Heading Home Again and At Last!

Elva and I, as usual, woke before our alarms sounded.  We always each set one in case something causes the phone to fail.  Does anyone use the in house clock radios anymore or wake up calls?  We took our time and then went and had breakfast.  Elva, her favorite, Eggs Benedict, and me, mine, French Toast.  There was also a nice buffet that included fresh fruit and sparkling water.  I did think it strange that although the staff at the Radisson Blu restaurant, Steak & Lobster, all wore variations on black as a uniform, none wore socks of any kind!

After brerakfast we brushed our teeth, took our things and went to the lobby.  First time in two weeks we had to drag our own bags!  I love the service of being on a ship or a tour!  Went into the restaurant to find mark to get our shuttle passes which were worth 4 pounds each.  More goodbyes and we missed the 8:26 shuttle.  But our target all along was to be ahead of schedule on the 8:46. 

The Concierge suggested we wait outside.  The bus is not operated by Radisson but services several hotels.  He said if they drive up and don't see anyone, they may keep going.  So we waited in the warm spring air and watched planes take off and land, literally right across the street.  But allowing three hours to get to the flight was suggested, required, because of the bus stopping at other hotels, and also construction made the route circuitous.  We are rule followers so complied but upped the ante by going early.

Won't be long and you will not see these flags flying together!

We were dropped at Terminal 2 and quickly found the young lady scanned our passports, checked us in, and got our boarding passes from the kiosk.  Elva had Priority check in so there was not one person ahead of using that line.  My bag was also checked in as Priority. 

Security was a breeze.  Not because of TSA Pre-Chek, that doesn't count here, but because there were about 15 security lines operating!  We quickly made our way to the gate area and up the elevator to the United Club.  Elva had complimentary passes and we took full advantage of our early arrival.

The fruit is mine but I will not admit to the second Mimosa!  The donuts were good too!

We had a little more than two hours until it was time to go to the gate.  Once there I gate checked my carry-on bag and saved myself the $100 second bag fee.  Ridiculous fees!  (Side note here.  When we exited the plane at Dulles about 20 people were picking up their gated bags! Mine was sent right through with the rest of the baggage.)

The flight itself was fine.  The food was not.  Glad I had a few goodies stowed away in my seat bag.  A blueberry muffin, a left over Welsh Cake and an apple tided m e over on the 7 hour and 50 minute flight.  I watched three movies, I Tonya, Greatest Showman, and The Post  They were all good and not yet free on any of my systems at home.  Then to finish the flight there were two episodes of The Middle.  A hot sandwich was served before landing so I survived.  Three times I got up and just walked up and down the aisles and did some bend and stretches in the space between the good seats up front and our s in the back.  I will say that the Economy seats were the nice one that slid forward if you leaned back and there was leg room.  Thank you United Airlines.  You are way ahead of American Airlines on an international route.  Maybe, just maybe, someday I will get an upgrade to see if Business or First Class is really worth the extra money!  My ticket was $149 dollars plus 30,000 miles  The good thing about the miles is that mostly I didn't pay for any of the flights that accumulated them.  At least not directly.  They were gained in package travel deals.  So mentally, they were free!

At Dulles I zipped through on Global Entry while Elva wended her way through the Passport Control line  It wasn't awful but if we had been in Atlanta i would have been in the car heading home before she got her bag!  I collected our bags and we took them about 50 feet and put them back in the system.  

The security line did not have Pre-Chek!  This is Dulles, Washington, major international airport.  What the heck!  We worked our way through security and it was pretty quick.  None of that shoe removal stuff etc.  But the bags were scanned and we made our way to the gate.  Well sort of.  To get to D37 we need to walk past some 60 gates!  All of C and all but one of D!  I do not walk fast anymore.  Or at least my kids think I do not.  Elva, bless her heart, is intrepid and independent.  But she does not walk quickly.  I was very happy that as we approached the D portion of the twin concourse a zippy people mover guy motioned to me, 'does she need a ride.'  Yes, yes, yes.  I was very happy to ride in the back as well and we may never have made it, at least without a rest stop!  Of course there are tons of bars and restaurants but no just plain benches!  He had to let us off with a few gates to go because there is a ramp to the final part of the walkway.

We each used the bathroom while the other watched the bags.  Elva found a plug for her phone, and good thing too.  The puddle jumper we boarded from the tarmac, did not have USB or plugs much less both.  No screens either.  Two by two seating and Elva and I each had a window.  There was a delay once we reached runway pattern but soon were in the air.  A nice young man was next to Elva.  Another next to me.  He was from Italy and heading to Augusta to see his girlfriend.  She was on leave for a month from our Army and would be re-posted from Naples, where they met, to Sicily where he will move.  After two years she will resign, return home and he will join her to be married.

The f;ight was seamless.  We landed at a Terminal Gate and the not too long walk had us waiting forever for our bags.  The young man who hd been next to Elva introduced me to his parents.  They are taking their first cruise and he wanted my email so they can be in touch.  I had given him some suggestions to make their trip fun.  They are from Pine Mountain.

