We had a few days of traveling ahead of us with a five and a half hour flight on the 20th, followed by a 9 hour flight on the 21st. Ryan air made us climb up the stairs to get into the plane but they left the seat in between of us open so they get a reprieve. There is no business class on Ryanair so the extra space made all the difference. We ate our picnic lunch in the airport and boarded the plane for London Stanstead. When we landed we got our bags, breezed through immigration and then looked for our driver. We looked and looked and looked and there was no driver! Four phone calls later we have to get into a taxi to drive to our hotel at Heathrow. We had to pay 50 pounds more to ride in the taxi than we would have paid had our driver shown up. It took an hour and a half to get to our place and we had a fun time talking with the driver. The beds were decent and we got a good amount of sleep. I got breakfast as soon as they opened at 6:30 and had to navigate past the Chinese team members, that we saw then the night earlier all wearing the same team uniforms. It was an early start and we were hauling bags by 7:15 AM. The next leg was on American Airlines. There was a first class, a business class but we were not sitting in either section. Due to drastic changes in the flight we had scheduled months earlier, we had to re-book and only Premium Economy was available for points! Oh the humanity! I was not as cramped as the Ryanair but after 9 hours I certainly was missing the business class experience. We did have a great interaction with one of the crew, Andrea, who was Jamaican/British and she kept is happy. We landed in Miami and made it through immigration surprisingly quickly. There were six agents standing behind cameras and it was all performed with the biometrics. We got our bags, found the right kind of taxi and we were off to the hotel. We took a walk around the hood and saw a few birds. When we returned to the hotel we stopped at the bar for a few drinks and some chicken wings.
First leg, Paphos to London Stanstead
Up we go
Fork you Ryanair
The cliffs of Cyprus
The recent rains have filled this reservoir
At the hotel in London
Heathrow airport on the 21st
It was too early to start with the bubbly
We stopped for a bite and Leslie got the avocado and smashed peas
We sat across from Burberry and watched this guy buy a scarf
He padded his pockets and then walked back to this abandoned luggage, picked up his passport and boarding pass off of the floor and walked back to the store to finish the purchase
The things that entertain us while we travel
Departure board bingo: Heathrow Version. 15 /19
I dropped my Bingo card!
You can get anywhere from Heathrow
Our plane awaits
A last minute bag drop! Possibly also used on unruly passengers
Pretty sedate so far
Doing the jetway shuffle
And we are flying!
Made it to the hotel!
The Freedom Tower in the distance
Waler all around the hotel
We took notice
A new bird for the list, a pied billed grebe
Walking out the kinks
Triple olive threat
Wings were small but tasty
Getting acclimated to local time means watching the sunset
It was been 3 years and 261 days since we began our Migration
