The Long Journey Home
This is what it takes to travel from Harrogate to Linthicum:
Get up at the crack of dawn. We ordered a wake-up call for 5:30 a.m. so we could be ready to walk out the door with our 4 suitcases and 2 carryons at 7 a.m. We are checking out of the Ascot House Hotel before breakfast is served. We figured we'd grab coffee and a bite to eat at the airport. (dream on...)
Drive two hours to get to Manchester Airport. We hired one of the local courier services to take us to the airport. He arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule but we were ready for him. Piled all our luggage into the back of the van then settled in the back seat for the ride. I was pleased that the driver took the "back" way in to Manchester, via Skipton Road and through the Dales, giving us one last look at the Yorkshire countryside. Soon enough we met up with the motorway outside of Manchester and then traffic was congested and awful. Bleecch. There is no easy way to drive to Manchester airport.
Check in at the airport. This step usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Not so for us. The departures hall was heaving with passengers queueing for check in. We made our way to the back of the Continental queue. Soon we were approached by staff members looking for passengers willing to forfeit their seat for a travel bonus. when we declined we were assaulted with a hard sell on giving up our seats. You see, they'd overbooked the flight and there weren't enough seats for everyone. Something hadda give. But it wasn't going to be us. We stuck it out in the queue. Nearly two hours later we'd checked in to our flight. What we'd forfeited was our breakfast as there was only enough time to make our way to our departure gate. Actually, while we were waiting to check in, I'd run over to Millie's cookies and gotten a chocolate muffin to munch on. That helped satisfy my hunger and caffeine fix for a time. And before arriving at the departure gate we did make time to purchase two bottles of Pimms at a bargain price from the duty free shop.
Fly from Manchester to Newark. Fairly routine flight including awful airline food and miniscule movie screens. I've pretty much given up on watching in-flight movies. The video and audio quality is so poor and there are so many interruptions. I settled into my book, Affinity, which was a great read. And I even managed to catch a few winks of sleep!
Change planes at Newark. Again, the usual routine. Deplane. Go through passport control (thankfully the line was not too long). Go to baggage claim and watch as everyone else receives their bags before ours. Go through customs. Recheck bags. Go to departure gate. Wait to board plane. Our plane was delayed by about 45 minutes. ugh.
Fly from Newark to Baltimore. Short hop so smallish plane. The aisle separates seat A from seats B and C. One flight attendant whose announcements were made in a detached monotone with no breaks between sentences. She served us a small packet of peanuts and another of pretzels and a cup of water. Somehow the pilot made up for lost time and we landed only about 5 minutes later than scheduled. Once landed it was a bit of a walk to baggage claim. This time we were lucky and did not have to wait too long to retrieve our luggage.
Pick up rental car. Perhaps the most annoying part of our journey. We hauled our bags over to the rental car shuttle bus stop. We let the first bus go by as there was no room inside to stash our luggage. The luggage storage on the next bus was nearly as full but Brad mananged to heave our bags on to the racks anyhow. There were plenty of seats, though, so definitely a design/logistics problem on those shuttle buses to the rental car facility. It was a rather long ride too! There were a couple of people in line in front of us but the line moved quickly. We'd requested a compact car and got a Chevy Impala, a boat of a vehicle.
Drive to and check in to hotel. Not a long drive at all and easy since we know the area. The desk clerk spoke in that fast monotone voice that used earlier by the flight attendand and I struggled to comprehend what he had to say. Though returning to my native land I felt as if I were in a foreign country as I didn't understand the language! Our room seems nice enough. Not quite a suite but plenty of room. We've got a living room area and a microwave and fridge. The bedroom is set off a bit in a little alcove. The bathroom is as far away from the bedroom as is possible to be. Not very well laid out.
Eat and make phone calls. We were dog-tired and did not want to go to a restaurant so we picked up some sandwiches at a local deli. The clerk who served us wore a look of profound disinterest as she threw our items into the bag. Welcome to America! Home of the world's worst customer service. I made a few phone calls before succumbing to jet lag.
Go to sleep. Zzzzzzzz........
