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Trip Start
May 04, 2008
1
15
Trip End
May 19, 2008
London, United Kingdom
Monday, May 19, 2008
Anyway, once at Victoria Station, we took the Gatwick Express 7:30 train for nearly 18 pounds each. Again, very expensive and there was probably a cheaper way to the airport but this was surely easy. Just a few steps into the terminal from the train station. Greeted by super efficient US Airways check-in agents (MUCH better than those in the US!) We had a little more than an hour before boarding, so, we spent the rest of the time spending our remaining British pounds. Darin and I had just enough left for two hot chocolates, water and a small bag of Aero candies. Mom spent her money on more pastries and I'm not sure what else.
The airport layout was so different than in the US. All of the shopping and food is located in the main terminal. Once you head down the hallway to your gate area, there are some bathrooms and vending areas but that's about all. Then, each gate area is walled off so that only those with boarding passes for that particular flight are allowed in to sit down. So civilized.
We got lucky on the flight home - four seats across in the middle and the person sitting next to Mom moved to the row behind us. So, we were able to spread out a little. We also had individual screens so we could watch whatever we wanted. I watched Juno, Bee Movie and almost all of August Rush. Also watched an episode of Frasier and The Office.
It was a LONG ride home - especially since I didn't sleep at all. Once we made it to Charlotte we had to go through customs before getting on our flight to Atlanta. The weather was getting bad and it took us forever just to take off. I had a splitting headache and no water. And because of the weather, they didn't serve drinks! Ugh! It was a pretty crummy ride home...thank goodness it was just the Charlotte to Atlanta leg!
Once we made it to Atlanta, got some water, took some Advil, got our bags and picked up the car, we headed to Longhorn for dinner. That was a mistake - while the food was good, we were really too tired for a real dinner. Should have just picked up Taco Bell and called it a night. Oh well.
Headed to the Rennaissance Concourse for the night - a great room for only $70+ on Priceline. Although we were basically on the airport, we hardly heard any planes.
In the morning, Mom headed to the airport for her flight back to New Orleans and we drove up to Cartersville to look at the Nova. Made it back to Savannah late that night.
