Today was our last day on Europe mainland. It was bittersweet! We got to have a short sleep in which was nice, not a totally early start like usual. We were actually ready earlier than we needed to be so we made our way to the bus stop for the airport. Turns out that was quite good because the bus took longer than we had bargained for!
First off was breakfast, though, and this was probably one of the most nutritious meals of our lives. We had to finish off what we had bought, so breakfast consisted of limoncello mixed with purple Fanta, and some chocolate wafers.
We splashed out for the express service to the airport and I managed to squeeze myself and all my luggage into a seat. Dan stood on the vestibule. The bus reached terminal two quite quickly, where almost everyone piled off. I had researched ahead of time which terminal we needed so I knew we had to stay on. Most other people hadn't done this, so they piled off and then most of them piled back on again - as well as new passengers.
Finally we set off for terminal one, and disembarked. Security was easy enough and after a lap around the terminal, settled on some seriously overpriced but not the worst in the place sandwiches. When it was time to go to through we found another lounge, with far less people. Oh well!
When it came time to board, we all formed an orderly queue as is appropriate. The first lot of people ahead of us jumped on the bus to be transported to the plane - and then we waited. And waited. And waited. The bus seemed to have gotten lost. It took probably close to half an hour to return to collect the rest of us - by now our flight time and been and gone. The flight attendants had been looking out the windows all wondering where it had gone too!
The flight was generally uneventful - managed to get a row to ourselves - fist pump! We arrived in Brussels airport a little bit late but we still managed to get ourselves a Belgium beer as hoped! We bought ourselves a couple Hoegaartens (the tasty pink one for me) and when we looked at the flight board next - our flight had been delayed by an hour. Bugger. We contemplated getting another beer but I’m quite glad we chose not to, in the end!
This flight too was relatively uneventful, a bit of turbulence on the way down but nothing too untoward. And so we farewelled Europe and welcomed England. We flew into the delightful Heathrow, and when we landed we did our best to race through to security to try to be ahead of the crowd. In the end I think we only lined up for about 20-25 minutes, the queue wasn’t too bad. Our security officer wanted a chat and thought he was a bit of a comedian, which was good but also frustrating as we wanted to be out.
For our first few days in London we were to stay at Epping with Paul and Alice. After some consideration we decided to still take the tube because it wasn’t a lot slower than one of the Heathrow lines, but a fraction of the cost. As we set off from Heathrow, Dan and I had a realisation that we would have to change to the Central line at Holborn. Any other time we have done this, it’s been crowded and horrible. So we took a punt...and frankly it didn’t quite work out as we expected!
We left Heathrow about 6.30ishpm. When we got to Acton, we changed to the district and went backwards two stops to the beginning of the Central line. This didn’t take us all that long, really. And we jumped on the Central and got easy seats. Then we set off.
God it took forever. At one stop we just sat there for 10 minutes. When we hit Holborn, the train was mostly empty and no one really got in. We looked at each other, like, bugger. That farting around did not pay off.
A man had gotten on earlier and looked at us and our mountains of luggage, bemused. He had to talk to us. He reminded us that this train was not going to Epping. Yep, we had to make yet another change.
We piled all our crap off the train and waited for information about the next one to Epping. The time kept shifting, until finally someone said over the loudspeaker that the drivers will announce their destination as the screens weren’t able to display the latest information. Also there was a train on the track and they couldn’t find the driver. Dan and I were just desperate to not be moving anymore but finally our train to Epping arrived. We breathed a sigh of relief!
At Epping Paul was there to meet us. We walked the short distance to his and Alice’s house and collapsed! We met the four cats, and settled in for a beer and a chat before it was time to crash for the night. It had been along long day and we were thankful to be still - and the next few days were only for relaxation!
Til next time,
xx
First off was breakfast, though, and this was probably one of the most nutritious meals of our lives. We had to finish off what we had bought, so breakfast consisted of limoncello mixed with purple Fanta, and some chocolate wafers.
We splashed out for the express service to the airport and I managed to squeeze myself and all my luggage into a seat. Dan stood on the vestibule. The bus reached terminal two quite quickly, where almost everyone piled off. I had researched ahead of time which terminal we needed so I knew we had to stay on. Most other people hadn't done this, so they piled off and then most of them piled back on again - as well as new passengers.
Finally we set off for terminal one, and disembarked. Security was easy enough and after a lap around the terminal, settled on some seriously overpriced but not the worst in the place sandwiches. When it was time to go to through we found another lounge, with far less people. Oh well!
When it came time to board, we all formed an orderly queue as is appropriate. The first lot of people ahead of us jumped on the bus to be transported to the plane - and then we waited. And waited. And waited. The bus seemed to have gotten lost. It took probably close to half an hour to return to collect the rest of us - by now our flight time and been and gone. The flight attendants had been looking out the windows all wondering where it had gone too!
The flight was generally uneventful - managed to get a row to ourselves - fist pump! We arrived in Brussels airport a little bit late but we still managed to get ourselves a Belgium beer as hoped! We bought ourselves a couple Hoegaartens (the tasty pink one for me) and when we looked at the flight board next - our flight had been delayed by an hour. Bugger. We contemplated getting another beer but I’m quite glad we chose not to, in the end!
This flight too was relatively uneventful, a bit of turbulence on the way down but nothing too untoward. And so we farewelled Europe and welcomed England. We flew into the delightful Heathrow, and when we landed we did our best to race through to security to try to be ahead of the crowd. In the end I think we only lined up for about 20-25 minutes, the queue wasn’t too bad. Our security officer wanted a chat and thought he was a bit of a comedian, which was good but also frustrating as we wanted to be out.
For our first few days in London we were to stay at Epping with Paul and Alice. After some consideration we decided to still take the tube because it wasn’t a lot slower than one of the Heathrow lines, but a fraction of the cost. As we set off from Heathrow, Dan and I had a realisation that we would have to change to the Central line at Holborn. Any other time we have done this, it’s been crowded and horrible. So we took a punt...and frankly it didn’t quite work out as we expected!
We left Heathrow about 6.30ishpm. When we got to Acton, we changed to the district and went backwards two stops to the beginning of the Central line. This didn’t take us all that long, really. And we jumped on the Central and got easy seats. Then we set off.
God it took forever. At one stop we just sat there for 10 minutes. When we hit Holborn, the train was mostly empty and no one really got in. We looked at each other, like, bugger. That farting around did not pay off.
A man had gotten on earlier and looked at us and our mountains of luggage, bemused. He had to talk to us. He reminded us that this train was not going to Epping. Yep, we had to make yet another change.
We piled all our crap off the train and waited for information about the next one to Epping. The time kept shifting, until finally someone said over the loudspeaker that the drivers will announce their destination as the screens weren’t able to display the latest information. Also there was a train on the track and they couldn’t find the driver. Dan and I were just desperate to not be moving anymore but finally our train to Epping arrived. We breathed a sigh of relief!
At Epping Paul was there to meet us. We walked the short distance to his and Alice’s house and collapsed! We met the four cats, and settled in for a beer and a chat before it was time to crash for the night. It had been along long day and we were thankful to be still - and the next few days were only for relaxation!
Til next time,
xx
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