So, we headed out this morning after a wonderful British
breakfast at the Doubletree, caught a bus to Heathrow Airport, then a bus to
Luton Airport. No issues with either
bus. It was an hour and 10 minutes from
Heathrow and Luton, so we just napped, read, and looked at the English
Countryside.
When we got to Luton, the easyJet line was ENORMOUS. Luckily, we had paid for a special package,
as we didn’t know if we would need to change the date of the ticket. So, our ticket included Speedy Boarding
(which had a special checkin line), and there was only 1 person in that line –
score!!
For those of you who have never heard of easyJet, they are
like Southwest on a budget. There is
NOTHING provided on the flight. Not even
water to drink (unless you want to drink from the airplane’s potable water from
the lavatory). So, after check-in, we
got some food and beverages and waited for them to tell us the gate. At 11:26, they posted the gate and the
stampede began. Bill had the misfortune
to be taking the crossword out of the newspaper when I exclaimed Gate 24 and
took off. I was quickly lost in the
throngs of people power rushing to the gate.
Realizing there was a mass of humanity, I paused to wait for Bill as
streams of people passed by. If you are
familiar with the Oklahoma Sooners, who at Noon rushed the borders to get their
first dibs on a parcel…it was a bit like that without the Conestoga’s or
horses.
After standing in line for 20 minutes, they allowed us
through the boarding line. As we
shuffled down the stairs, everyone came to a halt on whatever step they
happened to be…until they checked everyone in, opened the door, and race was
back on! A stream of people out on the
tarmac rushing the plane. Then one
person broke loose and headed for the stairs at the back of the plane. We followed and were about the 2nd
ones on in the back. Eventually, both
groups met in the middle of the plane.
Have you ever seen a tidal pool rushing into an estuary? The two waters swirl and churn, neither
static nor moving—in a stalemate? That’s
what we found!
The flight was not awful.
But the seats had no recline, and were tight. An A320 is 7 inches wider than a 737, the
idea being to put one inch into each seat width and one for the aisle. But seats are heavy and narrow seats are
cheaper and lighter. So, easyJet put the
narrow seats on and used all 7 inches in the aisle. It makes for quicker boarding and you can
actually pass people in the aisle. But I
only do that once or twice in a flight, and I sit in the seat the rest of the
time…So, Boo Hiss on EJ for that call!
Halfway through the flight, the man next to us started
talking. Not sure how it began, but he talked
the last two hours of the flight. Much
of it was interesting, but… Well. Two hours are better than five! We got off the plane, were grilled by
Immigrations, got our bag and off to the hotel!
It’s good to be Diamond with Hilton! But if you can’t be, by all means make sure
your spouse is! Theresa got us on the
Executive level, and of course into the lounge.
They had a very nice spread for 3 minutes longer. We heaped plates and found a table. We tried a few new drinks (an Israeli beer,
an unknown liqueur (Sabra), and some red wine).
While enjoying a bit of relaxation, we were snapped back to
reality when a man at the next table told us he couldn’t help noticing our joy
and the evident love we exhibited. (We
thought we were just being normal!) For those of you in WWME, you know we are supposed to be a sign with our relationship. It is surprising though to be recognised for it. We were at the time, being happy and thankful for getting in under the wire for dinner. Maybe God was giving us a "Thank you" back?
Well, the folks that are joining us should be heading to Philadelphia
now to catch their flight to Tel Aviv.
We’ll catch up with them tomorrow!And to one special couple (who knows who they are), Happy Anniversary M&C!
I haven't seen you unhappy when you are together. Maybe a little irritated, but never unhappy. Have fun!
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