Got up at the stupid time of 4am. Got ready and we were packing the stuff into the taxi at 5.20am precisely. Unsurprisingly there wasn't much traffic on the way to Stowmarket station at that time of day. Waited on the platform. Quite a few people turned up. Caught the 5.59am to Liverpool Street.
For the first few minutes we were able to sit alone but then after a couple of stops the train was full of commuters and their bikes. Bloke sat next to me watched Love Island the entire way. Tried to think of better alternative titles for it. Best I could come up with was Prick Island.
Arrived on time and made our way to the Elizabeth Line and waited for the next train to Terminal 5. It should have been Terminal 3 but yesterday BA helpfully cancelled our flight to Austin. Caught the train and arrived at Heathrow. Went to the Club World baggage drop to see if we could alter the alternative flight plan we'd been given. Woman phoned ticketing but apparently the only way to get to Austin was to go to LA and then wait for a connecting flight. Hard to believe there wasn't a single alternative landing on the east coast rather than the west. Tried to lay it on thick by pointing out we would now be arriving at Austin over seven hours later than planned and with a two year old who would then have been travelling for a nearly a day. Apparently it could only be done if we didn't mind not being business class. Said no, we don't mix with the scum.
Dropped bags and went through fast track security. Can report there were no anomalies in the groin area. Ann had her bag searched as she was trying to take liquid explosive on the plane. Once the feds said Ann was clean she decided I should stand in the duty free shop whilst she went looking for things that smelt.
We then went up to the Club Lounge. It was fairly busy. Ann got me a cup of warm milk and then asked me to test it to see of it was hot chocolate. It wasn't, it was warm milk. We were going to meet Paul and Helen but there was no sign of them, so we then decided to go over to the quieter Gate B lounge which would mean we could then walk to the gate when needed.
Tried to eat/drink as much free stuff as possible. Still no sign of the others. Then it was time to head for the gate as boarding was about to start. Wandered over and waited. Paul and Helen turned up and boarding started almost instantaneously. Said hello to the child and also Alana.
Got on plane. It was being flown by the comedian Jon Richardson. Club World around us was a bit empty with a few spare seats. Spent most of flight with a two year old hiding under my seat or being led around the cabin by her. Did get to see some sights out the window.
Eventually we landed and we made our way to immigration. Queue was long. Took an hour to reach the front. Took thirty seconds to get through. Eventually our bags turned up and then we had to go and dump them and go through security again. This time Paul and Helen had to drink all their liquid explosives to get them on the plane. Sat for an age and then eventually got to board the world's busiest flight. Due to the rescheduling we had to sit with the scum for this flight. Not quite the same luxury. Alana spent most of the flight sliding of her seat whilst trying to sleep. Flew into the dark.
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| Tuscon at Night |
Landed at Austin. Got off fairly quickly and then had to wait another age for baggage. Then headed for car rental desk. Here we had an issue. I had a car booked but now it was gone midnight and the Enterprise desk shut at 11.30pm, we should have arrived at 4pm!! Luckily Paul had booked Hertz and their desk was open until 1am. Eventually we managed to get all of us and the luggage all in the car and set off.
