Our travel plan was as follows:
--Drive to Chicago
--Drop our car off at a Holiday Inn (taking advantage of the fact that if we rent a room there for one night we can leave our car there for 15 days)
--Take a shuttle to O'Hare
--Take a 4:20 PM flight Atlanta
--Four hour layover
--Take a 10:30 PM flight to London!

Flight to O'Hare was uneventful, though Carly, my little sister, and I had a fun time making up alternate captions for the picture-only safety precaution pamphlet as well as giggling at the outrageous contraptions that were being sold in the magazine, "Sky Mall."

When we got to Atlanta, things started to go wrong. The lady who assisted us with our Self-Check-In really got us off on the wrong foot. First of all, it's a self-check-in, and we were doing just fine on our own. She punched in the wrong number of bags, directed us to the wrong gate, and told us the wrong time of take-off, which resulted in a pretty frazzled sprint to the other side of the terminal. Luckily we had thirty minutes to spare before our real flight took off, and doubly luckily we switched when we did because I had inadvertently made a scene at the wrong flight line when I thought I had lost my purse and was grateful that I didn't have to spend the next eight hours with the people who were staring at me in that line.

A plane...

The TVs on the back of the chairs in front of us had free entertainment! I finally got to watch "He's Just Not That Into You" (I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, but it was good) and a few episodes of the Office and Chuck totally free! There was an in flight poker game going on where you could play against other passengers through the TV, in addition to a few other games like Galactica or Zuma.

At around 12:30 AM Central time, most passengers were sleeping. I had a very difficult time getting comfortable and as a result got a grand total of about two hours of sleep. We landed in London at 11:30 AM their time, and it's now 2:30 PM, we've checked in, showered, and are about ready to head out, but I am battling some serious jet lag. It's 8:20 AM in the States!!! I have rarely seen that side of nine this summer, I'm afraid to admit. Carly's done this flight before, and she said the best thing to do was drink a lot of water. Mom says the best thing is to go outside and let your body acclimate to the new position of the sun. My goal is just not to pass out standing up.

The first British accent I heard was a (really cute) young man directing passport check in lines. And I got my first taste of the ill will between the British and the Irish. The man there asked if I needed a Visa for study in Ireland, and I said as a student I didn't, he sniffed and said, "We control the Nothern part of Ireland, but /unfortunately/ we have no jurisdiction over the Southern part, so whether they let you in or not is completely up to them." Ha!

Still looking forward to Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens tonight, but I spotted an H+M that I want to find again.

written by  Kelsey Ingle on August 15, 2009 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: A Rover in the Clover
tagged Flight, London and Arrival
Send a Compliment

---

I was so happy to get your first blog account ~ I feel as tho I am right there with you. Can just see you and Carly giggling together over SkyMall. There are some pretty outrageous items for sale in those magazines. I keep trying to add 6 hours to "my time" and then look at your schedule to see what you are doing. I think you are having dinner now and about ready to go to "Peter Pan". Bet you will all sleep well tonight.
The "doodles" are wonderful ~ keeping me company on my bed. Sparky tried to squeeze in to be on the pillow next to me ~ where Jazzy usually sleeps and it was so funny to see the two of them try to work out their "positions". We all got comfortable and had a good night's sleep!!!

written by  mjrowlands on August 15, 2009

---

Oh KELSEY. You are too cute. You WOULD almost lose your purse in line. That brings back memories, lol...

It sounds really wonderful so far, I'm so jealous! And keep posting to the blog, it's a great idea. When I went to London I was pretty young (and crabby) so I never really wrote anything down and I really regret that.

And I enjoyed your Peter Pan critique, haha. Also, don't worry about looking like a tourist. Just don't wear fanny packs and khaki shorts.

written by  eroemer on August 19, 2009

comment on this...