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Budapest and the Danube River
- Travel Day: Trying to Get to Budapest
- Day 1: Getting to Budapest and the Jewish Quarter
- Day 2 Buda Castle Hill & St. Stephen's Basilica
- Day 3: Wandering and Embarkation Day
- Day 4: Budapest and a Food Tour
- Day 5: Bratislava, Slovakia
- Day 6: Vienna, Austria
- Day 7: Spitz, Austria
- Day 8: Mondsee and Salzburg
- Iceland
-
England
- Day 1 Arrive in London
- Day 2 London and the Royals
- Day 3 London: Harry Potter Day
- Day 4 London: What's English Food?
- Day 5 Travel Day: Shakespeare's Globe Tour
- Day 6 The Lake District: Beatrix Potter's Hill top Farm
- Day 7 the Lake District: Guided Tour and Hadrian's Wall
- Day 8, Travel Day: Tour of Stratford-Upon_Avon
- Day 9, The Cotswolds Gardens and Afternoon British Tea
- Day 10 Exploring the Cotswolds
- Day 12 Bath and the Roman Baths
- Day 13 Stonehenge
- Day 14 Taking a Bath in Bath
- Day 15 Heading Home
I can’t believe this day! What a nightmare.
It all started at 11:30 the night before, when Linda called to tell me our flight was delayed. This started a very bad chain of events. I called Dell to tell her never mind about the transportation to RIC, as the flight was delayed by two hours, and then I went to sleep.
The next morning, Linda woke me up to let me know that the plane was further delayed by another 30 minutes. Linda said she would call Delta, as this latest delay meant we would miss our connecting flight. She was going to try to rebook us. I finally got it together and tried to call Delta myself. When I called, the automated system said to press 2 for a callback within 15 minutes. I waited about 30 minutes and then called again. This time, I just stayed on the line and waited.
While I waited, Linda called to say Delta had rebooked her on Air France. While I was talking to her, a Delta representative finally picked up the phone. After I quickly explained the problem, I was transferred to Delta’s global desk. The gentleman on the phone found the same flight for me that Linda had booked. He was also able to find a seat for me, but Air France does not have an equivalent to Delta Comfort+ class, so I got stuck in economy. Linda called Air France and upgraded to Business Class.
With all of this finally settled, I got ready to leave. Uber picked me up at 11:30. Linda and I arrived at the airport at the same time.
I checked my bag and was given paper boarding passes all the way through to Budapest. I realized my TSA PreCheck number was not on my ticket. I needed this corrected, so I asked to have it included. The agent asked for my number, and while I was trying to find it on my phone, I just stood there blocking the line. The agent finally said she was printing me another set of boarding passes. She had misspelled my name, and that was why the number didn’t show.
Linda was given only a boarding pass for Richmond to JFK and was told to get the rest at the next airport. We headed to the gate.
The board said our flight was leaving from Gate 8. We went to get a bite to eat and received a text saying the flight was now leaving from Gate 6. Linda and I waited with bated breath for the flight to be canceled. Luckily, it wasn’t, and four hours late, we boarded the plane, only to be delayed on the tarmac for an additional 35 minutes because of the weather in New York.
The plane finally took off. We were a little concerned about our connecting flight because of this additional delay. When we landed, we had only an hour to get to the gate for the next leg of our trip.
If you have never been to JFK or don’t remember it, the airport is a crazy maze. Delta uses Terminal 4, and Air France is in Terminal 1. The agent at the gate told us to take the AirTrain. We tried to follow the signs, but they were not very visible. I finally asked someone pushing a wheelchair for directions.
Following his directions, we found ourselves heading toward the exit from the secure area. After a few more twists and turns, we realized the only way to get there was to leave security. We finally made it to the AirTrain station for Terminal 4. It was packed, so we ended up waiting for the next train.
As the train left the station, it looked like we were only a couple of stops away. We should have been so lucky since we were already pressed for time. The train was routed to stop at Terminals 4, 5, 7, 8, and 1. It appeared to be a loop, at least according to the train map. Imagine our surprise when we stopped at Terminals 5, 7, and 8, then turned around and hit 7, 5, and 4 again before finally arriving at Terminal 1.
Now the race was on because we still had to go through security since we were now flying on Air France. Both of us had TSA PreCheck, but that may have saved us only a couple of minutes. I still had to pull my laptop and Kindle out of my backpack. We hustled through the airport. When we finally found the gate, they were just beginning to board. Linda boarded first since she had upgraded her seat. I wished I had.
I will never fly Air France again. My seat on Delta had extra legroom; this one had even less space than Delta’s economy seats. The seats were also narrower along the aisle. The only good thing about the seat was that the center seat was vacant, which gave me a little room to stretch out.
We sat waiting for takeoff, and I realized I was hungry, so I ate my sandwich left over from Tuesday night. As I was eating, it dawned on me that we were just sitting at the gate. We sat there for over an hour. I began to worry again about our connecting flight. That concern stayed with me for the rest of the trip.
Just after the flight finally took off, I lowered my tray table and began writing this blog. The woman in the seat in front of me reclined, and her seat hit me in the head. That is how close the seats were. So much for writing the blog on the plane.
