staring at me). On the way over I watched Hotel for Dogs, which was pretty stupid, but good for kids. For lunch/dinner had the beef dish, some red wine (I swear Virgin wants to keep you drunk on their flights, ha ha), then put some classical music on, put my eye shades over my eyes and crashed for a while.
I remember hearing the flight attendants walking by offering Bailey's on the rocks or cognac. When I woke up, they were giving out ice cream cups (Haggen Dazs!), then came back around a bit later with cereal bars.
Off the plane to customs. It was a breeze to go through - they didn't even check my carryon bags - damn, should have gotten more cigs! And they didn't check my checked bags, either.
Took C&J Trailways to Portsmouth, where Chris and Phoebe were waiting. Big hug and kiss for Chris, then to the car and Phoebe was just a wiggle bear! In the Siberian Husky book I read, they said the huskies are not loyal to one person. I beg to differ! She really missed me!
We stopped off at Fresh City to get dinner to go, then it was home, eat, a shower, then to bed.
It was nice to be home.
I'll post some insights and tips for London if you ever plan on going later today or tomorrow. Also hope to get to my photos from there!
BTW, if you do go to London and don't mind not staying in the center of town, save some bucks and book yourself at the Days Inn (not to be confused with the Days Inns here - this one is part of the Wyndham hotel chain). The room I had was not too small, a double bed, new and clean and it cost the Digital Safety folks only 79 pounds a night (about $100). I really liked the hotel and staff and food (well, most of the food)!!
Went back to the hotel to have a cup of coffee and wait for the car service to come get me. It arrived promptly on time and the driver looked just like John Turturro. I kid you not. This guy drove like a maniac! He was going over 80 MPH (I checked the speedometer, it was in both MPH and KPH, that's Kilometers, folks) at times. Yikes. Guess he wanted to get this Yankee out of his country fast, ha ha.
At the airport, got to upgrade again to Premium Economy for half of what I paid just a few days before. Turns out Virgin Atlantic was celebrating it's 25th birthday and rates were slashed. I was a happy puppy.
Went through customs (a breeze) and then all passengers are put in the duty-free shopping zone. They don't give you a gate where your flight is until about 30minutes before it leaves. They MAKE you shop. I bought souvenirs for family, then found out the cigarettes were $10 less a carton and got Chris some Marlboro Lights. I called and talked to him for a few minutes, then my gate was called.
I got an aisle seat, some champagne, then we were off! Watched two movies, Inkheart (pretty good) and Madagascar 2 (funny - I laughed out loud a few times and people were staring at me). On the way over I watched Hotel for Dogs, which was pretty stupid, but good for kids. For lunch/dinner had the beef dish, some red wine (I swear Virgin wants to keep you drunk on their flights, ha ha), then put some classical music on, put my eye shades over my eyes and crashed for a while.
I remember hearing the flight attendants walking by offering Bailey's on the rocks or cognac. When I woke up, they were giving out ice cream cups (Haggen Dazs!), then came back around a bit later with cereal bars.
Off the plane to customs. It was a breeze to go through - they didn't even check my carryon bags - damn, should have gotten more cigs! And they didn't check my checked bags, either.
Took C&J Trailways to Portsmouth, where Chris and Phoebe were waiting. Big hug and kiss for Chris, then to the car and Phoebe was just a wiggle bear! In the Siberian Husky book I read, they said the huskies are not loyal to one person. I beg to differ! She really missed me!
We stopped off at Fresh City to get dinner to go, then it was home, eat, a shower, then to bed.
It was nice to be home.
I'll post some insights and tips for London if you ever plan on going later today or tomorrow. Also hope to get to my photos from there!
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