I Made It!

I simply had to prove that I made it to Pearson and then managed to get from the domestic section to the international part of terminal 1 -- though I was beginning to think that they wanted us to walk to London, England. That structure was just over from our departure gate. So I managed the first connection, and then flew to Heathrow -- now there's an adventure.!

To start with, the flight left at 6:30 pm -- they served dinner, had trouble with their media player so had to reboot it -- but that worked so not complaining. It's very nice to be able to choose what you want from the touchscreen menu. So by about 8:30 or 9 we'd eaten and so it was sleep time -- but who sleeps at 9:00 pm???? Not me, so it was a challenge to settle .... and then, we were landing around 6:30 am and they had continental breakfasts to serve, so the lights came up at about 4:30 UK time. Which isn't too bad when you consider that's just before midnight -- but my system was trying to figure out what the heck was going on. But I have to say I love how they now try to help you keep hydrated. Water is offered a lot during the flight. Anyone who knows me well probably knows that I rarely turn down a glass of water ... I thought perhaps I'd float off of the plane. but I didn't. We were almost half an hour late leaving and almost half an hour late landing ... which would be fine except that I had another flight to catch. AND, though my bag was checked through we had to go through passport control at Heathrow. And the signs are a mixture of excellent and confusing -- had no trouble finding our way to Terminal 1 from Terminal 3 -- but trying to find my way in Terminal 1 -- there it felt like chaos -- especially since my flight was due to go out at 8:40 ... so I had about an hour to got through security, passport control and find where the gate was .... and there were lines ... If you've travelled you'll understand -- sorry -- there were queues! I'm in the UK now. Went through security (had to hide my knitting needles since Heathrow's official stance is "NO knitting needles" and no one told me I'd be going through security again. But because my needles are not plastic but some kind of synthetic (my knitting needles for flying that is), I removed the tips (they're interchangeable), and put the tips in my pocket as I walked through the metal detector .... Thank goodness other knitters had told me how it's done -- I had no idea I might be in trouble on that flight! And I was too tired to try to follow a pattern by then!

Then we had to go through Passport control -- another huge queue - of course, part of that is because we were at the wrong place -- no queue at passport control for those who were continuing on another flight -- I found them as I was trying to wend my way through the maze .... Then went through bio???? control -- woman with children ahead of me was slowed down because her children were displaying "flu-like" symptoms. I had no problem, except I had to go and stand "on the footprints" and look at a camera ... I was wondering if they were doing the "iris screening thing" but just wanted to find my way --- and they DID give me good directions .... whereupon I hit another area with people queued. Fortunately, I was wise enough to skirt them since Windsor had issued my boarding passes for all three flights. Finally found a screen where I could check my flight, only to be told to report to Gate 8 area ... which, of course, was 20 miles from where I was .... I was so relieved to finally find the right area ... until they announced that another flight that had been posted at "Gate 8 Area" had just been changed to Gate 77 -- and you guessed it - they had to hoof it back the way they'd come - and their flight was due to leave before ours (it was now past 8:10 - check-in deadline) ....

I was starting to squirm when it came to be 8:30 and they'd said absolutely nothing about our flight -- not whether it was at 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8F .... it was an endless area of 8's .... then finally they announced that they'd be getting around to us shortly .... again, not a problem, except that I had a train to connect with in Glasgow .... and wasn't sure how long it would take me to find my way from the airport. Anyway, we finally took off, and were only a little late (about half an hour). I walked out of the airport, wondering how I'd find the coach for Queen Street Railway Station, and deciding that if I had any trouble I'd take a taxi (same exit from the airport). And wonder of wonders, the coach was sitting right in front of the door, left less than 5 minutes after I boarded, and I was at the railway station with almost 1 1/2 hours to spare.

It was a gorgeous trip -- if you aren't feeling a little jet-lagged! I'm really glad that I get to do it again ... we drove through small mountains - well they were in the near background, we didn't actually go through any. We drove alongside lochs. It was absolutely beautiful. And the ride was almost 3 hours long. The start was typical big city but it very quickly left all trace of city behind and became a gorgeous tour of the area between Glasgow and Oban.

We were in good time for the ferry (less than half an hour but they're across the way from one another, so it was a matter of a three minute walk to get there, get my ticket and join the wait. It was another journey where i should have been outside with my camera -- but I'm hoping to do that on the return trip.

Sooooo, by 5:00 pm local time (that would be noon to you!) I was walking from the ferry to the B&B. After I'd settled in (ditching the hiking boots that I'd been in since 2:30 yesterday!) I put on sandals, took my camera and went for a walk .... So let's see if I can get any of these photos to load.

Hmmm, it won't let me do it the usual way ... so look for the second epistle!

Oh, and that camera at Heathrow???? After all of their security measures I was shocked that they didn't require photo ID with your boarding pass, until I looked at the screen when they scanned mine -- and there was my photo from the "footprints" shot. Ain't technology grand????

The view from my B&B!