Day 0 – 30th June 2016
“There you go, Mr. Salt!”

The day has arrived, It has seemed an eternity since we visited Walt Disney World back in March 2016 but the countdown calendar on our kitchen door tells us it’s day zero.



Our flight isn’t until 14:50 p.m. so we have a morning to kill and I hate it. Just sitting around watching the clock tick by. Darrin was up at 5:30 a.m. tidying up loose ends at his business – I was up by 7.
Our very good friend, Bill, is looking after our house and Blair, our West Highland terrier whilst we are away. Blair knows something is going on. Suitcases in hallway and us dressed as if a “walkie” is on the cards. He’s no fool that dog.

At 11 a.m. we have loaded up car. Blair has been cuddled and Bill drives us down towards Heathrow airport. It’s about 25 minutes on a good day from our house. We are flying from Terminal 3 – flight BA 0219 where we duly arrive and suitcases are unloaded onto trolleys. We say goodbye to Bill and head in to drop our luggage off.



As we are in Club World this is relatively quick as they have a dedicated line. It also means we get Fast Track-ed for the security check. This takes all of four minutes – the quickest I think we have ever been through security. Lunch time is approaching and we head for the British Airways Galleries lounge.



A whisky and gin are procured as we settle in to our seats. Lunch offerings are pasta with a cheese and herb sauce, curry, chilli con carne or quiche with a selection of salad. I go for the pasta whilst Darrin opts for the quiche.



We wash this down with a nice Chablis. Opposite are a couple – they are British but have lived in Germany and now live in Luxembourg. Their connecting flight - they are returning from the USA - isn’t until 7p.m. so they have loads of time to kill. We chat for a while and Brexit comes into the conversation as does Donald Trump and Boris. At least our banter is all good natured.



Gate 27 shows for boarding and so we say our goodbyes. Thankfully, this time the gate isn’t located in Slough like it usually is. We find our seats 17 E and F and settle in with a complimentary glass of champagne.




Tea tree oil is applied to nostrils.
Lunch for me is tomato, mozzarella and avocado salad followed by seared fillet British beef with potatoes Dauphinoise and green beans and broccoli. I choose West Country Brie and Dorset cheddar for dessert. My wine choice was a Monterey Pinot Noir.








Darrin has smoked Scottish salmon to start and follows it with chilled seared garlic prawns with fennel and mint coleslaw. Dessert is a vanilla ice cream. Wine was a Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay from California.








Now it’s here that today’s title originates. My cabin crew member who I shall call A is a nice chap but he is a little gushing. Each time I am handed a pre dinner drink, refill or food it is accompanied with “There you go Mr. Salt!” It’s not until this has been said some half dozen times that it starts to disturb me. I know they are meant to be polite and using my name makes things that little more personal but I don’t see him saying it to Mrs. Arbuthnot or Mr. Smith when he serves them. Without fail, whilst watching a movie, he asks if I’d like a cup of tea and on delivery it arrives with a “There you go, Mr. Salt!” The other “Mr. Salt” – my hubby thinks I’m paranoid!
Once people have been fed and settle down to films they operate a thing in the galley called Club Kitchen. Basically, it’s a tuck shop and you can have wine, juice and water by helping yourself. The minute we know it’s up and running I head for the salted caramel popcorn and Darrin goes for the lemon icing dipped biscuits. These are stashed away for later in the holiday. Don’t worry we haven’t depleted the stocks are they do refill the shelves again. Looking out of a window we can see icebergs below us – must be near Newfoundland.



Film wise, we opt for “London has fallen” with Gerard Butler. We enjoyed “Olympus has fallen” where they blew up the White House so settle down to watch Parliament being blown to smithereens. This a followed with a couple of hours of shut-eye. 7 of our 9 hour flight has gone by.

We hear the chink of cups and know afternoon tea is on the way. This is a selection of cream cheese and smoked salmon, chicken with Caesar dressing and mozzarello and tomato. This is followed with deliciously light scones with strawberry jam and Rhodda’s Cornish clotted cream. There are also some little "fancies". Yes, you’ve guessed – mine was served with a “There you go, Mr. Salt!”





