June 11th -12th, Travel day: For the first time traveling as a group, no one got dinged going through security. That was amazing! It was a quiet day at the airport. We boarded, and the plane took off for Boston on time.
We landed early in Boston and had to find our way to the departure terminal in a completely different part of the airport. This was not easy! The plane landed at Gate 8 in Terminal A. The flight to Heathrow left from Terminal E. We walked just over 1/2 a mile to get to the gate that was for the shuttle to Terminal E. After two escalators, two movable walkways, and an elevator, we finally arrived at the gate only to stand in line while they figured out how many people would fit on the shuttle.
Once released to go to the shuttle we were piled in like sardines. The shuttle began to move and then came to an abrupt stop causing us to almost topple over like Dominoes. We didn't, but it was close. The shuttle ride to the plane was at least 20 minutes long but felt like two hours. We held on to handles, poles, and perfect strangers to keep from falling. Mary Ellen dubbed it the "nightmare ride" with all the swaying and turning that went on. We finally arrived at the terminal and settled in to wait for our final flight.
Once boarding began, we quickly settled into our seats. The flight took off on time; the captain informed us that we would be arriving one hour ahead of schedule. We were very happy about that!
After our onboard dinner, I settled in to watch a movie and then to get some sleep. The sleep didn't happen. All of a sudden, I began to feel very lightheaded with a cold sweat. I couldn't move. I tried to get up to excuse myself but never made it out of my seat. Mary Ellen had gone for help, and I ended up slumped over the armrest of her seat. Four flight attendants began to take care of me. One held my hand and began asking questions to check how cognizant I was while another went to get oxygen. Then they gathered medical information from Mary Ellen, my seatmate. One called the doctor on duty stationed at the airport in England. They were relieved when color began to come back to my face. Mary Ellen got Linda C. to come check on me, and she suggested that I may have been dehydrated. One of the flight attendants was by my side for at least the next hour as I sucked down oxygen and dozed. At one point I took my blood sugar which was higher than I liked. The doctor was notified of my number but was not too concerned. The doctor suggested that I keep the oxygen on for another half an hour. A flight attendant brought me a huge bottle of water which I drank slowly for the remainder of the flight. I began to feel better but continued to doze at the end of the flight. Eventually, I ate a little yogurt and began to feel like my old self again.
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We landed without further incident and trekked almost half a mile to go through customs and to find our ride to the hotel. Georgian House Hotel is situated on the north side of London in an area known as Westminster. It is what I would label a boutique hotel. T e lobby looks like an old-fashioned living room, and the reception area reminded me of the dining room. We were told that the travel agent had arranged for a bottle of prosecco for each one of the rooms. Being very excited about this, the group decided we would have one bottle when we got back to the hotel and save the other two for different nights. Our rooms were not ready, so we left our bags and went to find an ATM at the "Post Office" to get money in pounds as well as find a bit of a nosh just to tide us over.
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When we got back to the hotel our rooms were ready. They were small and quaint but nicely decorated. I love the antique-style telephone on the desk which is a push-button phone used to call the reception area.
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Next on the agenda was a trip to the London Eye, a slow-moving enclosed Ferris wheel that lets you view the entire city of London. We had the hotel call for a cab and off we went. Our travel agent had Fast Track tickets for us so we waited in a very short line. The view was spectacular. After exiting, we meandered around the waterfront area and then realized we were hungry. I looked up restaurants near our hotel and found that the Artist Residence Restaurant was very close. This was also one recommended to us by the Routescape Travel Agency, so I made reservations and off we went.
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We arrived during happy hour and after looking at the menu we all decided that we would rather order from the dinner menu. The waiter told us they would not be able to let us order until 6:00. The group decision was to wait until 6:00. The waiter suggested that we order a few appetizers to hold us over and that is what we did. The food was phenomenal.
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With dinner over, we walked the two blocks back to the hotel. I asked for one bottle of prosecco and six glasses to be sent to Linda and Victoria's room where we settled in to toast the day and discuss plans for the next. I was asked to open the bottle of prosecco, so I aimed it toward the corner of the ceiling in case it flew. And boy did it fly! It bounced off the wall, then the ceiling, and landed on the other side of the room next to Linda C.'s bed. That was a cork popping to remember!
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