Sadly the time came, too quickly I might add, for the trip home. It had been a fun filled weekend in London, with fantastic company I will add. We braved the cold on a river cruise to Greenwich, toured Kensington Palace, had the most cynical tour leader on our hop on-hop off bus tour, generally were silly tourists (despite this not being a first visit to London for either of us) and of course enjoyed a few bottle of wine and bubbles and lots of good food! It was a fun and fabulous weekend!
As my flight was an early one we decided to move from the Marriott London County Hall, where we had a fabulous view across the Thames to Westminster. My last night in London was spent at the Paddington Station Hilton to catch the early morning Heathrow Express.
When checking in to the Hilton we were given an upgrade as gold members, however what we weren’t told is that at this location you either get an upgrade or you get access to the Executive Lounge. Well we quickly got that straightened out with the upgrade and lounge access covered. It was a very convenient location and once checked in we were off to make the most of every moment in London (which I will confess did include a meltdown on my part in the Chocolates section of M and S as I quickly filled a basket with treats to take home…. Yes there were witnesses to this comedic event
). So after packing my additional purchases and assuring that no chocolates would be crushed in transit I was ready to head home. Staying at the Hilton at Paddington was convenient; however you still have to go around to the outside entrance if you’re catching an early morning train. No worries, I was quickly on my way to Heathrow. With a transfer to Terminal 4 I arrived at the Delta check-in and feel I may have woken up the staff there. Not the friendliest of check-ins I have to say. However I was soon on my way to security and quick as can be through to the gates.
After the food experience on the flight over and the early hour I grabbed breakfast in the terminal before the gate was announced, a delicious full English of course!
The flight looked to be fairly full but I was again in Economy Comfort and Zone 1 for boarding. The initial boarding went really quickly, although getting through the Zone 4 people huddled around the gate did prove a bit of a challenge. Once boarded though the fun began… I was in 15A, which was a bulkhead seat so I knew my carry-on and my handbag would need to go in the overhead. Just as I was coming around the corner the empty bin above my seat was filled by a gentleman from the opposite side of the plan (16 F or G actually!
) forcing me to have to go 3 rows back to stow my bags. I tried to avoid carry-on rage and start a war so stayed calm. However, with the flight being so full bin space was at a premium and by the time my neighbor in 15B boarded there was nothing in our section for her to put her, very small, duffle. A little rearranging was orchestrated by passengers on my side of the plane; we took care of our own! Boarding did seem to take a long time; mostly it seems because of the amount of carry-on luggage needing to be stowed.
Soon we were on our way, taxiing out to the runway. By the way the new Delta safety video is kind of cute. Once in air the generic crew announcements were made and the on demand entertainment turned on. Again I really enjoyed this system and managed to watch 4 movies on the flight home!
About an hour into the flight the drink cart came down the aisle followed immediately by the food cart. Lunch choices were chicken with a gorgonzola sauce and potatoes, a vegetable pasta dish, and a cold chicken salad. I chose the hot chicken option hoping to prove the rubber chicken incident of the flight over as a one off…. I’m sorry to say I was wrong
. The chicken was in fact rubbery, the best thing about the meal was the potatoes. Also instead of a green salad there was a fresh fruit cup. My seat neighbor opened her food, the vegetarian pasta, took a sniff and pushed it aside choosing to eat only the fruit, cheese and cracker on the tray instead. This throwback to bad airline food is not welcome or cool in any sort of retro way, in case someone at Delta was wondering. It was a bumpy flight home and the seat belt sign stayed on for much of the flight. And after a long flight I was in Atlanta. The set up of the new International arrivals in terminal F is quite easy; I was very quickly through immigration and picking up my bags in customs. I will say that the line for non-US citizens seemed to be going a lot slower although there seemed to be plenty of staff on.
Again the marathon, this time from F to B concourse and a little more time to wait before my flight home to Tampa.
Looking forward to my next trip… July’s looking good to me, I’ll want to escape the heat of Florida then!
There seems no etiquette in the stowing of hand luggage any more 
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