DAY No.1...........LEAVING ON A JET PLANE !!!!
Thursday 30th April 2009
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ro7Uz4jEfmg&hl=en&fs=1
'I don't believe it' as Victor Meldrew would say. (For those of you who don't know it's a sit com on UK TV) The day was finally here. Yay ! I'm off to the Big Apple for the adventure of a lifetime. Even though I had taken the Wednesday off as holiday from work, I was so glad I did to allow me that extra time to prepare.
Checklist composed da da !.............ok, documents assembled in order of appearance......and, well, the day soon disappeared in last minute preps.
Come mid afternoon, all my clothes were vacuum packed (without the use of a hoover) in to the case, each set of clothes in individual bags........jim jams, concert gear, spare day wear.......well you get the drift !.........Oh yes!!! ..........still plenty of room for presents I'll bring back.
Ok, checklist, pack ........checklist, pack........der der der der der........yep ! that's everything.......now the moment of truth........the scales. Phwore ! what a result, yes! , bags of room for more weight. Just under 10kg.
Next......Hand luggage......no problem. Now, underwear in the main case, or in the hand luggage. Well, let's flip 'Liberty Woman' then.......agreed.....it's the hand luggage. Nowt worse than no knickers if yer case goes walkabout !!
Time ticked away until it was final shutdown time for the laptop.......bye all (sniff!!).........love yer loads!! And off to the coach way we go. Mum and Dad both came to see me off........yer know........just to make sure Caz went and they had peace in the house for nearly a week !!!!
Well I was taking no chances with the transportation to the airport. My contingency plan was to get there in very good time even if it meant kicking round the Terminal for a few hours. The coach was due to arrive at 1.15am !! 1.30 came, 1.40, still no coach.........eventually it turned up at 1.45am much to my relief.
Hugs all round to Mum and Dad and off I went. Please bear in mind by this time I had already been up for 20 hours.
It was 2.50am when I eventually arrived at Heathrow Virgin Terminal 3. (no comments please). I sauntered up the stairs to the landing and at least found somewhere to sit amidst the bodies strewn all over the floor and the seats. It resembled one of those movies where someone had let loose with a machine gun (but without all the blood obviously).
Nothing was open, and I thankfully popped open the can of coke I had in my pocket and gleefully woofed down the banana I had also stashed about my person. Hadn't had much time to eat anything during the previous day, so, a banana boost was very welcome.
Eventually I saw Costa coffee cups appearing and I followed the aroma to the source. Gawd!! now I know why I adore Starbucks so much. Thwaw !! Anywhoo......Pat phoned about 4am to say she was on her way......................About 2 hours later I spotted her with.........wait for it.........more luggage than I had jokingly posted up..........Nar , only joshing there. 'Blimey Pat !! we are only going for a week aren't we' sez I. Well we spot this dear little lady coming towards us completely unaware she would be pounced on to perfom a David Bailey moment for us. And here it is........lovely thank you very much !!
What a pair of posers ay?
'Caz , I gotta get a face mask' Pat announces...........'Why? it looks alright to me' sez I. 'No, yer dingbat, for my eyes'........'Oh you mean an eye mask Pat'...........'Yes Caz!!'.............So Pat finds a really nice one (more on this later !!!).
'What we gonna eat den Pat'.......'Let's go down the other end Caz and have a look'. Well we ended up in the Three Bells Pub !! Yes, at the airport ! Where we sat down to a full English Breakfast, orange juice and tea.
Then we hit hysterics as we viewed the name of the stuff to be spread on the toast........Pat has the evidence on camera 'LESCURE' butter it was called. (Remedy for Gay Girls dya think?).
By the time we had knocked that lot back, it was time to go and dump the cases. A verrrrrry nice 'Receptionist' greeted us at the baggage drop. We had checked in online. Boy was it worth it too. Ahem !! Pat's case went first ..........21kgs........ok Caz's turn, 'WHAT !' 9.7kg 'Have you got anything in that case Caz' sez Pat 'Yeah, a pair a shorts, a toof brush, and me Converse All Stars!!'. Right, job done , now where's the loo?
I lost count how many times my passport and documents came in and out of my pocket. Then came the hand luggage check. Pat goes through .......no problem. Caz goes through.......beep, beep........uh oh !! Well, I was confronted by a 'lady' security officer who obviously looked as though she meant business. Let me just say, she did her job extremely well and was 'very thorough'..........the only thing she didn't do was strip search and don the rubber glove,
thwak!! ............. 
.........dammit!......ahem!! yes well moving on.