Around 8:30, they began the dinner service. It was a good thing I had eaten my sandwich. Had I been on Delta, I would have gotten a decent meal that I could eat. Not on Air France. The meal was mostly carbs with only a little chicken. I decided to try to sleep.
I pulled my sleep mask over my eyes, put my feet up on my foot hammock, and tried to settle in. People kept bumping into me as they walked up and down the aisle. One man even managed to pull the blanket right off me. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the man sitting in the row in front of me kept talking loudly. I finally had to ask him to quiet down. You would think that lights-out on an airplane would signal that people were trying to sleep.
So ended this day. Tomorrow does not get much better travel-wise.
It all started at 11:30 the night before, when Linda called to tell me our flight was delayed. This started a very bad chain of events. I called Dell to tell her never mind about the transportation to RIC, as the flight was delayed by two hours, and then I went to sleep.
The next morning, Linda woke me up to let me know that the plane was further delayed by another 30 minutes. Linda said she would call Delta, as this latest delay meant we would miss our connecting flight. She was going to try to rebook us. I finally got it together and tried to call Delta myself. When I called, the automated system said to press 2 for a callback within 15 minutes. I waited about 30 minutes and then called again. This time, I just stayed on the line and waited.
While I waited, Linda called to say Delta had rebooked her on Air France. While I was talking to her, a Delta representative finally picked up the phone. After I quickly explained the problem, I was transferred to Delta’s global desk. The gentleman on the phone found the same flight for me that Linda had booked. He was also able to find a seat for me, but Air France does not have an equivalent to Delta Comfort+ class, so I got stuck in economy. Linda called Air France and upgraded to Business Class.
With all of this finally settled, I got ready to leave. Uber picked me up at 11:30. Linda and I arrived at the airport at the same time.
I checked my bag and was given paper boarding passes all the way through to Budapest. I realized my TSA PreCheck number was not on my ticket. I needed this corrected, so I asked to have it included. The agent asked for my number, and while I was trying to find it on my phone, I just stood there blocking the line. The agent finally said she was printing me another set of boarding passes. She had misspelled my name, and that was why the number didn’t show.
Linda was given only a boarding pass for Richmond to JFK and was told to get the rest at the next airport. We headed to the gate.
The board said our flight was leaving from Gate 8. We went to get a bite to eat and received a text saying the flight was now leaving from Gate 6. Linda and I waited with bated breath for the flight to be canceled. Luckily, it wasn’t, and four hours late, we boarded the plane, only to be delayed on the tarmac for an additional 35 minutes because of the weather in New York.
The plane finally took off. We were a little concerned about our connecting flight because of this additional delay. When we landed, we had only an hour to get to the gate for the next leg of our trip.
If you have never been to JFK or don’t remember it, the airport is a crazy maze. Delta uses Terminal 4, and Air France is in Terminal 1. The agent at the gate told us to take the AirTrain. We tried to follow the signs, but they were not very visible. I finally asked someone pushing a wheelchair for directions.
Following his directions, we found ourselves heading toward the exit from the secure area. After a few more twists and turns, we realized the only way to get there was to leave security. We finally made it to the AirTrain station for Terminal 4. It was packed, so we ended up waiting for the next train.
As the train left the station, it looked like we were only a couple of stops away. We should have been so lucky since we were already pressed for time. The train was routed to stop at Terminals 4, 5, 7, 8, and 1. It appeared to be a loop, at least according to the train map. Imagine our surprise when we stopped at Terminals 5, 7, and 8, then turned around and hit 7, 5, and 4 again before finally arriving at Terminal 1.
Now the race was on because we still had to go through security since we were now flying on Air France. Both of us had TSA PreCheck, but that may have saved us only a couple of minutes. I still had to pull my laptop and Kindle out of my backpack. We hustled through the airport. When we finally found the gate, they were just beginning to board. Linda boarded first since she had upgraded her seat. I wished I had.
I will never fly Air France again. My seat on Delta had extra legroom; this one had even less space than Delta’s economy seats. The seats were also narrower along the aisle. The only good thing about the seat was that the center seat was vacant, which gave me a little room to stretch out.
We sat waiting for takeoff, and I realized I was hungry, so I ate my sandwich left over from Tuesday night. As I was eating, it dawned on me that we were just sitting at the gate. We sat there for over an hour. I began to worry again about our connecting flight. That concern stayed with me for the rest of the trip.
Just after the flight finally took off, I lowered my tray table and began writing this blog. The woman in the seat in front of me reclined, and her seat hit me in the head. That is how close the seats were. So much for writing the blog on the plane.
Around 8:30, they began the dinner service. It was a good thing I had eaten my sandwich. Had I been on Delta, I would have gotten a decent meal that I could eat. Not on Air France. The meal was mostly carbs with only a little chicken. I decided to try to sleep.
I pulled my sleep mask over my eyes, put my feet up on my foot hammock, and tried to settle in. People kept bumping into me as they walked up and down the aisle. One man even managed to pull the blanket right off me. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the man sitting in the row in front of me kept talking loudly. I finally had to ask him to quiet down. You would think that lights-out on an airplane would signal that people were trying to sleep.
So ended this day. Tomorrow does not get much better travel-wise.