Select a date to view
Thursday, May 10, 2018
The night before, I had considered taking a very early walk around London and snapping photos of the city coming to life. But at 5am, this didn't seem like a great idea, so I passed and slept longer.
Once awoken, we cleaned up the place and checked for anything missing. I took a final run to Sainsbury's to spend my last few coins (two ciders), and we headed out at 10am. We took the Tube to Paddington, then east to Edgware. Then west again to Paddington. We could have avoided that extra stop, but getting from one line to another at Paddington means a lot of walking and stairs. And with heavy luggage, it's not terribly ideal.
Upon reaching Victoria station, we were unsure about our tickets. However, the ticket lines were too long to wait in. And a train for Gatwick was leaving soon. We just boarded it and hoped our tickets were going to cover it, or we would have to top up at the airport station.
The weather was nice, though it was a much cooler day. As the train ran along, I saw the buildings of London fade into the distance. Our time there was over.
At Gatwick, we ticketed out and hurray, the tickets were just fine. I guess we had put the right amount at the ticket booth when we arrived a week prior. Ruth sold her Oyster card back for 5 pounds. I kept mine for future use. One item of concern was that Ruth was brining her final apple to eat on the plane. I was sure she wouldn't forget to eat it before landing, though imagine the craziness if she didn't remember to eat it and toss the core.
At the Norwegian desk, we checked in and our bags, though we asked about getting seats together. The agent said that was fine and took care of it. He even asked if Ruth wanted a window seat. She said sure.
But wait. I had an aisle and she had window. How were we still together? I checked my ticket and well, what do you know? I was moved to the middle. Oh no. This would not do. But we needed to get to the gates. We did the main security check, which was quick on the first pass, but then they do random bag checks so that slowed things down. Then I didn't have my iPad on the outside of my carry-on, so that had to be scanned again. Time was ticking.
At the gate, there was yet another security check. Once past this we asked the gate agent about fixing the seating issue. No problem, she said. She even made it so we got a row without anyone else in it. Sweet. There are some really nice people in the travel industry (like the entertainment industry).
Since the second check was done, the boarding now was very fast. Our seats were near the back and there were many empty seats around us. We hoped that it would stay this way, but people eventually came and sat in the open ones. No luck. Still, we had our own row. And the middle is perfect for this as both people have access to aisles without climbing over the other person or forcing him to get up.
Soon, we were in the air. The idea of jointly watching more shows was shot when I discovered my ear buds were broken. Well, only one earpiece worked. Somehow they'd been damaged. I could use Bluetooth to get stereo sound again, but these could not really be shared.
In time, the first meal was served. It was okay, though not great by any means and not worth $45 at all. I watched a show, but got tired fast so I slept. I rested about five hours. Time was flying by. When I woke up it was nearly time for breakfast. This too was not very good. I passed on coffee this time and just had my juice.
Finally, 10 hours after taking off, we were landing in Oakland.
The customs line was very long and quite slow. It was a bit dull too since iPhones were prohibited. Some didn't know about this rule (despite the signs) and would get scolded or they would have announcements about phones being taken away and not returned. Eventually, no one was using a smartphone. People may learn slowly, but they learn.
After security, we got our bags and went through customs. Ruth had no apple to declare so we were set. Her mom was waiting to pick us up and we headed to Castro Valley. From there, I took an Uber home.
The journey was completed.