Well, readers - I hope my scrapping has been keeping you going whilst I have been away.
Because I have been away BIG TIME. Please expect trip reports in every post for a while, though I promise I will sprinkle in scrapping too.
There is no scrapping today I am afraid as we only arrived home yesterday and the house looks like a minor bomb came in with us as there is stuff to put away everywhere so scrapping has to wait.
But Hopefully, I will scrap in time for the next post! So, without further ado - Day 1
COAST TO COAST TOUR 2019
Day 1 travel day
15th October 2019
Start miles 816 ... car only of course.
Start time left home at 10.00 am
End miles 900
End time arrived at hotel at 8.45
The one with the big trip setting the scene
Our countdown kitty has been keeping us going for ages now as Nigel chalks up a new number every morning. This trip,is set to be our most adventurous yet, covering 2 oceans, 2 Canadian provinces, 22 states, some 6000 miles, travelling into the most north-easterly state and the most south-westerly, visiting 8 new states, driving much of Route 66 and going through all 4 time zones in the contiguous US.
It has been a year in the planning, occupying me on countless evenings as I build in more and more stops and sights to see. It almost didn’t happen after a health scare just a week before departure but, here we were at last. T day! I wanted to sleep late, but somehow couldn’t ... coast to coast was beckoning and so we were having breakfast before 8. Last minute chores and packing and we were ready to go before 10, even having time to take some outdoor photos on a gorgeous misty morning to showcase our new tour hoodies. Oh yes ... even before we go we have the t shirts and hoodies. We had had such fun designing the logos for the trip we had named Coast to Coast from the outset.
Our wonderful neighbour Eddy collected us at 10 and we had a very smooth trip up to Heathrow. Checking in at the Upper Class wing is always such a nice experience. Seamless. I didn’t even get frisked this year as I went through the scanner ... I think that’s a first. Must be now I am really old I don’t look so suspicious. We were lucky again to have amassed enough points for upper class seats. To be honest I don't think I could make 11 hour flights unless I had that space. I would chose not to go. And I do stop to reflect, every single time, how lucky we are. However, the flight out was a mere 7 hours. Easy peasy.
We were very restrained in duty free, buying some reduced perfume for me and a single bottle of vodka. I think it is the first time we didn’t buy two. We are lightweights these days .. our bring home bottle from last year remains un-touched as we are still drinking the Polish vodka from the year before.
We enjoyed a lovely plant burger lunch in the Clubhouse followed by cocktails and chill,out. We have been very lucky with our air miles and upper class flights and so always get to use lounges but the Virgin Clubhouses are in a league of their own. Delta could learn a lot. We have only flown with Virgin’s American partners once and we were NOT thrilled. Although virgin have scaled down what they offer in upper-class These days it is still the only way we choose to travel and if we couldn’t I’m not sure we would fly transatlantic.
Our plane - snapped as we went to board
We boarded early, more champagne and a very smooth flight. The meal was superb ... a braised steak that was utterly amazing. It very literally fell apart. Nigel ... as always ... managed a decent sleep and by the time he woke up most of the Diet Coke he had poured down himself had dried! I watched two films ...The Secret Life of Pets 2 and Aftermath and the flight did pass relatively quickly. But then at 7 hours it is one of our shortest we take. The 11 on the way home will be very different.
A photo as we said farewell to England for a while. Our country may be in one heck of a mess at the moment, but I still love it - though I love America too.
Sunset as we arrived at Logan airport in Boston.
We had a very smooth arrival at the airport apart from a reasonably lengthy wait in immigration. It always seems odd that you do the electronic immigration at booths, which are very speedy and then you still have to wait in line for another check. However, I am grateful that safety is paramount in airports around the world. This year, with less luggage than we have ever taken before, The transit on the bus from airport to car rental was simple and effective. We had our skip the line pass and so went straight to the parking garage and were a little sad to see that there was only a choice of two vehicles in the minivan category and neither was a Dodge Grand Caravan. There were two ChryslerPacifica’s and we opted for the white one as Nigel said they were easier to spot in traffic. Goodness me did we ever luck out with that vehicle. It was delivery milage only and had every conceivable accessory on it. It had the best built-in satnav we have ever encountered, digital display for everything, heated and cooled seats, both of which we used on our mammoth trip, safety features that made driving even more simple and more cupholders, USB ports and nooks and crannies than even we could use. We named her Snowball and we loved her.
We had a very smooth drive to Portsmouth and our first stop was Walmart where we behaved as if we were in supermarket sweep as we dashed around getting water, Diet Coke, snacks and tea. We went a little awry finding our first hotel of the night ... the Howard Johnson ... but we found it eventually after a somewhat seedy tour around areas filled with not very salubrious looking ‘gentlemen’s clubs’. A quick repack so we had our electrical and ‘bits’ hand luggage case, our toiletries hand luggage case and one working suitcase with the clothes for the colder part of the trip ... which was to be longer than expected ... and we were sound asleep by 10 pm, trying hard not to think it was ‘really’ 3 am. We were all set for our greatest adventure.
Our first room - not our favourite but it was only ever going to be a bed for a few hours.