At 17:25 (Mountain time) we touch down at Denver. The airport is some 20 miles to the north west of the city and there is land around it as far as the eye can see. I can only describe the building as a squashed W at the end with marquee cones drifting into the distance.



As we leave the plane A smiles at me and I swear I heard him say: “There you go, Mr. Salt!”

We are ALL expected to do self - check at Immigration which is situated just after you have traversed this amazing arched bridge under which go all the taxi-ing planes on their way to the runway. The music is Native American and there are pictures of famous Indian Chiefs on the walls. Our security check goes fine except that Denver’s machines don’t go up and down for the photo bit. You have to squat somewhat, try and touch the “take photo” button on the screen and look normal at the same time. No black crosses here. Slips with our picture on them are issued. You take this to the desks where the entry date is promptly stamped on the slip and absolutely nothing is stamped in our passports. Our carefully prepared Customs form listing all the gifts we are bring in is unceremoniously flung on a pile of other equally despised Customs forms. So much for that then. We plough on where our stamped slips are collected and that’s it. From leaving plane to bag pick-up to clearing Immigration and Customs took all of 25 minutes.

We catch the bus to Avis car rental and within about 15 minutes we are loaded and ready to go. Preferred service makes thing so much easier. We have a Burgundy coloured Chevy Tahoe which was still wet from its car wash. However, on opening the doors we find a film of yellowy dust in the recesses. This car has been through a desert (correction from dessert)prior to our hire.





Our overnight hotel is at the Holiday Inn which is some 5 miles from the terminal building. We check in and are on the 4th floor at the front of the building.






Our car is parked immediately below us. One drawback – we only have a shower which I detest. I love soaking in a nice hot bathtub but it’s not to be tonight.


We take dinner at the Tower Grill attached to the hotel. It’s a sports bar and from our table we have the view of a baseball game – Mets v. Broncos I think. I don’t have a sporty bone in my body so to me it’s a load of guys chewing gum, spitting and executing a game of rounders.
We order a couple of Bud Light beers and I quote from the menu – “Small Plate” nachos with melted cheese, chilli beef, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. What arrives are two dustbin lid sized mountains that would feed a small country.



We work our way through the “good bits” but end up leaving a good 2/3rds of nachos behind.
We need sleep. We’ve been on the go for 23 hours and our heads are aching for a pillow to lay them on. We are in bed by 9:30p.m. As I drift off into oblivion I hear the echo-ey phrase – “There you go, Mr. Salt!”


INDEX - http://DIBB.in/11766690

Looks like a good travel day Geoffa, or should I say Mr Salt...
Looking forward to the next day.

Geoff. A great start to the holiday, plane on time and I have to say BA delivered some lovely food - very nice.
What a weird looking airport building!
Hope the trip unfolds well for you and thanks for posting such a good introduction. Have fun!

Great travel day ... Mr. Sa...sorry! Full of detail as usual.. Look forward to the next instalment..
Thanks for sharing. X

Good travel day 'Mr Salt' looking forward to the following days. Love your description of baseball!

Excellent start. Have really looking forward to your trip as it is an area that just might persuade us next year

I think I might have got a bit miffed with flight attendant after a few Mr Salt comments.

Never mind you are both at the start of a holiday. Hope you both have a fabulous time and look forward to more of your journey

Great travel day. Look forward to reading all about your trip.

Great report Geoff. The only thing is as an avid listner of the Dibb Podcast when I read your reports it's your voice in my head reading it to me :-) Is it only me that does this ?

Keep up the good work and thank you.

Phil

Have a great trip gents, my 6'3" DH had the same problem at Denver passport control

cant wait to hear the rest of the trip- we did lots of National Parks on our road trip but one of the highlights was a grizzly bear on our way into Yellowstone near the lake-never expected to see one so close!

this made me chuckle

". However, on opening the doors we find a film of yellowy dust in the recesses. This car has been through a dessert prior to our hire."

must have been a lemon meringue

I would have asked the flight attendant for a Dr Pepper just to see how he handled that.

Looking forward to your trip report.