No cowgirls but us on this train, and we are some tired
cowpokes. Nevertheless, we made it
through the cruise and had a terrific time meeting old friends and making
new. There are women who live in
Carefree, a lesbian community in Ft Meyers that I intend to visit sometime
soon, and of course it is lovely to share lots of cruise time with Cheryl and
Lori. We’ll be looking for an
opportunity to visit them in Springfield, Missouri sometime soon.
Yesterday was a day of waiting. We were able to sleep in a bit later than we
have been, but had to be in the dining room between 7 and 8 to get
breakfast. I was thrilled that the
specialty coffee bar was open. One never
knows on the last day. So, all of our
needs were met and we had a leisurely wait to be called for our airport transport.
We loved the way they do the luggage and transport. On past cruises we have had to pick up our
bags from a sea of bags in a vast terminal and then find our way to
transport. Once called in Stockholm we
found our designated bus and our luggage was just outside the bus luggage bins
and someone was there to load it for us.
Thank you Azamara Cruises. Once
on board the bus we met other women from Tampa.
British Air always treats us right. We were not sure if we would be able to check
in our luggage as we were over 6 hours before our flight. No problem for BA and also no charge for
either early check-in or for overweight.
Next we stood in rather long queues for passport check. Large Muslim families eased themselves in
front of others much to the consternation of several of our fellow Olivia
cruisers, but nobody came to shoves or blows.
We found another queue that was moving faster. The passport checker man was a bit concerned
about the fact that we had a 6 hour wait, but I explained that we were dropped
off from a cruise ship, and he let us through.
I guess he didn’t check my past record-whew!
So, we waited. We ate
a bit. We are quite used to eating from
our cruise experience, so it seemed the right thing to do. Then we found a deserted little gate that was
said at the time to be our gate and we amused ourselves by reading. Marcia found an outlet to recharge her
phone. After a few hours and a few
bottles of water and one of yogurt and a good relationship with the ladies
room, we saw that our gate had been changed and even though we had 3 hours till
boarding, we moved. I got a little power
nap as the seating allowed me to stretch out.
A few more bottles of water and trips to the ladies room and we were
called to boarding. Then we only had a couple
more hours of flight and several circles at the mouth of some river-maybe the
Thames, before we landed at City Airport.
You have to pass through passport before they let you use
the toilets. Just remember that-go on
the plane while circling the coast. We
had a nice passport lady who asked a few questions. The answer of most interest to them is that
you have a plan to leave and a ticket to leave is even better. We answered correctly to the relief of both
the passport official and us. On to the
toilet! We were whupped from all that
waiting. Marcia had been coughing on the
flight, but the air is dry and so I didn’t think much of it. Wrong!
We were directed to the train which is to say the overground
underground metro subway el. It took us
to a few blocks from our Holiday Inn Express Royal Docks which sounds fancier
than it was. It was adequate and would
have been more adequate with a restaurant.
By the time we walked from the station and the two blocks with FULL
backpacks and 20+ kilo of luggage there was no thought of walking to
dinner-even the Italian restaurant next door.
By this time I was kinda getting it that Marcia was coming down with a
cold. She requested ice which I thought
was for drinking. European hotels rarely
have ice so I advised her to have tea which was probably not a bad idea. I went out for take out pizza and big bottles
of water and discovered that we had an ice machine of sorts in the hotel
lobby. American chain. So she had her ice pack for the knee and
various drugs for the cold after pizza with either iced water or tea. Then, lights out.
We got to sleep until 8 this morning though I am sure we
didn’t. I managed to stay at rest till
7:45. Breakfast at the HI was pretty
good. We have been surprised to find
that those coffee dispensers make a rather decent cup of coffee. Not Costa’s or Starbucks mind you, but more
decent than brewed. We had scrambled
eggs that were cooked enough to please Pat Miller. The sausage was British breakfast standard
and the usual croissants and jams and for me, a pile of sectioned
grapefruit-the white kind.
Then the bad news.
Our train to Plymouth leaves from Paddington Station all the way across
town. To save taxi fare we took the
overground underground to Green Park and managed the maze of tunnels and lifts
with a rest stop along the way. The last
lift was broken, but that was better than any of the other lifts being broken,
so we pulled our loads up a pea gravel incline and managed to hail a cab that
was big enough for our luggage and us.
It featured a comic driver whose preference was for wife jokes, but he
was otherwise helpful and did get us to Paddington. At Paddington our luck was with us. We had to validate our rail passes before
boarding the train. We had 15 min to
catch the 12:06 or otherwise wait an hour for the next train. There was an information kiosk in the middle
of the station with a kind train man who said that he lived to validate our
rail passes and that our track was just a short walk in front of his station,
so we caught the train and are now enjoying our 1st class comfy
seats and table and being waited upon by the Traveling Chef. The Traveling Chef has produced salmon and omelet
sandwiches on baguette (the British equivalent which is not equivalent to the
French at all-a white looking thing without the lovely crusty brown
finish). The sandwich surprise is horseradish. I rather think there is a light spread of
butter with the horsey sauce on top, but whatever, it is good and very likely
good for us.
We are having juices as the vitamin C seems a good idea for
both of us. I can feel the sinus
headache that Marcia has had coming on.
We are taking all the prevention measures we know including knocking
wood. Soon we will be in Plymouth and
figuring out the lay of the land.
KG
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