Flying toward sunrise, it is 0715 in the morning. GMT. The clouds below us are textured in lumps and bumps appearing like a layer of meringue. Red at the horizon flows into rose to pink before vanishing into pale blue.
Considering this is Heathrow, I am amazed that we land within 20 minutes of our scheduled time. Being at the back of the plane, not exactly the first people out and the hike to immigration/baggage claim/customs seemed to encompass a trip around all of T3. The good part? Insteadd of standing in line for hours, there were the new scanning machines (a good dozen) which seemed to process a couple of people a minute each so that the line actually moved. Baggage claim wasn’t that hard to find and our luggage arrived intact.
Since I normally avoid Heathrow like the plague, I had figured that we were going to need to take a bus between T3 and T4 where I had booked a hotel. Surprise! There is now an underground train that runs from T2/3 to T4 and another route from T2/3 to T5. I later found out that the buses still run and can be faster.
It was after 0930 by the time we reached the hotel. Since there were available rooms – the lovely clerk at the desk set us up for early check in, giving us the opportunity to drop off luggage, and crash a bit.
A good friend from my Sandhurst days picked us up about midday. We went to lunch and relaxed before being dropped back at the hotel right before dark. My internal clock is pretty messed up at this point.
Hoping I can get a full night of sleep….
Plans for tomorrow – Miriam is planning on heading into London to go to the Tate. I am hoping to catch a bus to Woking and return the favor of a luncheon outing with Anita.
