Tuesday, July 21, 2015
We were both up early this morning. We both felt like the
ship was moving around, but when Clay finally got up out of bed and opened the
curtains, we were docked. We were docked on the starboard side but when he turned
on the TV we could see the ropes attached to the dock. We were docked at
Mayflower in Southampton. This is not where we were docked the last time we
were here in May. We had a reasonable breakfast in Terrace. Then things fell
apart. As predicted, clearing UK immigration on debarkation morning was a
classic cluster cuss. We cleared out of the cabin about 20 minutes before 8am
and toured the deck 6 atrium to see a 3 ring circus going on down on deck 5.
This was the “line” to get into the theater to claim passports for everyone and
for everyone who was not an EU passport holder to get cleared by UK
immigration. EU residents could just pick up their passports and get in the
equally long line to the gangway. It was not clear why they didn’t just return
the EU passports to their holders last night sometime after they returned to
the ship in Zeebrugge. That would have shorten the lines for everyone. But, I
digress. This is why they want those evaluations before disembarkation. We were in a line from the front of the
theater to the aft elevators on deck 5. It was actually longer than that later
as the end of the line doubled back past us when we reached Jacques. Then when
we got our passports, the line reached from the theater stage, up the front
stairs and around the atrium to the gangway. Thankfully, we didn’t have a tight
deadline and we were still early to the National Express bus station. That was
thanks to there being almost no line for taxis outside the terminal. There was
no waiting for luggage as we had seen it being offloaded before 6am.
We got on the bus with no issues. We had been worried about
the 2 medium suitcases under 44 lbs. each, but they didn’t weigh them. If we
had known we would have just packed at 50 lb. limits that the airlines have
instead. More on that later. We didn’t mind the bus ride that much except that
it seemed there was no A/C. We got off the bus at Hammersmith Underground
station. We topped off our Oyster cards and got on Piccadilly Line Westbound.
We rode for a long time to get to Acton Town. We had chosen the bus to
Hammersmith and the Piccadilly line to Acton Town because those 2 Tube stations
are identified as handicap accessible, which means they have a lift. We thought
this would be easier for us with a lot of luggage. It was just a theory in fact
because the height difference between the trains and the platforms at both
stations was more than 6 inches and would have been impossible for a wheelchair.
For us it just made things more difficult. Lastly, we got to Acton Town Hotel
within a few hundred feet of the Acton Town Tube station. That was the only
good news. It is a dump and that is being generous. It is surely worth less
than the 77 pounds per night we paid last February. Clay tells me that we have
also booked and prepaid another night here in October! It was so conveniently located
to him that he booked it twice. It is in the high 70sF here and there is no
A/C. There is no fan either. Seeing all our luggage, the guy that checked us in
put us in a room right under the roof eaves on the 3rd floor of a
building with no elevator! So much for all the logistical planning. To his
credit, the guy carried 2 bags up the stairs with us. He pointed out to me that
we were only here for one night and that we were welcome to leave some bags
downstairs and only take what we need. I told him we needed them all because we
needed to repack them for the flight weight limits versus the coach limits. He
wasn’t happy but neither am I. As I said earlier, if we’d known National
Express wasn’t going to enforce their rules we’d have packed for the flight in
the first place. Why post rules online, if you don’t mean it?
Anyway, we had to check in to our flights, use the restroom
and Clay had to change clothes since he had sweated through his. We were on our
way today to St. Pancras/Kings Cross station on Piccadilly Line to go to the
British Library’s Magna Carta exhibition. You may remember that we saw the best
copy at Salisbury Cathedral when we were here before. This is the 800th
anniversary. They had a pretty good exhibit for 10 and 12 pounds entry fee. But
their copies were nowhere near as nicely preserved as Salisbury’s. We were glad
we had already seen it. Plus they didn’t charge for it! Still it was
interesting and I’m glad we went. We went across the street after and ate a big
late lunch at Euston Flyer, a pub. Clay had fish & chips and I had
Cumberland ring sausage and mash. Both were big servings and very tasty. We
could chose just one dessert and ordered 2 and split them. Both were really chocolatey
and delicious but I think we slightly preferred the brownie. It had white
chocolate chips in it. Clay also had a locally brewed draft beer. It was served
in the traditional manner, warm. On the way back to Piccadilly Line, we stopped
by a convenience store for a cold Coke Zero for Clay, to Platform 9 3/4s at
King’s Cross for me where I got a patch and another convenience store for a
supply of Fox’s Glacier Mints. Clay had an entire bag during his sore throat. I
have had a froggy voice/scratchy throat for the past 3 days but I have just
been using numbing spray. Still, we’ll want the Glacier Mints at home in the
future.
We are back now in our hellishly hot and noisy garret. We’ll
go to bed before dark probably and get up early. We have to leave here about
7am to make sure we get to Heathrow early before our AA flight at 10:30am. We are ready to be home! This will be our
first economy flight overseas in years. We have been doing this in economy
plus, premium, extended or whatever else they’ve been calling it. But, tomorrow
we are about 6 rows from the back of the plane in old fashioned cheap seats.
Not looking forward to it, but we’ll be home soon. Clay says once we get the A/C
cranked up at home, that he doesn’t want to leave the house for 7 days. I am
not thinking that is even in the realm of possibilities!
