Friday, Stockholm to London (and some other places...)
Oh dear, had a bit of a mix up this morning... I woke bright as a button and check my watch and saw it was 10 to 7. Told Wendy and hopped up and had a shower and got dressed. Coaxed Wendy out of bed and thought we’d head on down to breakfast asap. I did comment how quiet it seemed in the hostel and that there wasn’t a car in the street. It’s Midsummer celebration from the 22nd-25th so I put that down to late night celebrations etc. Anyway, I put on my watch and noticed that it was 20 to 5! Had to shake my head and then apologised to Wendy and tried to work out how I’d read my watch wrong - maybe looked at it upside down? Wendy went back to sleep and I wrote a bit of blog and then went back to bed too. Did set my alarm on the Palm Treo and forgot to switch it of silent - so I missed that too. What a mess! Anyway we made good time and caught all the connections and did a self check in at the airport and changed our seats so we could get a window and sit next to each other. Bumped into Heather and Philip again and heard about their drama - Deb had taken Heather’s passport by mistake and was catching a 9 am flight. She rang them at the hotel and they managed to get ready in 15 minutes and race (doing 180 kms in a taxi!?) out to the airport in time to swap the documents so Deb could make her flight. Then they had 3 hours to kill...
So, we had a two hour flight and got into Heathrow a little late (had to do a couple of fly rounds) and then took ages to get through passport control. They hardly had any people on the counters and it must have taken at least 35 minutes. Texted the boys and they were on their way to meet us at our terminal and they waited patiently. Finally walked out and there was Reuben with a sign (written on his hand) “C & W Warren“ just like all the other guys with their sheets of A4 and people’s names on them. Great to see them again. They had nearly got deported because they didn’t (couldn’t) write down on the landing card where they were going to stay - we hadn’t told them! When they said that they were going to meet their parents, they were asked what they were going to do if we didn’t show. ”Sleep at the airport“, was their answer and it nearly wasn’t good enough. Anyway they got a little talking to, and had to give my mobile number and then got let through. The little things you don’t think of passing on...
Went to Budget to pick up the car and ended up with a 7 seater Kia Serdona instead of a small station wagon. This ended up being a much better option... It ran on diesel and there were four arm chairs (two at the front and two in the middle) with a bench at the back and still room behind that for the luggage. Cool! We had to be driven from the airport to the depot and then we were on our way. Had to head out on the M4 and then the M25 to get to Stanstead to pick up Ash. What a hoot - first time driving in the traffic in England. Just the same as the Westgate really, lots of traffic and some stop/start stuff - roundabout a two hour trip. Ash had processed fairly quickly through the airport and was waiting (for about 20 minutes) out on the road, so we did a drive-by pickup. Once we were all loaded in there were lots of stories about travelling and flying and catching up on news - nice to have the family together again. Matthew took over as navigator and we headed us the back way over towards Oxford to stay at the Day Inn Hotel (a WelcomeBreak facility). We did a stop in a small town and discover Waitrose (the supermarket) and stocked up on supplies. Then we hit the M4 right on the money and the hotel was just on the other side! Nice to have a hot shower and comfy bed.
Oh dear, had a bit of a mix up this morning... I woke bright as a button and check my watch and saw it was 10 to 7. Told Wendy and hopped up and had a shower and got dressed. Coaxed Wendy out of bed and thought we’d head on down to breakfast asap. I did comment how quiet it seemed in the hostel and that there wasn’t a car in the street. It’s Midsummer celebration from the 22nd-25th so I put that down to late night celebrations etc. Anyway, I put on my watch and noticed that it was 20 to 5! Had to shake my head and then apologised to Wendy and tried to work out how I’d read my watch wrong - maybe looked at it upside down? Wendy went back to sleep and I wrote a bit of blog and then went back to bed too. Did set my alarm on the Palm Treo and forgot to switch it of silent - so I missed that too. What a mess! Anyway we made good time and caught all the connections and did a self check in at the airport and changed our seats so we could get a window and sit next to each other. Bumped into Heather and Philip again and heard about their drama - Deb had taken Heather’s passport by mistake and was catching a 9 am flight. She rang them at the hotel and they managed to get ready in 15 minutes and race (doing 180 kms in a taxi!?) out to the airport in time to swap the documents so Deb could make her flight. Then they had 3 hours to kill...
So, we had a two hour flight and got into Heathrow a little late (had to do a couple of fly rounds) and then took ages to get through passport control. They hardly had any people on the counters and it must have taken at least 35 minutes. Texted the boys and they were on their way to meet us at our terminal and they waited patiently. Finally walked out and there was Reuben with a sign (written on his hand) “C & W Warren“ just like all the other guys with their sheets of A4 and people’s names on them. Great to see them again. They had nearly got deported because they didn’t (couldn’t) write down on the landing card where they were going to stay - we hadn’t told them! When they said that they were going to meet their parents, they were asked what they were going to do if we didn’t show. ”Sleep at the airport“, was their answer and it nearly wasn’t good enough. Anyway they got a little talking to, and had to give my mobile number and then got let through. The little things you don’t think of passing on...
Went to Budget to pick up the car and ended up with a 7 seater Kia Serdona instead of a small station wagon. This ended up being a much better option... It ran on diesel and there were four arm chairs (two at the front and two in the middle) with a bench at the back and still room behind that for the luggage. Cool! We had to be driven from the airport to the depot and then we were on our way. Had to head out on the M4 and then the M25 to get to Stanstead to pick up Ash. What a hoot - first time driving in the traffic in England. Just the same as the Westgate really, lots of traffic and some stop/start stuff - roundabout a two hour trip. Ash had processed fairly quickly through the airport and was waiting (for about 20 minutes) out on the road, so we did a drive-by pickup. Once we were all loaded in there were lots of stories about travelling and flying and catching up on news - nice to have the family together again. Matthew took over as navigator and we headed us the back way over towards Oxford to stay at the Day Inn Hotel (a WelcomeBreak facility). We did a stop in a small town and discover Waitrose (the supermarket) and stocked up on supplies. Then we hit the M4 right on the money and the hotel was just on the other side! Nice to have a hot shower and comfy bed.
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