Set alarm for 5am. Woken up by Ann's alarm at 4.45am. She had it set at 600 decibels. Looked at my alarm clock and realised I hadn't actually set the alarm.
Ann lost the padlocks and keys for her case and rucksack. Searched the house only to find she had put them in the case and rucksack ready. Got everything ready and was at the door at 6.50am for the taxi.
Made it to Stowmarket station and caught the train. Was busy but not too bad. Arrived at Liverpool Street before we knew it. Detrained and got a drink before heading to the Elizabeth line.
Whilst we waited for the next train heading to Terminal 5, a woman asked us if this was the right place for a train to Terminal 2. We said yes, it's the second train due and pointed to the screen. She asked Ann another five times in the one minute until the train arrived.
Eventually our train arrived and we got on and got a seat. Pootled across London. Was going fine until we got just before Heathrow when the driver informed us that the overhead power had failed. Waited for sometime before the wires were 'reenergised'. Then when we got to Terminal 5, we had to wait again due to the backlog of trains.
Eventually got into the station and got off and made our way to check in. We were travelling scum class plus, so could go to that check in. Stood in a non moving line for what seemed like an age whilst absolutely no one in front seemed to check any luggage. When it was our go it took all of a minute.
Got to security and got in line fairly quickly. Took the laptop out of the rucksack like an announcement and all the posters said. Man said I didn't need to. Took shoes off. Told I didn't need to. Did have to take belt off which is mainly material. Wondered how it could contain explosives.
Went through the bodyscanner. No unexpected items in the groin area.
Made our way up to the Club Aspire lounge. Spotted Mark Noble as we wandered through. Said to Ann that was Mark Noble. She said 'who?'.
Checked into the lounge. Got a free pass through our travel insurance otherwise it would cost about £45. Was definitely not worth paying for. Man sat on the next seat playing loud things on his phone despite having headphones lying on the arm of his chair. Had some free food and promptly left. Went to a shop and Ann bought a smell.
Caught the train to the B gates. Followed some West Ham staff. One woman was on Facetime and was doing weird modern dancing as she walked along to the people she was talking to. Don't understand young people.
Boarding was already well underway, so we queued for about three mins and then we were walking the finger. Apparently according to Paul it was the same aircraft we had flown to LAX with them at Easter last year.
Got on plane to find the entire West Ham playing squad sat in business class. Saw Mark Noble again.
Got settled in and then we were off. As we took off I hoped no one turned the fuel off.
Had planned to spend the entire flight on the laptop editing a panto thinking it was a good use of time. Unfortunately laptop wouldn't play ball as to edit in Microsoft office it needed to be logged into my school account which it wasn't due to being on a plane. Had set it up beforehand hoping it would remember but it didn't. Watched the whole second series of Flintoff's Field of Dreams instead.
By the time that had finished, looked out the window and saw land.
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| Coast |
Jarrod Bowen then walked past. Not sure why he was visiting scum class plus.
Spent the rest of the time with Ann playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire. We won.
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| For a million pounds, where are you heading? |
Before we knew it the landing gear was being lowered and we touched down. Managed to go the whole flight without going to the toilet which must be some sort of record.
Got off and got through security fairly quickly, although not before some woman moaned about how long it was taking. Ann and I thought it was the quickest we'd ever got into the US. Man at desk who scanned our fingerprint etc seemed uninterested in us or stopping us entering. His only question was 'what is the purpose of your visit?'.
Finally got to go to the toilet before we waited for our bags. Discovered football players don't wait for theirs, they get staff to do that.
Got our bags and then headed out to the Ride App pick up area. Ann tried to summon an Uber but the app was being crap. Eventually we went back inside to try and get a better signal. Didn't worked. Ann switched off her phone and then turned it on again. Uber then worked. Went back out and got in a car.
Headed towards New York City. Traffic was awful but it was rush hour. Crawled along mostly. Took just over an hour to do 12 miles. Arrived at The Dutch in Sonder. Sort of checked in but it isn't really a hotel, but it is. A bit like where we stayed in Hawaii a couple of year ago.
Got into our room and sat down for a bit. Decided to go and get pizza from a place about 30 seconds away. www.goodfellaspizzeriaoflic.shop Stood on the street waiting for it as the place is just a window. Ann kept talking about the trees in the street.
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| When the moon hits your eye |
Sat in our room and ate it watching the A Team. I love it when a plan comes together.
Nearly fell asleep but the summoned the courage to turn the laptop on a write this. Laptop then decided to constantly try to do other things instead of opening the things I needed. Eventually restarted it to see if that helped. It then needed to do 'updates'. It didn't do them at home when I checked it out before we left!
It is now 4.12am to me. Ann is asleep as ever.
States visited - 1
Football teams seen - 1
