Tag: Alameda

THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA to LONDON HEATHROW UK

So, it has started. Our plane out of San Francisco is delayed by 30 minutes and when we arrive in Chicago a plane has broken down in our docking bay and we waste more time sitting on the tarmac for a further hour or more. We are now hard on gate closing time for our connection and despite valiant efforts of the assistants from the airport helping us catch our plane we miss the damn thing by minutes.

We go to customer service to reschedule our flight, and the next flight out to London is tomorrow afternoon with British Airways. We receive vouchers for accommodation and meals. We are 1 day behind in our itinerary. We are given a voucher for a hotel – Best Western in the Boonies – even with the shuttle driver going like a bat out of hell we take 15 minutes to get there and its now after 1.30 am Chicago time.

Our sleep is broken but by 7.00 am we are in the breakfast room for our complimentary breakfast at Best Western. Kerry had arranged the cancellation of the hire car and had booked a new car with our friends at Green Motion Car Hire. Our check out time is 11.00 am so we catch our shuttle to the airport but there is a sense that everything is not right. We arrived at the airport very early and had to await the crew to arrive for the gate opening. However, we did not expect to be told by the BA check-in chick that our tickets were invalid. No panic just yet there was 4 hours before our flight was scheduled to depart. We fronted American Airlines. More bad news there was no room on the BA flight and American Airlines only had a flight going that evening after 6.00 pm. Over 5 hours away and we could not sit together on the flight, as we were literally given the last 2 seats.

We get assistance (wearing my neck brace against possible injury to my broken neck earns me that right) and make it to gate K 15 with hours to spare. So, we pull out the dinner vouchers grabbed some food at Starbucks and wait. Even after waiting 5 hours when we boarded the flight it again was delayed but this time there was no connecting flight to worry about – just collection of the car at Green Motion.

The flight was tolerable. I got to sleep for about 5 hours with the flight only taking 6+ hours and we arrived at Heathrow. Once again, we were met by the assistant to give me a ride to the exit door of the terminal. We now hoped to catch the shuttle bus to Holiday Inn and the depot for Green Motion. Great timing – we got to the bus stop 20 minutes before pickup so we felt we could now relax – what else could go wrong. Waiting at the bus stop, I noted the traffic exiting the area was stationery and remaining stationery with no traffic coming in. The terminal was becoming chaotic with passengers trying to catch their flights and those trying to exit the terminus. No one could explain what was happening other than a serious motor vehicle crash has stopped all traffic. We had to think of another way to catch the shuttle bus but not one caught in this jam. We dragged all our luggage around the terminal to the underground and rode the subway to Hatton Cross. I hailed a cab and told him our destination. The driver warned that everything was closed down by the crash in the terminal 2/3 tunnel and we should return and wait for the traffic to clear.

That was not possible as we had to collect the car and then drive to Ipswich. We had to try another direction and Kerry thought that we needed to go to terminal 5 as it was unlikely to be closed down by the traffic delays crippling terminal 2 & 3. The plan worked but it took a further 2 hours to pick up the car whereas it should have taken 20 minutes. Not happy Jan.

After going through the painful process at Green Motion we obtain a car – not the one we had requested but a car bigger than Kerry wanted and a hybrid. Kerry soon got the hang of driving the bigger car and the drive to Ipswich and our hotel took over 2 hours but we made it and were surprised by what awaited us. My next blog will tell you of our stay at Ipswich and our rushed visit to Sutton Hoo. Read all about it in “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – LONDON HEATHROW UK to IPSWICH & SUTTON HOO UK”

PS no pictures due to stress, worry and a not to cheerful disposition.

THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA

We arrived in San Francisco on time and ready to start our holiday. Our son Ben arrived at the airport as planned and Angus is with him to greet us. It is great to see both and during the ride to their home we hear all the gossip about Felix George our 1-month-old grandson number 9 amongst grandchildren. Angus is a little uncertain as we drive to their home. We are having a brief stay so that we don’t disturb their routine greatly. Part of the plan is to stay at the motel shown below for a couple of days and catch up with them each day. Peet’s coffee is nearby and we make use of that along with Taco Bell which we gave a big swerve. Felix at 1 month.

Jee greets us with Felix in her arms, and it is a great start to our holiday. Angus introduces Felix to us and I share some toast with Angus – peanut paste and honey I recall. Kerry gets as many cuddles as she can with Felix.

The few days fly quickly, lunch with Dad (Ben) at his new work (well a café near work really) and playing with Angus who loves building forts and racing his cars through the fort and knocking it all down, but we now have a game of “lets clean up”. Next is a jigsaw puzzle then cleaning up out in the yard. Kerry is cleaning the leaves off the back deck, and I am helping but Gus wants to help so he gets the broom, and we all play let’s clean up.

And so it goes, nothing special just being together.

We visited the local “Farmers Market”. Angus was somewhat disturbed by the spider on the wall of this house. Whilst there we notice there is a lot of street art in downtown Alameda and we captured a few to show you. Kerry and I took a walk through Alameda and stumbled across a museum of pinball machines from their inception to today. Every kind of machine I have seen and many I had never seen. We took photos to record our visit and spoke with the owner who serves behind the counter and gave us the run down on how it all started with the purchase of some of the earliest machines.

All in all, a couple of special days. On our last day Ben picked us up from the Motel to visit Jee with Gus and Felix for final farewells and then dropped us at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight to London via Chicago, but it would prove not a smooth transition. Our flight departure is delayed then our flight arrival is also delayed by a plane broken down in the air gate meant for us to dock. Read about it all in my next blog “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA to LONDON HEATHROW UK”