We flew BOS-LGW-BOS on DL/VS (codeshare, we bought tickets on DL but it was a VS plane), and BHX-DUB-BHX on FR (Ryanair -- in fact, we took my Grandmother along with us on the BHX-DUB-BHX trip).
Our detailed itinerary was:
18 Oct BOS-LGW DL 2812 8:20p-7:50a (19 Oct) 747-200 35J&K 2 Nov LGW-BOS DL 2811 3:00p-5:10p 747-200 35B&C 23 Oct BHX-DUB FR 663 11:15a-12:10p 737-200 open seating 26 Oct DUB-BHX FR 664 1:10p-2:05p 737-200 open seating
We always seem to have trouble with the outbound trip (see http://www.ckdhr.com/hrose/london-1995.html for last years BOS-LGW on DL/VS trip report :). This time was no different.
The week before we were scheduled to leave, our work schedule was packed. In fact, we were rather concerned we'd have to reschedule our trip ... but everything worked out in the end (we worked close to 80 hours in 5 days, Monday to Friday, ending Friday at 4pm). This was somewhat complicated for the need to reticket before we actually checked in for our flight.
A few days before we were leaving, during one of my temporary non-working periods, I was posting to rec.travel.air asking about upgrades on a code-share flight. A Delta reservations agent reading the group sent me email asking me if I knew about the fare sale currently going on in the BOS-LGW market. I said yes, but that I hadn't been able to find seats available at that fare for our travel dates. Well, this nice guy who I had never corresponded with before *in my life* took it upon himself to look through his reservations system several times that day and found seats for my husband and I at the lower fare. He sent me email literally 2 hours before we were scheduled to walk out the door to the airport saying that he had gotten the seats reserved for us, and we should go to the Delta terminal and reticket before going over to the VS desk and checking in.
We went from our work site to our house, changed (the work site we were at that day was filthy and we weren't going to fly with any more dust than we could help), packed a few last minute things, and called a cab. Well, *tried* to call a cab. None of the cab companies said they had *any* cabs available. So we called up one of the guys at the office and begged him to take us to the airport -- he said he would. We walked from our house to the office (about 15 min walk) ... on the way we passed a hotel (Cambridge Center Marriott) and there happened to be a couple of hotels in the cab stand. My husband started loading the luggage while I ran into the hotel and looked for a phone to call the guy at the office and tell him we didn't need the ride. When have you ever known *all* of the phones in a hotel lobby to be in use? Answer: when you REALLY REALLY need to use one! I ended up begging from the concierge ("it's a local call, you can dial the number for me if you'd like!"). By the time I got back to the cab, they were loaded up and waiting.
The cabby took a super-secret route to the airport involving going out on Storrow and turning right just past the Mass General, and doing some turns past the West End library branch, then going down past North Station, kicking up onto I-93 for one exit. It was impressive, Leverett Circle was packed and so was Cambridge Street, but this way was one of the fastest trips we've ever taken to the airport from Kendall Square.
We arrived at the airport, Boston Logan, and went to the Delta Terminal (C). The Medallion/First Class ("current day travel only") line was not moving very quickly (it seems that the difficult reticketing or upgrading always happens there, and our case was no exception :-). We waited for about 20 minutes and then got up ... a guy named Craig Ritchie served us, he was very nice ... due to go on a break but he waited to help us anyways. After he saw how complicated it was going to be I think he regretted it :)
He was *very* patient, even though the reticketing took 30 minutes. First he almost had it done, and then he and another agent got into a discussion over what the change fee should be. He maintained that it should be either $0 or $50, because we weren't *changing* any travel dates, the agent next to him said it should be $150. Our original tickets were $520/each and the new fare was $350/each, so it would be a savings of $170 per ticket.