A quick sit down in the Departure lounge, flight socks applied (hmmm!! very fetching Caz). Dong !! up pop our gate details. Documents in and out like a yo yo!!
Let me just say here , if you ever go abroad, Virgin is definitely the way to travel.........if you pardon me for saying so. Not actually like the advert, but very nice and pleasant.
Thud.........ah......at last we made it to our seats, and assembled the things we thought we'd need while up in the air. Pat with her ppod and me with my crossword book. Hatches eventually battened down.......time to go. We taxied to the runway........throttle held back and ...........Whoooooooooooooooooosh!! we catapulted off the runway into the wild blue yonder. I watched the ground disappear as we flew up through the clouds into that purest of blue, such a beautiful sight it brings tears to my eyes.
Talking of which......brings me back to Pat's eye mask.........Now between buying her eye mask at the terminal and getting on the plane, Pat managed to lose it. So it was lucky that dear old Virgin gave out complimentary ones in an in flight pack. Erm! I thought you said it was an eye mask Pat? ....second thoughts praps not a bad idea (only joshing there sis!!)
I must say the leg room was generous and the entertainment panels on the backs of the seats were excellent. You could even keep checks on where you were on the map.
I scrawled away at my crossword puzzles, fighting to stay awake. Then I tried some healing techniques trying to see my aura. Upon holding my hand at full stretch all I could see was green.........it was really weird. I kept myself busy watching, and listening to, the in flight entertainment.
The food on the flight was very good apart from those darned peppers.........the first instalment was a hot wrap and a drink........later it was BBQ
chicken and potato wedges..............'Ah Nar Pat !! why do they always have to shove flippin' peppers in everything' .........'It's
called flavour Caz!!' .........'Well how comes, I got more bits of 'flavour' in my dinner, than you have then?' And dya know what
everyone?......I had to pick out some 20 bits of green and red
veg
from my dinner afor I could eat it! Thank goodness I'd got my 'Tic Tacs'.
Uh oh!! where were they........I eventually found them just before we got off
the plane.
Well the flight was smooth and perfect. The touch down was perfect.........we were in the US !! The Brits had landed........ Yeah !!
Now one thing yer never do is try and joke with security at an airport so this was extremely hard for me to be very serious. Gawd! what is it about those guys that make you feel like a criminal when you've done absolutely nowt !! The looks on their faces could crack a nut at 50 paces !!
So we survived, and eventually emerged on the concourse. We needed a Metro ticket for the week, and for the princely sum of $25 it gave us unlimited travel on the underground........sorry........subway. However, it is just as well, cos no sooner had we left the airport and got on a train but we found ourselves going in the wrong direction.....duhr!! so we back tracked and started again.
How long had we been in the States,.........erm....... less than 30 minutes. Pat was busy on her mobile trying to make a call totally ignoring this voice coming from a perforated box on the carriage wall.........'Excuse me, is there a problem there......hello......do you have a problem on the train'.............Pat get your bag off that big red button........the one that says misuse of this button could result in a fine being applied or imprisonment!! At that point Pat was trying to bend down in apologetic posture trying to clear up the misunderstanding by talking into the perforated box on the wall..........no Pat saying you had just flown in from England was not exactly gonna help !!
Phew! off this train and on another one to Bowling Green Station where we got off
.
.........we scrambled up the steps and emerged out onto the street like two moles drilling up through a newly turfed lawn. Pat and I looked at each other and shouted excitedly 'Yay woohoo!!!! we're in New York'........we've arrived!!
We decided to head straight for our accommodation, dump the cases and get together with manon, then get something to eat.
So, we passed Starbucks
(mutter mutter!!),
I spotted a sign I could not resist taking a pic off (can't think why)
Took our first few picks on arrival
and hopped on the Staten Island Ferry (which was free), past the Statue of Liberty
and straight onto a bus which took us to within a stones thrown of our B & B.
Manon must have known it was us coming up the street, well I guess we do tend to be a bit obvious, as she was waiting at the top of the stairs for us. Hugs and arms thrown left right and centre ensued not forgetting the obligatory camera shots.
It was so nice to meet my dear old friend manon for real...........and .........before manon gits in here and ear bashes me.........we agreed to drop that word didn't we? My first impression of manon was a very lovely, tall, slender lady with a gentle voice and a touch of an Irish accent coming through. Not an ounce of German in sight. Her face was beautiful in complexion which belies her 90 odd years..........no, no, no, manon only joking. To be quite honest manon you have nothing to fear with the camera. You are indeed a picture of grace and beauty.
