Wed - Getting to England
Da Vinci Code Trip - London, Paris, Scotland
The days heading up to my departure for Da Vinci Code Land were extremely busy, and I got very little sleep as I tried desperately to get as many emergencies handled as possible before I left. In the middle of all this, a stray cat hung out in our yard for the week up to departure, through pouring rain and snow. We put out flyers with no response, except for one person who said he'd take the cat if we brought it in. We did finally become friends with the cat, and the cat was safely in our bathroom with food and snuggly sleeping spot when we left.
We stopped along the way for 4 bottles of wine, gifts for my friend Peter who would be escorting me around for my trip. Then we drove on in to Logan. We were there by 2:30pm for a 4pm Air Canada Jazz flight. I was a little worried that I didn't have the full recommended 2 hours, but luckily there was no line at all at the gate. Unfortunately, my main check-in bag - which really only had my clothes for the 7 days plus the wine - was 55lb - 5lb overweight! I guess they assume you're going to take 2 bags if you go for a week. I had to put 2 of the wine bottles into my carry-on knapsack that held my laptop.
On through security I went, and was sitting at my gate in record time, still with about 1 1/2 hrs until the flight left. I called in to Bob and told him what had happened. He pointed out that one of the bottles I'd chosen to hand-carry was in a carrying case with a corkscrew on it. Oooops - security didn't seem to mind! I began re-reading the Da Vinci Code. Time zipped by and soon I was boarding.
I'd pre-chosen my window seat near the back of the plane and was setting in comfortably. A younger guy sat next to me - but soon an older guy came along claiming that was HIS seat. The younger guy, it turns out, had a back row seat that didn't recline. He tried to get the older guy to swap but the older guy really wanted this seat. Good enough ... but the next thing you know, a stewardess came along and asked ME to swap seats, because this older guy wanted to sit with his friend. I agreed and got my knapsack from beneath my seat and followed her. It turns out I was now stuck in the FRONT row - i.e. with no place to put my stuff, and it was an aisle seat! She had me put my bag under an empty seat, but the guy there showed up and now I had to try to jam my knapsack into an overhead bin. It didn't fit. We had to take things out of it and leave them loose in the bin in order to squash it in. I was starting to feel like being the good samaritan was more trouble than it was worth. Finally I settled in to my aisle front row no-legroom seat and we were off.
The flight was quick, and I finished most of the rest of the book before we landed in Montreal. It was a fairly long walk over to customs. I'd noticed on the form that they only wanted you to bring 2 bottles of wine into Canada!! Talk about a tiny allowance! Since I wasn't staying in Canada, I hoped they wouldn't mind my four bottles "going through" to London. They passed me right through immigration - my bag was checked through and I never had to get it. I then walked on to the main terminal and had to go through security again. This time I was worried about the corkscrew but again it went right through without a problem. One of the security guys saw my Da Vinci Code book and asked if it was any good, and we chatted about it a bit.
I got to the gate and called in to Bob again, and then went to the pub nearby for some chicken soup, nachos, and to finish up the book. A short while later I was boarding. This time I actually got to keep my desired seat. Unfortunately the designated plane apparently had been swapped for an older one, so it wasn't very comfy. Also, apparently a person had balked at getting on the plane and now they were digging through the cargo to get his luggage off the plane before we took off. Finally we were off! I tried to sleep, but no such luck.
I did talk a while with my seat companion, who worked for the airlines out of Winnipeg. The airline food was actually reasonably tasty! Soon we were landing in Heathrow, and it was Thusday morning.
Thu - Visiting St Albans
Da Vinci Code Trip Notes Homepage
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