He called up Delta's internal reservations number, who walked him through the procedure. He kept telling the agent on the other end that he'd charge a change fee, but when we got the final refund slip to sign off on, there was no mention of any change fee :) He offered us either an MCO (which we could use for future travel on DL) or a refund to our credit card. We took the credit card refund (because that would be more immediate ... even though I'm about to book our next DL trip :-). He then checked our bags in (which we thought we'd have to do at Terminal B at the VS desk). I asked him for a landing card for my husband (because said husband is an evil American, although he'll be Irish the next time we go so it'll be irrelevant :-). He said he knew nothing about that and that we should ask the VS desk.
We asked the DL agent at the VS desk, and she said we had to check in with VS (even though we'd already checked in with DL). I think they just wanted to cover their asses in regards to paperwork (in case we hadn't shown the right passports, etc).
We then went and willingly paid $7 for one small sandwich and a bottle of lemonade (we MUST have been hungry :-) as we'd eaten hardly anything all day (a tiny container of canned fruit for breakfast, and a banana for lunch. Too busy to eat!) and were practically fainting from lack of food. After we ate we cleared security and got a good look at the plane ("Shady Lady"). We then read the next 45 minutes away until they called for boarding.
We were sitting in row 35. I much prefer to sit in a row ending in "0" or "5" because that's usually how they call boarding :) We observed their boarding procedures and after "rows 40 and higher" got into line, we got into line behind *them*. Just as we got to the front of the line, they called "rows 35 and higher" ... nailed it :)
We settled in pretty quickly, shoving all of our carryons overhead (we'd packed our jackets, and just had sweatshirts to wear). The flight was PACKED. Virgin/Delta are obviously pleased with their load factors on the BOS-LGW run :). The comfort packs were *really cool* ... they had grey/red socks in them as well as eye shades, notepad and paper, a 10% off gift certificate at any UK Virgin Megastore (which we put to good use :), as well as other goodies.
After takeoff they did meal service immediately with a drinks service following. I highly commend this idea ... it gave everyone a chance to eat first and then settle down for sleep. I don't remember what I got, but I only ate the potatoes and apple pie (it was REAL apple pie, WITHOUT CINNAMON!!!). Hubby & I both got about 3 hours sleep and woke up right before they served breakfast (cornflakes, muffin, orange juice). The eyeshades really worked! Normally I'm not able to sleep well unless it's relatively dark.
We landed at Gatwick on time, and went into immigration. I cleared through no problem, it took Hubby a little longer (being the aforementioned furriner). Usually they just want to know why he's in the country and who he's staying with. This time they wanted to actually make sure he had a return ticket. By the time he got through they'd announced which carousel our bags were arriving on. It took *FOREVER* to get our bags ... one came through after 20 minutes of waiting and it took another 10 before the next one came. Through the green channel, and out. I went to the info desk to enquire about something while Hubby hit the ATM. Then we went down to Alamo to pick up our car that we had reserved (20GBP a day for a Vauxhall Astra Automatic). That took a bit of time too, but by 10am we were on the road (2 hours spent in Gatwick, blech).
2 hours and 15 minutes later (minus one 10 minute stop at the Cherwell Valley services on the M40 in Oxfordshire) we were at my Grandmother's in Bedworth (just north of Coventry). I love English motorways. We were doing 80 most of the way and getting passed :)
Wednesday we took my Gran and left for BHX (Birmingham International Airport) for our trip to Ireland. The last time I flew out of BHX was 1979 ... it was Elmdon then! Needless to say, it's changed quite a bit!
Ryanair was interesting! You can tell they're a Herb-clone, except Herb doesn't do Duty Free! On Ryanair you have to pay for drinks, even orange juice and fizzy pop. :) Christopher & I debated why Herb didn't do that, and figured it would cost Herb more to collect the money than it would to not ... but since Ryanair is making a ton of money from Duty Free anyways, they had the collection scheme in place.
The 737-200 was odd. It was obviously ex-something ... South African, perhaps? They had both English and Dutch titles on the non-smoking signs and exit doors (although the whole flight was non-smoking, thank goodness).