Karen collected me and it was on to Home Sweet Home!

Footnotes:  These trips are getting harder and harder to recover from.  This time I only opened my mail and sorted it before crashing at 9:30 p.m.  But with the five hour time difference that isn't too bad I guess.  Saturday morning I unpacked, did laundry and put it away.  Walked the dog to pick up this years pool passes, last day to do so.  I was glad I had something important to do on Saturday night or I would have been asleep by four and been even more miserable on Sunday.

Saturday night was my Grandson's last high school activity before this week's graduation ceremonies.  Christian had two song and dance numbers in the Whitefield Dramatic Society Soiree.  Maddie also performed and was the choreographer for Cell Block Tango!  Christian was given his drama award and was pronounced to be one of the "Top Two Knoxes!'

Sunday I headed up to the mountains and thanks to Murphy's Mom and Dad did not have to be there as early as originally planned.  I am here until Wednesday evening and then have a whole day before the Celebrations begin on Friday for Christian Knox.  So proud of his excellent school record and he is a nice kid besides.

Lucky Knoxville.  Might as well go to school in a town named after you!

 

Caerleon and the Last Farewell!

Wheels rolled at 9:00 sharp.  First stop was in the driveway to take sheep and building pictures.  Someone asked to stop out on the busy road but you just can't stop a bus and let people off and block traffic and worry about folks backing into traffic or walking into the roadside ditch. But this was perfect.  Final farewell to everything today!  I scored a front seat and since it was a pretty day, I had a clear good view for the long ride to London.

 They turned their backs when I asked them to pose for me!

Lovely hotel and beautiful setting.  Building to the left is the spa.  In front of that, tennis courts.

We stopped for a minute along the highway where Conwy was waiting, not to say goodbye to us, but to collect things Hillary had left behind!  His white SUV was waiting on the shoulder and there was pull off space behind him.  Mark handed him a white plastic bag with clothes, she had changed to perform, and a tuning instrument.  Funny to see Conway in his casual jeans and a sweatshirt.

As we drove along Mark would read some from his copy of Lonely Planet about various towns.  We passed through Swansea near where he lives and the other Newport where hopefully they were not still holding lunch for us! We skirted Cardiff and also went through Port Talbot.  Here is the leading steel producing city of Great Briton.  The integrated steel-making plant produces slab, hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized coil.  The term 'integrated' here does not refer to the races but that there are many products created here from start to finish.  Mark said it is a wonderful company to get on with.  Excellent benefits including terrace housing, special parks, and lakes, and time off etc.  Once you start there you stay and get early retirement at 52!  Health benefits that are critical to us are not an issue in the UK.  Funnily enough the polluted sky, the smells, and looks are like Gary, Indiana.  Like Gary it also has "the most beautiful beaches and sand dunes!"

Everyone is a little antsy and the break at the Starbucks truck stop was much needed.  I think that mentally people were making sure that nothing was left behind and that they had all the documents needed to travel home.  Because we have no tour in London it breaks down into two full travel days at the end of an already exhausting trip.  I always say, vacations are hard work!

We made a photo stop in a small village so that Valerie could get some snaps of it to show her 96 year old mother.  Valerie's grandfather was born here.  I must say that Mark is most gracious to accommodate everyone.

Serge, once again, met the challenge and managed to even turn the bus around 

and up and down narrow streets with parked cars in order to find photo ops 

for Valerie who hopped off and took pictures of the rugby field.

Our only scheduled stop was our last in Wales.  The town of Caerleon.  Here we had the opportunity to visit a museum about the Romans in Briton at our own pace. Also there are the Roman Baths which are on the foundations of the original.  In the museum, on the interactive program, Ipad, a Centurion talked about the importance of the baths as a hygienic and even more importantly, a social outlet for the weary warriors.  But in this case they were not so weary as the outpost turned out not to be in the path of any aggressors.

 CYMRU is Welsh for Wales.

 

 The kids immediately ran up to the 'tomb' and made it a hands on exhibit.
The teacher started saying quietly, and then with increasing volume,
'Back away from the tomb, don't touch the tomb!'

A piece of the preserved original tile with a plaster cast to complete the design.

Elva always enjoys museums and although she struggled with the Ipad program she spent a lot of time looking at the small displays.  We then went into the herb garden where school children had just finished their lunches and were lining up.  The teacher was quite calm and polite and no threats were heard.  But of the many chaperones you could tell that some were assigned to monitor and corral specific students.

The man in the photo was totally in charge!

When we walked down to the Baths it was quite entertaining.  They have created video simulations so that it appears to be actual water and at a quick glance real people swimming.  The kids were like kids everywhere.  More than one chaperone was heard at the Museum and again in the Baths to say that "just because you have money in your pocket you do not have to spend it!"  Gift shops are like magnets to kids, especially the boys! The archeological ruins at the Baths were well labeled and lighted. It was a very nice exhibit. 

 The first picture you saw was to the left of the entrance and in Welsh.  

