Monday, August 01, 2016

Travelogue: Day 14 - Leaving London

Our last day in England. What a trip! We woke up fairly early and had some time with God. We were not supposed to leave until 10:30 for the airport, but we decided it was better to hang out there than at bare bones hostel room. They did have a free shuttle to the airport, and the guy was nice, and the other guy in the car . . . Well, we were convinced he was from the mafia or something. He was talking about his private jets that he takes and his 30 acres in California that is just his vacation spot, but he was staying in a hostel? It was funny.

We got back to the airport, dropped off our luggage (after a very extensive Delta security check while waiting in line), and we went to get our refund of our Oyster Card (the thing you use for the Tube in London), we got our 5 pound deposit back and only .80 was left on the card! We estimated our Tube usage perfectly! We had pounds to burn for breakfast, and we ate a nice place in the airport. Then we walked to the prayer room. 

While praying, something great happened. I already wrote a friend about it. So I am cutting and pasting it right here:



I believe it was totally a God thing too because I did not notice it when we were talking to Delta on the phone the night before. It wasn't until we had gone into the multi-faith prayer room at Heathrow for some time with God (the Muslims and Christians pray in the same room only separated by a screen. So cool!). As I was praying, I seriously think God said, "Notice your seat assignment." I went, "Hey, we are not in the extra leg room space that we paid for and the seats we chose (21AB)." We went to the Minneapolis flight that had staff (we were there too early for our flight staff to be at the gate). I had all the documentation in writing that we had paid for those seats, and he was GREAT. As he was on the computer, I told him how we are tall and it used to be that we would get them when people would look at us and feel sorry for us. Now, we must pay extra, but we do it for our backs (10+ Hours with no leg room require a doctor at the end of our flight!). Anywho, I told him how once a man put me in 1st class on a trip from Cincinnati. Just chatting with him. He called someone for approval of something, and then said, "We have no seats in Economy Comfort anymore, but I put you in Delta One." We didn't know what that was, and he said, "Business Class." Stunned, I wanted to kiss the guy. (I love the English people!) He could not get us seated together. Instead of having us try to arrange that with the staff at our gate once it opened, he took personal responsibility and called them once the gate opened. Then he sent us to the Sky Lounge for FREE lunch buffets, all the drinks you could ever dream of, and desserts, and quiet. Then, we arrived at our gate (a little late because we thought boarding was at 1pm but it was 12:45), and they knew we were coming because he really did follow through and call them. They let us come and take a seat behind them, while they waited for the man who we could trade with, and he was like "SURE!" (It was so fun to watch them work from behind the desk. Those people work very hard, and I have never had more polite workers than the Delta people! I am SOLD on Delta.) We felt so blessed, and the Delta flight attendants in that class are amazing. I will probably never do that again in my wildest dreams (the cost is 4,100 per ticket!), but it was such a shocking and amazing special treat that was the cherry on top of a trip of a lifetime (that I planned from 10 pm until day break on May 22, 2012)!
We unloaded our last pounds on a tea pot that is in the picture below.

The plane flight home was glorious! You don't know how pleasant it is to have the option to lay down 180 degree while on a plane for 10 hours! The food was amazing with all these courses that kept on coming and coming and coming! So, we got a good rest, and I watched two movies.





We were back in the "cheap seats" for our flight from Salt Lake to Portland. It was a short flight so we didn't book Economy Comfort. We traveled home, and I tried to stay awake so I could be sure that George stayed awake.

The kids loved their "Will Power" T-Shirts, and we were in bed by 11:45 pm!

Home Sweet Home! 





A photo posted by Carol Weaver (@carolfoasia) on

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