London - Scotland Trip Day 1

Sunday September 2, 2012 - Vancouver, Washington 

Thunderbird Hotel on fire

Up at 4 AM (Clear ~60 deg F) Finished checking windows, doors, alarms, etc. Shuttle bus (Blue Star) arrived at 5 AM (15 min early). Said our goodbyes to Hobie and Left house at 5:15am. Driver entertained us with some stories from when he was in the Navy. Said he was in the Navy for 20 years had been to 47 countries including Britain (London and Edinburgh). I5 bridge was closed North and South due to the Thunderbird Hotel burning to the ground! 

Waiting to board at PDX

Airport check-in was uneventful. Thankfully American Air didn’t have a line (United had a huge line). Security was more exciting. Got a pat down and TSA went through my camera bag. Also got to try out their new full body scanner. Arrived at Gate C9 at 6:40 AM. Left PDX and had a nice view of Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, and Mount Hood. Not much snow on any of them. Also got a nice view of the smoking remains of the Thunderbird Hotel. Arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport around 1:30 PM Central where it was 98 Deg. F. 

Our trusty Boeing 747

Made it to gate D4 British Air at about 2:15 PM Central. Next plane scheduled to leave at 5:50 PM Central. DFW airport is huge and very modern with a cool shuttle bus system. Boarded and left DFW on time. There were an amazing number of India people on board. Plane was a Boeing 747 with funny little “pod” seats in 1st class. Arrived at Heathrow London at 8:30 AM London time (12:30 AM Pacific).

Heathrow Airport, London

I only needed 1 bathroom break after an 8 ½ hour flight. Incredibly, Carol didn’t need any bathroom breaks!! In flight meal was chicken curry or vegetarian tortellini. Also served breakfast of fruit cocktail, banana loaf, O.J., and coffee. Was mostly cloudy flying over Iceland and England.