Get up at the crack of dawn. We ordered a wake-up call for 5:30 a.m. so we could be ready to walk out the door with our 4 suitcases and 2 carryons at 7 a.m. We are checking out of the Ascot House Hotel before breakfast is served. We figured we'd grab coffee and a bite to eat at the airport. (dream on...)
Drive two hours to get to Manchester Airport. We hired one of the local courier services to take us to the airport. He arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule but we were ready for him. Piled all our luggage into the back of the van then settled in the back seat for the ride. I was pleased that the driver took the "back" way in to Manchester, via Skipton Road and through the Dales, giving us one last look at the Yorkshire countryside. Soon enough we met up with the motorway outside of Manchester and then traffic was congested and awful. Bleecch. There is no easy way to drive to Manchester airport.
Check in at the airport. This step usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Not so for us. The departures hall was heaving with passengers queueing for check in. We made our way to the back of the Continental queue. Soon we were approached by staff members looking for passengers willing to forfeit their seat for a travel bonus. when we declined we were assaulted with a hard sell on giving up our seats. You see, they'd overbooked the flight and there weren't enough seats for everyone. Something hadda give. But it wasn't going to be us. We stuck it out in the queue. Nearly two hours later we'd checked in to our flight. What we'd forfeited was our breakfast as there was only enough time to make our way to our departure gate. Actually, while we were waiting to check in, I'd run over to Millie's cookies and gotten a chocolate muffin to munch on. That helped satisfy my hunger and caffeine fix for a time. And before arriving at the departure gate we did make time to purchase two bottles of Pimms at a bargain price from the duty free shop.
Fly from Manchester to Newark. Fairly routine flight including awful airline food and miniscule movie screens. I've pretty much given up on watching in-flight movies. The video and audio quality is so poor and there are so many interruptions. I settled into my book, Affinity, which was a great read. And I even managed to catch a few winks of sleep!
Change planes at Newark. Again, the usual routine. Deplane. Go through passport control (thankfully the line was not too long). Go to baggage claim and watch as everyone else receives their bags before ours. Go through customs. Recheck bags. Go to departure gate. Wait to board plane. Our plane was delayed by about 45 minutes. ugh.
Fly from Newark to Baltimore. Short hop so smallish plane. The aisle separates seat A from seats B and C. One flight attendant whose announcements were made in a detached monotone with no breaks between sentences. She served us a small packet of peanuts and another of pretzels and a cup of water. Somehow the pilot made up for lost time and we landed only about 5 minutes later than scheduled. Once landed it was a bit of a walk to baggage claim. This time we were lucky and did not have to wait too long to retrieve our luggage.
Pick up rental car. Perhaps the most annoying part of our journey. We hauled our bags over to the rental car shuttle bus stop. We let the first bus go by as there was no room inside to stash our luggage. The luggage storage on the next bus was nearly as full but Brad mananged to heave our bags on to the racks anyhow. There were plenty of seats, though, so definitely a design/logistics problem on those shuttle buses to the rental car facility. It was a rather long ride too! There were a couple of people in line in front of us but the line moved quickly. We'd requested a compact car and got a Chevy Impala, a boat of a vehicle.
Drive to and check in to hotel. Not a long drive at all and easy since we know the area. The desk clerk spoke in that fast monotone voice that used earlier by the flight attendand and I struggled to comprehend what he had to say. Though returning to my native land I felt as if I were in a foreign country as I didn't understand the language! Our room seems nice enough. Not quite a suite but plenty of room. We've got a living room area and a microwave and fridge. The bedroom is set off a bit in a little alcove. The bathroom is as far away from the bedroom as is possible to be. Not very well laid out.
Eat and make phone calls. We were dog-tired and did not want to go to a restaurant so we picked up some sandwiches at a local deli. The clerk who served us wore a look of profound disinterest as she threw our items into the bag. Welcome to America! Home of the world's worst customer service. I made a few phone calls before succumbing to jet lag.
Go to sleep. Zzzzzzzz........
posted by lenora at 7:32 AM
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