We arrived into Dublin on time, but had a major schlep from the arrival gate to the baggage claim. This was hampered by the fact that Gran doesn't walk as fast as she used to, and thus our pace was quite slow.
By the time we got to the baggage claim, our bag was there :). We went out to the information desk to ask about how to get to Galway (our first destination). They told us to go out and get the bus just outside the terminal to Heuston station, where we could get the 2:25 train.
Well, we queued up for the bus. The buses alternated ... there was one to Heuston, and then one to Bus Aras (central bus station). So many people got on the Heuston bus who only wanted to go to Bus Aras that alot of us wanting to go to Heuston had to wait for the next bus. And the next bus arrived and the driver told us he only went to Bus Aras. It was very annoying ... if it was privatized it would be much more efficient :)
We finally got to Heuston and had about 45 minutes before our train was to depart. We tried to find something to eat (hadn't had a chance to eat at the airport, figured we would be better off getting to Heuston earlier rather than later, and now I'm glad we did), but the cafe looked kinda crappy and the sandwich shop had run out of baguettes. There was one restaurant but we didn't have enough time to sit down and eat.
We queued up for the train to Galway (platform 2 at Heuston) and got on right at 2pm. We figured we'd just get food from the dining car when it opened. So right as we start to pull out, we walked back to the dining car and bought 3 sandwiches (smoked ham, yummm), 2 bags of crisps (cheddar cheese and onion, yummmmmmmm), and 2 cans of coke (for us) and 1 can of orange (for Gran).
The train trip across the country was BEAUTIFUL. If I ever had to do this trip again I would not hesitate to take the train ... never mind the cost (19 Irish pounds return per person for the train, lots more if we'd flown), the scenery was just breathtaking. Watching all the cows and sheep (most of the sheep had coloured bottoms -- painted to stop poaching?).
We arrived in Galway at 1705. We immediately tried to find the tourist office but ended up in the wrong place (a hotel had a big sign up saying they had tourist info but it was a lie) ... after a couple of hitches we found it. We asked for a B&B, 2 rooms (1 double, 1 single). They asked if we minded staying outside the city a little bit, and I said that we didn't. They found us a B&B in "Lower Salthill" ... and the nice guy at the tourist office rang a taxi for us. We got there and the B&B was very nice! Clean rooms, all of which were en suite. The place was run by Mrs Eileen Manon, and I'd recommend it to anybody. After we'd been there a little while I asked Mrs Manon if we could stay one more night and she said that was fine. Turns out the showers were great (unusual for the British Isles, where most of them seem to have the water pressure of your average watering can) with nice hot water. The food was very nice as well. And when it wasn't raining, we could see Galway Bay from our room.
We had one evening, one full day, and one morning in Galway. The half days were both crappy, weatherwise. The full day, on the other hand, was glorious weather. A bit chilly but sunny and bright -- perfect walking weather. So walk we did! We walked first from Lower Salthill into Galway City, walking along the water (as opposed to walking along the coast road). Then we walked all over Galway City (very beautiful) stopping for lunch and going in various shops. After lunch we started our hunt for my Grandmother's mother's birth records. We started at the library (in Galway City), were sent to the Registry (across the river, near the hospital), from there they sent us to the church in the Claddagh (where Gran's mother was born), and from there they sent us to the Cathedral (back near the Registry. arghhh!). All in all we walked about 5 miles that day.
Friday morning saw us back at the Cathedral in search of Gran's mother's baptismal records. We finally found them! Just in time to grab our bags and head for the train station for the 11am train to Dublin.