This on the other side of the door.  Definitely bilingual signage on everything.

The rest room was definitely a one-holer!

We sort of forgot about the barracks and headed to the Amphitheater and our lunches which were on the bus.  On the way we strolled through the gardens behind a beautiful hotel and restaurant.  Every time I tried to take a video so you could hear the multitude of songbirds, they seemed to know, and stopped singing!

Near our bus parking was the largest and most 'intact' Roman amphitheater of the 75 existing in all of Europe.  It was well defined and is mostly under the ground.  The grass has been allowed to grow over the seats now.  It is obviously a prized place in the sun as these young mothers picnic with their babies.
 

This Roman Amphitheater seated 6000!  The entrances are well defined.

So it is obvious that the floor of the facility is much below the surface. 

My great disappointment is that there was no evidence of Arthur.  This is supposed to have been the most likely spot for him to draw the sword from the stone and establish Camelot.  His Round Table inspired by the unusual roundness of the Amphitheater. "The town also has strong historical and literary associations, as Geoffrey of Monmouth elevated the significance of Caerleon as a major centre of British history in his Historia Regum Britanniæ, and Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote Idylls of the King while staying there." Wiki  It is these tales that the whole Arthurian legend is based upon.  T.H. White used this 1140 script to inspire his Once and Future King, my favorite book as a girl growing up under princess influence of the mind.  I think I must still make my way to Cornwall and the famed Tintangel.  There I think is the real home of the Round Table.

The scenery really did change once we crossed the River Severn. The bridge is the Second Severn Bridge which really sounded funny like Mark was saying "2nd 7 bridge."  The first bridge was smaller and to the left of us.  This new bridge has been in the local news because it is the border crossing between England and Wales.  In years gone by, way long ago, Welshmen could not cross the Severn without an Englishman to vouch for him and see that he returned before dark and without committing a crime.  The Welsh seem to resent still being thought of as wild and not quite right in the head.  An editorial in the revered Times about the naming of the bridge that made disparaging remarks received an equally fiery response.  Rita and David had seen it and passed it along to Mark who explained the issue.  The reply called out the editor on commenting on the foreign speaking Welsh wanting to name the bridge.  The reply stated that they just wanted a say in the name since the bridge is shared between the two countries.  And besides, the French own it since they built it.  What's more, the gentleman reminded the editor, it is the English who speak a foreign tongue since Welsh is a much older language!   Quite a clever if brief assessment of the issue.  Oh, and the issue?  When the toll falls off at the end of the year it will be renamed for the soon to be 70 year old heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales Bridge.  The Welsh hate that.

 

Obviously not my photo but what a lovely sight to see!  Wales is on the hilly side.

(photo from the link above)

On the English side of the river things were still green but, seriously, no sheep!  It is as if they didn't know how to swim across or take the M4 to get here!  The further we went the flatter it became.  Soon it was all trees.

CROESO is Welsh for Welcome

Does Serge's head make you feel like you are riding right along with me?

The rest of the day was the long ride to London.  I was surprised that there never seemed to be a 'subburban' feel as we approached.  No outskirts so to speak.  At least not that could be seen.It wasn't long before we reached the Radisson Blu Heathrow.

 LOVE a bathtub!  A few hours later, this one felt extra great after a long day of travel.

 Chandeliers were not in our room but near the elevators when we walked to dinner in the hotel.

We met first in the bar which was okay if you wanted a drink.  I did not.  But the purpose had been to have a quick meeting about departure times for the morning.  I commented to a couple of people that the 'buzz' in the bar instantly and distinctly reminded me of the scene in Brigadoon when Gene Kelly realizes he wants to to leave the city and go back to the peace and serenity of Brigadoon.  And, of course, Maureen O'Hara! I have noticed this whole trip that people do not necessarily think in terms of musical theater or TCM!

Our farewell dinner featured everyone's favorite new dessert!  This time the meringue was a large cookie tucked in as an accent to the small parfait glass. Mark didn't want his and I was glad to have it! Tomorrow is airplane food!!!!

Several left as soon as we were done eating.  I thought it was funny that one person complained that drinks were not included like 'in every other Road Scholar' program.  Then she argued with the waiter about paying for her drink.  But she had misunderstood.  He wanted to know if she wanted another and she thought he wanted her to pay again for the drinks bout in the bar.  I felt bad as some things in her life were not going well but am not sure travel should remain on her to do list as so many things were problems for her during the entire trip.  Oh well, someday that may be me!

Those of us who stayed had a long, relaxed, and fun conversation about RS programs, travel in general, and world problems.  It was maybe the perfect ending to a nearly perfect vacation!  But the time came to go back to our room, make sure things were in order, and get some sleep.  We were scheduled to leave the hotel by 9:06 for our noon - 15 flight.

Elva searched everything again for her house key.  Lucky there is a spare at home. 

I rearranged a few things to be sure I did not have one suitcase that was too heavy! Then my good book, hot bath, and bedtime.  The alarm was set for 7:00a.m.