Well we sat and chatted, then we unpacked. Pat even took pictures of my vacuum packed packing. Then it was time to eat. We ended up at a little Italian place just up the road, where I nearly performed a repeat performance of falling off my stool at the Langholm dinner table........fortunately this time Pat was more observant before my face actually ended up in my lasagne.........ah memories. I was so tired I couldn't eat it all. So we wandered back to the B & B. No sooner had my head hit the pillow, and I was out like a light!!!
ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thursday 30th April 2009
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ro7Uz4jEfmg&hl=en&fs=1
'I don't believe it' as Victor Meldrew would say. (For those of you who don't know it's a sit com on UK TV) The day was finally here. Yay ! I'm off to the Big Apple for the adventure of a lifetime. Even though I had taken the Wednesday off as holiday from work, I was so glad I did to allow me that extra time to prepare.
Checklist composed da da !.............ok, documents assembled in order of appearance......and, well, the day soon disappeared in last minute preps.
Come mid afternoon, all my clothes were vacuum packed (without the use of a hoover) in to the case, each set of clothes in individual bags........jim jams, concert gear, spare day wear.......well you get the drift !.........Oh yes!!! ..........still plenty of room for presents I'll bring back.
Ok, checklist, pack ........checklist, pack........der der der der der........yep ! that's everything.......now the moment of truth........the scales. Phwore ! what a result, yes! , bags of room for more weight. Just under 10kg.
Next......Hand luggage......no problem. Now, underwear in the main case, or in the hand luggage. Well, let's flip 'Liberty Woman' then.......agreed.....it's the hand luggage. Nowt worse than no knickers if yer case goes walkabout !!
Time ticked away until it was final shutdown time for the laptop.......bye all (sniff!!).........love yer loads!! And off to the coach way we go. Mum and Dad both came to see me off........yer know........just to make sure Caz went and they had peace in the house for nearly a week !!!!
Well I was taking no chances with the transportation to the airport. My contingency plan was to get there in very good time even if it meant kicking round the Terminal for a few hours. The coach was due to arrive at 1.15am !! 1.30 came, 1.40, still no coach.........eventually it turned up at 1.45am much to my relief.
Hugs all round to Mum and Dad and off I went. Please bear in mind by this time I had already been up for 20 hours.
It was 2.50am when I eventually arrived at Heathrow Virgin Terminal 3. (no comments please). I sauntered up the stairs to the landing and at least found somewhere to sit amidst the bodies strewn all over the floor and the seats. It resembled one of those movies where someone had let loose with a machine gun (but without all the blood obviously).
Nothing was open, and I thankfully popped open the can of coke I had in my pocket and gleefully woofed down the banana I had also stashed about my person. Hadn't had much time to eat anything during the previous day, so, a banana boost was very welcome.
Eventually I saw Costa coffee cups appearing and I followed the aroma to the source. Gawd!! now I know why I adore Starbucks so much. Thwaw !! Anywhoo......Pat phoned about 4am to say she was on her way......................About 2 hours later I spotted her with.........wait for it.........more luggage than I had jokingly posted up..........Nar , only joshing there. 'Blimey Pat !! we are only going for a week aren't we' sez I. Well we spot this dear little lady coming towards us completely unaware she would be pounced on to perfom a David Bailey moment for us. And here it is........lovely thank you very much !!
What a pair of posers ay?
'Caz , I gotta get a face mask' Pat announces...........'Why? it looks alright to me' sez I. 'No, yer dingbat, for my eyes'........'Oh you mean an eye mask Pat'...........'Yes Caz!!'.............So Pat finds a really nice one (more on this later !!!).
'What we gonna eat den Pat'.......'Let's go down the other end Caz and have a look'. Well we ended up in the Three Bells Pub !! Yes, at the airport ! Where we sat down to a full English Breakfast, orange juice and tea.
Then we hit hysterics as we viewed the name of the stuff to be spread on the toast........Pat has the evidence on camera 'LESCURE' butter it was called. (Remedy for Gay Girls dya think?).
By the time we had knocked that lot back, it was time to go and dump the cases. A verrrrrry nice 'Receptionist' greeted us at the baggage drop. We had checked in online. Boy was it worth it too. Ahem !! Pat's case went first ..........21kgs........ok Caz's turn, 'WHAT !' 9.7kg 'Have you got anything in that case Caz' sez Pat 'Yeah, a pair a shorts, a toof brush, and me Converse All Stars!!'. Right, job done , now where's the loo?
I lost count how many times my passport and documents came in and out of my pocket. Then came the hand luggage check. Pat goes through .......no problem. Caz goes through.......beep, beep........uh oh !! Well, I was confronted by a 'lady' security officer who obviously looked as though she meant business. Let me just say, she did her job extremely well and was 'very thorough'..........the only thing she didn't do was strip search and don the rubber glove,
thwak!! ............. .........dammit!......ahem!! yes well moving on.