We ate on the train again, and got into Dublin to find the weather absolutely pissing it down :( We'd booked ourselves (well, with the assistance of the Galway tourist office) into a B&B in Phibsboro (sp?) called "Connaught House". The Galway tourist office told the proprieteress that we'd be arriving "about 3pm" ... but when we showed up at 2:30 there was nobody there. We hung around Phibsboro (a bit difficult, it basically meant we ended up sitting in the McDonald's for 45 minutes) and then tried again, but there was still nobody home. Seeing my sightseeing time in Dublin go to a waste we resolved to go down to the city centre for a while. We got down there no problem ... and 5:30 I called up the B&B and there was somebody there. Getting back was a different story. The buses were all packed. The first one that came along ... well, we'd politely queued up for it, English-style. When the bus pulled up, everyone ran towards the door, without waiting their turn. So we didn't get on :( The second time we said to hell with being polite and thus we got on :)
The B&B was ... well, it wasn't nearly as nice as the one in Galway. It smelled of smoke (I hate smoke), and the room that my husband and I were in was absolutely PUNY. There were two twin beds that we pushed together to make a bit more room, and that helped a bit. Because it was raining so hard, we didn't go back into the city centre after dinner like we had planned -- we hadn't even dried off from our earlier wait for the bus :(
The next morning the other shoe dropped. The bathroom was puny and there was no hot water. Also, it turned out that none of the staff actually lived in that house ... they all came in from outside. Breakfast was late and not very nice (it looked like they made the toast earlier -- because it was stone cold by the time it got to the table). Gran didn't like the "Irish Breakfast" at all. Hubby & I wimped out and asked for just scrambled eggs (that way they couldn't pre-cook it and let it sit). We had to ask several times for milk for cereal and orange juice to drink, and jam for the toast. All in all, not a very satisfactory experience.
We went into town and dropped our suitcase off at Bus Aras. We had a 1pm flight to catch but wanted to see some of the city first. Lucky for us there was indeed a Left Luggage at Bus Aras (I hadn't checked this first). We left Gran at a nearby shopping centre and Hubby & I went off walking. My mother was born in Dublin, in the Blackpitts area, and I was looking forwarding to seeing where she lived. I couldn't believe the size of the house ... it was tiny. Now I see why they worked so hard to get to England -- the house they had in England was small but it was twice as big as the matchbox in Dublin.
We walked back from Blackpitts down the Coombe and caught a bus the rest of the way into the city centre. We then walked across the Ha'Penny bridge (just to say we'd done it :-) and went back to meet Gran and catch the bus from Bus Aras to the airport. The bus ride was very uneventful -- and the weather was not rainy (unlike when we had arrived), so there was more to see. We killed an hour at the airport mostly looking through Duty Free (which Aer Rianta must make a killing off of). We settled down to wait for our flight to be called ... as we were sitting there, the Ryanair Jaguar plane pulled up! It's a great livery! Christopher managed to get a picture or two of it (as we were boarding our own plane, which was next to it) ... it will be interesting to see how the picture turns out.
At the same time our flight was boarding, Ryanair had about 4 or 5 other planes sitting on the tarmac. It was amusing, because the gate agent had to point out *which plane* to walk to :). No idiot-proof jetways here -- just as on the outbound at both BHX and DUB we had to track across the tarmac and up the (integral!) airstairs. Ryanair did seem to do pretty fast turnarounds ... about 20 or 25 minutes in alot of cases. Very Herb-like.
The return flight was quick and surprisingly smooth (considering the weather was pretty crappy below). We landed at BHX on time and went to the baggage claim. There was no form of immigration control or customs either BHX-DUB or DUB-BHX -- it was almost like it was a domestic flight (on the phone, however, Ryanair said that passports were mandatory for both US and UK citizens. liars :-). My Uncle picked us up outside of the terminal and utterly failed the "pay before exiting" parking intelligence test. Hopefully he'll learn next time!
Other things we did while in England. We went to the Imperial War Museum airfield at Duxford, near Cambridge (we drove across the M6 and over the M1 to the A14, which is a FABULOUS road ... very fast-moving for an A-road). Took a whole roll of film, mostly of Concorde :-) Although it was stationary and thus an easier shot to take than the one I took at Farnborough '94). The Imperial War museum had an impressive number of flying planes ... we saw a P-51 and a BF-109 flying while we were there. They were doing a mock combat at one point :)
We didn't get down to Yeovilton so that will have to be next time... next year we might venture to the Continent and do some looking around there (Christopher's uncle is doing some work for the Egyptian Air Force in France [convenient to visit :-]... in fact, they just bought A-300, very early line number for parts ... I'd have loved to see that!)
