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Old 12 Oct 17, 05:44 PM  
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WileyCoyote
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From Rock'n'Roll to Creole: 5 States Sept 17: Day 1 Travel Day: Heathrow to Dallas via Atlanta

Sunday 10 September

Heathrow to Dallas, Virgin Atlantic.

I felt sooooo tired when the alarm went off at 5.30.

Although our flight wasn’t till 11, we had to check in and working backwards from the Hoppa Bus times, we figured we needed to be on our way around 7.

Hence the early start to fit in some breakfast.

We headed down for breakfast around 6.15.

I definitely had the pre travel nerves and couldn’t face anything cooked.

As with last night we thought service and choice was superb.

In the end I only managed porridge and toast and not even a pic.

But I did take some of the buffet.



Andy had some fruit and a few of the hot items.

I think we would have got more out of it if we had a later start.

Certainly good value compared to airport breakfast prices.

We collected our cases and headed off for the bus.

I had seen the bus stop at the front of the hotel and set off in that direction although Andy was convinced that we should be going to the back of the hotel – which was confirmed by one of the staff.

The bus stop at the front is for normal TfL buses, the hotel Hoppa buses use the rear entrance.

It cost £4.50 each and as the published time is 30 minutes to get to T3, I had expected that we would make lots of stops. But we didn’t .

The bus arrived dead on its scheduled time of 0704 and we were walking up to the entrance of T3 at 7.14.





There was no queue at the PE check in.

They confirmed Andy had been selected for extra security at the gate which is why we couldn’t check in on line. The cases were weighed in at 20 and 19kg. Pretty good really.

Andy asked about an upgrade to Upper Class but at £600 each we decided to pass.

And so we were done – unlike the people queuing for Delta who all had to go through additional security after checking in – I found that a bit odd – I mean we were on a flight to the USA as well so how come one airline makes everyone answer the additional questions, and not another ?

There was hardly any line for security and even with our many trays we were through in no time and no one was treated to any further intimate examinations

All this speediness of course meant we now had an age in departures. As soon as we had gone through I then remembered that the checkin agent hadn’t asked Andy for any API information so I had another melt down that the lack of API was going to be problematic for him.

I got really cross with myself for not remembering to mention it – but then Andy pointed out if it was that important , she would have asked.

Didn’t stop me fretting though.


How to occupy ourselves then

We took the customary Harrods Bear photo



And we did some browsing in the stores but I didn’t need anything other than some gel for a annoying mouth ulcer that had decided to erupt overnight and was going to spoil my imbibement of the free drinks in PE – tsk tsk.

I looked at the shiny lovely things in the Bulgari store



and was completely gobsmacked when Andy treated me to an eternity ring






Our wedding rings came from Bulgari but are quite wide so finding a ring to fit with it is tricky. But their new Serpenti Viper ring went perfectly and I was stunned when he went ahead and bought it

What a start to the holiday

I had a coffee and a croissant to try and ward of the queasiness but I had hardly started the coffee when our gate came up for boarding – that’s something we noticed on both flights, we seemed to board really early in PE and hadn’t expected it.

We were at the gate for 10 and Andy went through extra security – which was basically opening all his hand luggage and a bit of a pat down.

As we had matching cabin cases I had put a ribbon on one of the cases to denote mine and his.

Except I forgot which was which so when he went off for inspection, it turns out he took my case.

I am sure the security officers have seen worse but they must have wondered what this 6’4” bloke was doing with a pair of fluffy slippers and a pink cardi in his case ….

Ah well, could have been worse I suppose. I did chuckle to myself as I saw all my stuff being taken out …

No sooner had he sat down than they called Upper and PE for Boarding via different doors at just after 1020.



We boarded to find people in our seats – ho hum, they should have been in the row in front.

In hindsight as they had the very front row , we should have just let them stay there to nab the extra space.

Turns out they had been bumped from another flight and the cabin crew were constantly running round after them.

The chappy was deffo not happy - real interpretation, omg he moaned the WHOLE flight about everything, the seat, the food , his wife

The seats were great, lots of leg room and even with the very fidgety person in front of Andy, he still didn’t get his knees knocked .





We discovered our cabin cases only fitted in the middle row of overhead lockers not the ones directly above us so that was a bit of an initial faff but we were soon sorted and enjoying a glass of Prosecco at 1040.


We were finally off about 1130




Then drinks and pretzels , just a smidgeon before 12

Amrula for me



Brandy and coke for Andy



Perfect for sipping while perusing the menu


The food came out around 1230 ( 90 minutes after take off )

I chose the beef





I didn't eat the salad , the beef was ok, nothing special but not bad. The cheesecake was nice and I ate the biscuits but not the Boursin ... Who thinks of this, let's have a plane full of skanky garlic cheese breath people. Really

I had pre ordered the Vegan meal for Andy. He said it was all really nice.