A quick sit down in the Departure lounge, flight socks applied (hmmm!! very fetching Caz). Dong !! up pop our gate details. Documents in and out like a yo yo!!
Let me just say here , if you ever go abroad, Virgin is definitely the way to travel.........if you pardon me for saying so. Not actually like the advert, but very nice and pleasant.
Thud.........ah......at last we made it to our seats, and assembled the things we thought we'd need while up in the air. Pat with her ppod and me with my crossword book. Hatches eventually battened down.......time to go. We taxied to the runway........throttle held back and ...........Whoooooooooooooooooosh!! we catapulted off the runway into the wild blue yonder. I watched the ground disappear as we flew up through the clouds into that purest of blue, such a beautiful sight it brings tears to my eyes.
Talking of which......brings me back to Pat's eye mask.........Now between buying her eye mask at the terminal and getting on the plane, Pat managed to lose it. So it was lucky that dear old Virgin gave out complimentary ones in an in flight pack. Erm! I thought you said it was an eye mask Pat? ....second thoughts praps not a bad idea (only joshing there sis!!)
I must say the leg room was generous and the entertainment panels on the backs of the seats were excellent. You could even keep checks on where you were on the map.
I scrawled away at my crossword puzzles, fighting to stay awake. Then I tried some healing techniques trying to see my aura. Upon holding my hand at full stretch all I could see was green.........it was really weird. I kept myself busy watching, and listening to, the in flight entertainment.
Well the flight was smooth and perfect. The touch down was perfect.........we were in the US !! The Brits had landed........ Yeah !!
Now one thing yer never do is try and joke with security at an airport so this was extremely hard for me to be very serious. Gawd! what is it about those guys that make you feel like a criminal when you've done absolutely nowt !! The looks on their faces could crack a nut at 50 paces !!
So we survived, and eventually emerged on the concourse. We needed a Metro ticket for the week, and for the princely sum of $25 it gave us unlimited travel on the underground........sorry........subway. However, it is just as well, cos no sooner had we left the airport and got on a train but we found ourselves going in the wrong direction.....duhr!! so we back tracked and started again.
How long had we been in the States,.........erm....... less than 30 minutes. Pat was busy on her mobile trying to make a call totally ignoring this voice coming from a perforated box on the carriage wall.........'Excuse me, is there a problem there......hello......do you have a problem on the train'.............Pat get your bag off that big red button........the one that says misuse of this button could result in a fine being applied or imprisonment!! At that point Pat was trying to bend down in apologetic posture trying to clear up the misunderstanding by talking into the perforated box on the wall..........no Pat saying you had just flown in from England was not exactly gonna help !!
Phew! off this train and on another one to Bowling Green Station where we got off
.
.........we scrambled up the steps and emerged out onto the street like two moles drilling up through a newly turfed lawn. Pat and I looked at each other and shouted excitedly 'Yay woohoo!!!! we're in New York'........we've arrived!!
We decided to head straight for our accommodation, dump the cases and get together with manon, then get something to eat.
So, we passed Starbucks
(mutter mutter!!),
I spotted a sign I could not resist taking a pic off (can't think why)
Took our first few picks on arrival
and hopped on the Staten Island Ferry (which was free), past the Statue of Liberty
and straight onto a bus which took us to within a stones thrown of our B & B.
Manon must have known it was us coming up the street, well I guess we do tend to be a bit obvious, as she was waiting at the top of the stairs for us. Hugs and arms thrown left right and centre ensued not forgetting the obligatory camera shots.
It was so nice to meet my dear old friend manon for real...........and .........before manon gits in here and ear bashes me.........we agreed to drop that word didn't we? My first impression of manon was a very lovely, tall, slender lady with a gentle voice and a touch of an Irish accent coming through. Not an ounce of German in sight. Her face was beautiful in complexion which belies her 90 odd years..........no, no, no, manon only joking. To be quite honest manon you have nothing to fear with the camera. You are indeed a picture of grace and beauty.
Well we sat and chatted, then we unpacked. Pat even took pictures of my vacuum packed packing. Then it was time to eat. We ended up at a little Italian place just up the road, where I nearly performed a repeat performance of falling off my stool at the Langholm dinner table........fortunately this time Pat was more observant before my face actually ended up in my lasagne.........ah memories. I was so tired I couldn't eat it all. So we wandered back to the B & B. No sooner had my head hit the pillow, and I was out like a light!!!
ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