On our return trip, we started out from Bedworth a bit late ... we'd hoped to leave at 9:30 or 9:45 but we didn't get out the door until 10:15 or perhaps even a little later. Too many relatives to see in too short a period of time! I drove the first leg (Bedworth -> Cherwell Valley) and Christopher drove the second (Cherwell Valley -> Gatwick -- I've been lucky and have yet to drive the M25 :-). We made Gatwick by 12:30 which wasn't too bad. We topped the rental car up at the Texaco on the airport and returned it to Alamo.
The check-in lines were quite long. I kept an eye on the agents up above the check-in lines ... they were obviously seeing how long the lines were and debating opening up more lines. We saw the screens change on two of the monitors and we *ran*! They had JUST opened those lines up, and thus we checked in a good 15-20 minutes earlier than we might otherwise have if we'd stayed in the original line. VS's baggage belt was broken or being upgraded or something, so after they tagged the bags we had to cart them over to a big baggage cart in the middle of the terminal.
We then decided we'd go and see the Buchair shop on the Spectator's terrace. When we were in LGW last year we spent a good 30 minutes in the Buchair shop and a little bit more on the terrace (not much more, as there wasn't much to see ... it *was* Gatwick after all :-). The signs in the lifts prominently displayed "Buchair Shop", but after we got upstairs and paid the 1 GBP each for admission, we found out that there *was* no Buchair shop ... it had been replaced by a coffee shop (as if there aren't enough of *those* at Gatwick already!). We complained at admissions and got our money back (there wasn't much more to see). We also filled out one of the "Gatwick Comment Cards" and asked them to either reopen the shop or change the sign in the lifts.
After that disheartening discovery we went down and cleared through passport control to our gate (well, we did spend a bit of time wandering through the various Duty Free shops). There was a woman handing out Air Travel surveys (and giving out free pens if you completed one). We filled out a survey and kept the pens. Typical English, most other people filled out the survey and left the pen behind :)
We boarded and sat down. For a while it looked like we'd have the seat next to us free, but no such luck. We did get an interesting seatmate, however (outbound our seatmate was interesting as well, he was a British Citizen living in France and working on a farm there!) -- he was in the American Air Force stationed in England and going home to the US on leave for the first time in years.
The food on the return flight was great. I had beef & ale pie with carrots and cabbage. Christopher had Thai Chicken Curry. The pudding was cheesecake. They also served chocolate ice cream Aero bars halfway through the flight. The afternoon tea was 4 miniature sandwiches (of which I ate 2) and a currant scone with clotted cream and jam. We drank quite a bit on the flight (mostly Orange Juice, and some Ribena which we brought along ourselves), but still found ourselves somewhat dehydrated on landing.
We had asked to see the flight deck. We asked during first drinks service and the flight attendant asked us to ask after dinner. So we asked after dinner and she said ask after duty free. We asked after duty free and she checked and said that the crew was too busy. :( So we've yet to see a 747 cockpit in flight. Next time, perhaps?
After landing, we cleared immigration in record time (we arrived in the hall to see the non-Citizen/Permanent Resident lines very long but the Citizen lines very short). We were walking up and noticed one line had nobody in it at all, so within 3 minutes of deplaning we were officially back on American soil :). Our bags took a bit longer, but not much. We were clear of the airport by 5:40 (it was a 5:10 landing) and we were home by 6:00pm.
All-in-all it was a good trip ... I was born in England, but every time we've been back I discover something new about the country that I didn't know before. I only wish VS flew into BHX! Even Gatwick in 2:15 is too long of a drive compared to the :30 it would take me to get to BHX.