Obligatory post tray comparison

His



Mine



Washed down with some wine



Pretty civilised we felt

By now we were well into the first films of the flight – Ghost in the Shell for Andy and The Mummy for me- they were ok.



Coffee arrived at 2pm and it was onto the second lot of films, Andy switched to The Mummy and I watched Rogue One – which I found a bit disappointing.



It was also a bit distracting having the creeping hands appearing above my screen.


I had a brief snooze and woke up to find we still had ages to go – this is a long flight !

Lots of this



and this



And this ( it could be anywhere)



And finally we are getting close



More drinks service at 5.30 ( UK time ) and afternoon tea arrived at 6.40pm
This came out about 90 minutes before landing.



I had the chicken sandwiches. They were lovely. I liked all of it.

Andy had the vegan one which was nice too.



People had been up getting snacks from the kitchen during the flight but we didn't. I had a bag of mini Jaffa cakes that kept us going

We finally landed at 8.20pm UK time which was about 5.20 USA time.



We were off the aircraft sharpish and having been told by the cabin crew to use the kiosks, the officials in the Hall directed us into a queue and away from the machines.

After waiting 20 minutes in said queue ,we were then re directed back to the machines.

Andy got the dreaded black cross

Into another queue where it became clear that two queues were in fact merging for two officers – one who was very speedy and one who was not, and who also seemed quite intimidating.

The merging of the queues caused a bit of a rumpus with accusations of queue jumping between two feisty ladies who were both determined that they were “next”.

This really isn’t the place to start mouthing off though is it. It just means you are far more likely to draw the slightly less friendly officer …..

Anyhow, catfight over, we scored by drawing the quicker officer who then closed her lane after us – result.

I pretty much got waved through with a glance and Andy just had to re do his finger prints and eye scan.

Job done in 5 minutes.


It had taken us 45 minutes from arriving in the hall to being sent on our way. And after all that API stress I had huh…

Our cases were waiting for us and no one was in the remotest bit interested in the cases or customs forms so we whizzed into security - cases taken straight off us and into security . It was so fast that we wondered if it was a bit less scrutiny for connecting passengers having already been through this ... but maybe we just got lucky!

We jumped on the metro train to Terminal B for our connection to Dallas. I was feeling tired by now and possibly( definitely) a bit hangry.



Random terminal pics as we were hurrying to our gate





My ipad needed charging and every port I tried didn’t seem to get it to charge so I got really stressed that it was broken and Andy was just like “ well, try another socket”.

I got myself into a right meltdown and then found a socket where it did work… amazing how these ridiculous things can make you so irrational and emotional on travel day.


Andy had gone in search of water and come back with a really tasty savoury crepe ($8) that we shared – just what we needed as we both instantly felt better.


Edited at 07:44 PM.
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Old 12 Oct 17, 05:45 PM  
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WileyCoyote
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Atlanta to Dallas, Delta

It was just as well that we had some food - as we would need all our energy for the disorganised carnage that was Delta boarding .



We had economy comfort seats so should have had some sort of priority boarding

But they didn’t ever say Economy comfort or the row numbers.

In fact I am not sure what they said, it was unintelligible.

All we could see was that everyone seemed to be piling on and we were getting left behind.

Everyone else also seemed to have excessively large cabin bags.

As it was our turn, the machine rejected our boarding passes declaring we had not checked in. Err, yep, we did that in Heathrow. So a bit of tutting and dead eye from the people behind us and several re sets of the system and we were finally given the green light.

When we did get to our seats ( the last row of economy comfort), all the overhead bins were rammed full and the aisle was blocked with people trying to find space.

Andy managed to get one of the wheeled cabin bags and the small bags into a bin but in the end I had to have the other one under the seat in front – not a massive issue as I am short but not very comfortable.



I cant believe Delta just kept letting people on with jeffing massive bags when there was no room – in the end they did start taking bags back to go into the hold but only after a near meltdown and people starting to get all ansty when they saw other people trying to move their bags.

There were some VERY vocal Laydees on board who were not happy with people touching their bags, ahem.

So not a very relaxed start.


It was an ok flight, we were tired and just wanted to get there – the coffee and biscuits were very welcome to keep us going.

Bye bye Atlanta








Andy had a brief kip and missed the great view of the city buildings as we passed over them.





It was similar carnage getting off the aircraft with the cabin crew making a comment along the lines of do travel with us again but maybe next time bring less bags ….





I pondered on the infeasibly large gaps in the lavs and whether the severe weather is just in the vicinity of the ladies loos or the whole airport !




It was now just after 7pm in Dallas ( so about 1 am UK time) and we were struggling.

Happily our cases were some of the first off and we were away to phone the Super Shuttle that we had pre booked.

There was some hiccup in us understanding exactly where the pick up point was and it took an age for them to turn up – it was probably 20 minutes but felt like an eternity especially as it went dark as we were waiting and we just felt so tired standing in the hot and not very attractive parking area.



