The travel to Heathrow by air was not too bad. We had a great pair of Air Canada counter employees help us check-in and then board; they seemed to be the majority of the staff and moved back and forth with positive attitudes all the time. (This would prove to be the exception for the rest of the trip, so extra kudos to the PIT Air Canada staff.)
In the small world category: on the flight to Toronto, we were seated across the aisle from a woman who looked a little familiar. As we chatted (they were on their way to their honeymoon in Barbados—by way of Toronto??), it turned out she’s the mother of one of my most successful students. So that was a fun event for the start of the trip.
The landing was fine, and the layover in Toronto was long enough to get some food. Also helpful was having our bags checked through to London, so we didn’t have to wrangle them. However, when departing, the plane backed up, then stopped. Something wrong with water circulation. Luckily a circuit board replacement worked and we were on our way. I watched a couple of movies during the flight in between dozing a bit, and we eventually made it to the London airport.
As advertised, someone from Trafalgar, the tour agency, met us at in the Heathrow Arrival Hall, and introduced us to our driver who took us to the hotel. In the itinerary, this counted as “Day 1: Welcome to London.” In truth, it was, “Day 1: Thank the Gods We Made It Okay.” We were too tired from traveling t do any strolling or sightseeing, but had made arrangements to meet with Joyce’s long-time UK pen pal, Robert. We had dinner with him and his companion in the hotel restaurant, and then went to our room.
Earlier we had met our Tour Program Director, Stephen (one of the four Stephens or Stevens on the bus) and received the agenda for the next day. This would be a constant: up incredibly early (regardless of the time zone), baggage in the hallway by 6 or 7am, breakfast, then on the bus. This turned out to be a grueling schedule that resembled our Viking river cruise from last year. When we booked this Britain and Ireland Highlights tour through Grand European Travel, I recall saying, “Now, it’s not one of these up-at-the-crack-of-dawn things, is it?” and being reassured that it wasn’t. No—it was exactly that (except for the mornings there was no hint of dawn yet). Was it the schedule that wore us down and laid us both low with King George’s Revenge in a few days?
MUSOFYR 