back in the UK
We made it, safe, sound, and with no cancellations or delays. We were all fairly convince on Sunday night that the closure of Heathrow (which was announced after I posted) would continue on for at least a day, but it did not. thankfully.
Our plane was absolutely packed. When we checked in online, we still had our bulkhead baby seats (as mentioned in my previous post- VERY nice seats to have!) When we arrived at our gate, however, there was a delay because our seats had changed. I admit, I was considering freaking out, but decided to be calm and see what the new seats were like. And, lo, but they were also bulkhead seats... just not in a cabin I'd ever bothered looking in: economy "plus". In terms of an upgrade, it wasn't much at all (exact same food as economy, but with real glasses for your drinks! woo! Okay, and headphones made of awesome which did a great job of canceling out more than 50% of background noise. Legroom was great, too, but I can't really evaluate that as we were in bulkhead seats) but it was fantastic for us in the sense that it was free. If I'd paid 200 bucks+ more I'm not sure I'd think it was worth it, but then I'm very cheap when it comes to flying. (hey, the cheaper you are, the more flights you can take. It's a good travel motto.)
The dude slept for a good chunk of the flight. He was a bit disturbed for a while so I alternated between having him sleep on me, and having him sleep a bit in the baby seat. Cookieman can actually sleep reasonably well on flights, so I tried not to bother him with it until closer to the end of the flight. I CAN sleep, but not well, and so I probably had an hour total that flight.
The train ride(s) home were uneventful, but the dude was OVER the whole being good thing, and spent a lot of the final stretch being cranky and crying.
It's good to be home, but I did feel a bit robbed after I'd gotten used to the idea that we might be in the US for another week. :D We never did get to visit cheese4me and jetboo, a first in our many trips to the US. We just need to re-evaluate our game plan in terms of traveling with the dude. I'm thinking we'll need to rent a car next time.
(hey, which brings to mind a question I had- what is the insurance generally like when renting a car? I have rented a car in the US before, but I didn't get the insurance because I had my own coverage there. Our policy won't cover us there, so I would need to take their overpriced option they offer. I assume. If there's another way, I'm all ears. In the meantime, though, I'd just like to know the average per day cost of it.. they don't mention it on the websites I've checked.)
We DID, however, have a great week with xeven, her husband, and their son. He is younger than the dude, but very strong, and a good crawler, so they spent the week charging after one another. adorable. I might do some pics in a protected post later.
I also met up with a girlfriend of mine from grade school/ jr high. She looked exactly the same. Well, you know what I mean. Just how I felt she would look. It was nice to catch up with her. She's doing just what she said she would do when we were young: creating artificial limbs. Random, no? Her younger brother has sickle cell anemia, though, and she always wanted to do something that would be beneficial to others..
My friend R was also able to make time in his insanely busy schedule (literally- his son was graduating from the Marine academy so he was going out of town the next day) to visit us and tell us some crazy stories from Iraq. He served there twice, one year each, as a commander in charge of something I'll keep vague because you never know who is reading these things. He brought photos which were pretty amazing. Hopefully he'll be visiting us here next summer.
That's enough for now. The weather here in the UK is actually lovely, quite warm in fact, so we've set up the dude's pool in the back garden. He's currently having a nap after having worn himself out at Messy Play this morning, but I'm sure he'll be raring to go soon enough.
Our plane was absolutely packed. When we checked in online, we still had our bulkhead baby seats (as mentioned in my previous post- VERY nice seats to have!) When we arrived at our gate, however, there was a delay because our seats had changed. I admit, I was considering freaking out, but decided to be calm and see what the new seats were like. And, lo, but they were also bulkhead seats... just not in a cabin I'd ever bothered looking in: economy "plus". In terms of an upgrade, it wasn't much at all (exact same food as economy, but with real glasses for your drinks! woo! Okay, and headphones made of awesome which did a great job of canceling out more than 50% of background noise. Legroom was great, too, but I can't really evaluate that as we were in bulkhead seats) but it was fantastic for us in the sense that it was free. If I'd paid 200 bucks+ more I'm not sure I'd think it was worth it, but then I'm very cheap when it comes to flying. (hey, the cheaper you are, the more flights you can take. It's a good travel motto.)
The dude slept for a good chunk of the flight. He was a bit disturbed for a while so I alternated between having him sleep on me, and having him sleep a bit in the baby seat. Cookieman can actually sleep reasonably well on flights, so I tried not to bother him with it until closer to the end of the flight. I CAN sleep, but not well, and so I probably had an hour total that flight.
The train ride(s) home were uneventful, but the dude was OVER the whole being good thing, and spent a lot of the final stretch being cranky and crying.
It's good to be home, but I did feel a bit robbed after I'd gotten used to the idea that we might be in the US for another week. :D We never did get to visit cheese4me and jetboo, a first in our many trips to the US. We just need to re-evaluate our game plan in terms of traveling with the dude. I'm thinking we'll need to rent a car next time.
(hey, which brings to mind a question I had- what is the insurance generally like when renting a car? I have rented a car in the US before, but I didn't get the insurance because I had my own coverage there. Our policy won't cover us there, so I would need to take their overpriced option they offer. I assume. If there's another way, I'm all ears. In the meantime, though, I'd just like to know the average per day cost of it.. they don't mention it on the websites I've checked.)
We DID, however, have a great week with xeven, her husband, and their son. He is younger than the dude, but very strong, and a good crawler, so they spent the week charging after one another. adorable. I might do some pics in a protected post later.
I also met up with a girlfriend of mine from grade school/ jr high. She looked exactly the same. Well, you know what I mean. Just how I felt she would look. It was nice to catch up with her. She's doing just what she said she would do when we were young: creating artificial limbs. Random, no? Her younger brother has sickle cell anemia, though, and she always wanted to do something that would be beneficial to others..
My friend R was also able to make time in his insanely busy schedule (literally- his son was graduating from the Marine academy so he was going out of town the next day) to visit us and tell us some crazy stories from Iraq. He served there twice, one year each, as a commander in charge of something I'll keep vague because you never know who is reading these things. He brought photos which were pretty amazing. Hopefully he'll be visiting us here next summer.
That's enough for now. The weather here in the UK is actually lovely, quite warm in fact, so we've set up the dude's pool in the back garden. He's currently having a nap after having worn himself out at Messy Play this morning, but I'm sure he'll be raring to go soon enough.