The Shuttle arrived and there is some issue as we have no voucher – no, but we do have a print out of the confirmation email that says we booked and paid.

But the driver really makes a big deal out of it and I didn’t think he was going to take us – he does eventually along with 2 others.

He is still muttering about the no voucher thing ( the email says nothing about needing a voucher) and we are convinced that he re set the route to drop us off last – we could see it set on his phone that we were due to be second drop but he made us the last one. No big deal I guess but meant we drove past our hotel twice dropping off the others. :angry:

I tried to get some night snaps but we were whizzing along - bit surreal really !



So this all took about 40 minutes and we are really struggling.

As he was still grumbling when we unloaded, we didn’t offer a tip. I had already included a tip in the original booking and we didn’t feel like adding to it.

We have Super Shuttle booked again at New Orleans so this didn’t give us a warm feeling.

Now around 8pm and we are dead on our feet checking in, which was fine but felt a bit slow. I think may just the world was going in slow motion at that point.

Then we are confronted with a huge array of buttons in the lift which can be dis orienting after 24 hours on the go !



We finally got to our room and the WOW factor made our tiredness disappear instantly.



We had been given a Suite.




I took more pics in the daylight but this is what greeted us – what a treat for us tired travellers .

It was just so spacious

We dropped our cases and decided to head out in a bid to last a little longer .

We only got as far as the Rodeo bar across the street.

]

It was very quiet probably as it was a Sunday in the Downtown area which is not really a residential place.

The Dallas Cowboys were playing so a few people were in cheering them on. Andy had a beer and I had a very refreshing Moscow Mule.



Chances of me understanding the rules of NFL with jet lag and a cocktail – lower than a snakes belly.

Even with a lovely barman trying to explain it to us. Turns out he was big into soccer so a premier league discussion ensued. He was a Chelsea fan. We didn’t hold it against him.

After an hour or so here, it was getting close now to 10pm US time, so we had been up for about 24 hours now and seriously flagging.

As we drew the curtains, Andy called me over to see the Eye – I thought he meant like the London Eye, but it was an actual eye – which kinda freaked me out in my jet lagged state – cant have that a giant eyeball watching me all night !



We dropped into the mahoosive and very comfy bed just after 1030.
Obviously destined for a long and glorious night of sleep ( don’t be ridiculous, its travel night… )

Day 2 is here Day 2 Downtown Dallas

Edited at 02:34 PM.
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Old 12 Oct 17, 08:05 PM  
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What a long day! I am sure I would have lost it somewhere during the day!

That eye is just creepy! Stuff nightmares are made of 😳
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Old 12 Oct 17, 08:06 PM  
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Wow, that felt like a reallllly long travel day. Nice room though
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Old 12 Oct 17, 09:10 PM  
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What a lovely ring. A great gift to start the holiday.
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Old 12 Oct 17, 09:15 PM  
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That is one mammoth journey you had! Glad you got there in one piece but WTH is that eye all about?
More to the point though that ring is GORGEOUS, Andy is a complete gem! Jim needs lessons from him
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Old 12 Oct 17, 09:21 PM  
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A great travel day, made even more fantastic by the gift of jewellery!

Super shuttle sound a right pain, but it's a small inconvenience really.

Your room looks lovely, and I'm sure it was a welcome respite after all the travelling.
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Old 12 Oct 17, 09:22 PM  
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Wow! What a day!

The virgin flight looked good but what a pain the Delta part
Lovely ring, nice start to the holiday
The taxi man sounded a right pain, just what you need after a long day. The hotel looks gorgeous as does the suite. Can’t believe you went out too, that’s hardcore!
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Old 13 Oct 17, 07:12 AM  
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What a seriously long day, don't blame you with that eye, it's freaky! Love your eternity ring, it's beautiful
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Old 13 Oct 17, 05:09 PM  
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
What a long day! I am sure I would have lost it somewhere during the day!

That eye is just creepy! Stuff nightmares are made of 😳
There was definitely " losing it" potential at Atlanta , we did well
The eye was just as alarming in the daylight !

Originally Posted by Lizzim View Post
Wow, that felt like a reallllly long travel day. Nice room though
It was , very long. It was about 14 hours in terms of the flights going indirect vs 10 and a bit hours direct so still a long one even with no connection !
The hotel and room were fab, it was a great start .

Originally Posted by Dissie View Post
What a lovely ring. A great gift to start the holiday.
And totally unexpected , I was quite emotional. And then really nervous about losing it !

Originally Posted by smithlane View Post
That is one mammoth journey you had! Glad you got there in one piece but WTH is that eye all about?
More to the point though that ring is GORGEOUS, Andy is a complete gem! Jim needs lessons from him
Yes, the Eye. Too weird. Taking street art to a new level. And definitely not good combined with a cocktail and jet lag
I'm thrilled to bits with the ring , it was very thoughtful of him.
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