Coasting Across the Pond, day "0": Getting there

Having spent an inordinately long time documenting my coaster travels to Germany and other locations in 2006, I now soldier on to describe another international trip I took--this one a week spent in Britain, in 2007 once again to ride roller coasters.  As with all travel, getting there is often one of the most difficult parts of a trip, so I'll begin by describing our travel adventures crossing the Atlantic, which fortunately were much less trying than we'd experienced on our 2006 trip.

For the three of us taking the trip--myself, Janna, and our friend Tim--it would represent a return to the UK.  We had all participated in a group trip in 2002 organized by the American Coaster Enthusiasts to the UK (and parts of Continental Europe).  It had been a great trip and had spurred a taste for foreign coaster travel in all of us, which we'd indulged again in private trips to Scandinavia in 2004 (all new parks for us) and Germany in 2006 (which included a couple of repetitions from the 2002 trip).  However we'd all meant to return to England eventually, particularly to revisit Blackpool Pleasure Beach, one of our favorite parks from the earlier trip.  In fact I'd thought I'd return to that park much sooner, but other things (including our other travels) had intervened.  A visit was feeling more urgent now, as there were persistent rumors that the Pleasure Beach was losing some of its classic rides and old-fashioned amusement park charm.  We wanted at least one last chance to experience the park as it was, and so built a trip around an extended stay in the area, along with a selection of other old and new parks.  As had happened before, Tim did most of the arrangements; Janna and I had a few suggestions but most of the hard work was his, for which I am very grateful.

As is often our wont, we did most of our packing the very day we left.  We had gotten together a smattering of things we didn't want to forget in advance, but we still had to select most of the clothing we'd want to bring and get everything into our luggage.  Fortunately I was wired enough about the impending trip that I was able to get up early and get everything done.  The first few minutes of packing were very hectic but I calmed down as I went along.

Packing for a long international trip is an art, particularly since we would be primarily getting around by train and public transportation and would have to pack especially light.  We'd have to take small pieces of luggage that could be easily carried with us from place to place and stored in lockers at train stations.  I used the same luggage set I'd used when we traveled to Germany, a small set with a detachable day pack.  I originally planned to carry the day pack on the plane as a backpack, but wound up bringing another shoulder bag for a carry-on.  This was no great inconvenience since the day pack could simply be attached to the main piece of luggage.  However I made absolutely sure that I had enough supplies my the carry-on to get by if my checked luggage was lost, based on our experiences on our previous trip.  It helped that the weather as we left was cloudy and cool.  This meant I could wear a vest coat with a lot of pockets (another helpful item I'd used on the prior trip) without discomfort, giving me a good way to transport miscellaneous small items without packing them.

Eventually we just had to be as ready as we were ever going to be.  Even without the constraint of our flight time, Tim is a strict schedule-keeper, and we knew he'd be picking us up at 11 whether we were ready or not!  He drove us out to the airport, all of us enthused about our upcoming adventure.  I have become somewhat jaded about airplane travel, after so many problem flights over the years, but the prospect of an international trip was still enough to excite me.

My enthusiasm was dampened somewhat by the exchange rate; my dollars exchanged for pounds at a worse than 2 for 1 rate.  I think the exchange rate had taken a sudden jump at that time.  Tim, who usually has things worked out to the last decimal point, had to go to an ATM to pick up a bit of extra cash to cover the amount of money he wanted to have along.  Had the exchange rate not taken a turn for the worse I'm sure he'd have had enough money on hand.

Per Tim's usual methods of planning we had plenty of spare time at the airport, certainly enough to get lunch for ourselves before regrouping at the gate.  (I was disappointed to find that my favorite place to eat there no longer offered a soup and salad combo meal.)  At the gate I was accosted by somebody's perfume.  There was another woman with perfume (that somehow made me think "old lady") in the plane.  I find it very inconsiderate to wear perfume in tightly enclosed spaces!

Pittsburgh has very few international flights (and at that time may not even have had any at all) so we had to connect through Newark.  Once again Tim's conservative planning provided us a large buffer for our layover, which turned out to be all to the good.  While we were still taxiing we overheard the flight attendant say there was a ground stop in Newark.  It was lifted quickly enough but we lost our place in the queue and wound up delayed a good 45 minutes.  They did serve us drinks while we were waiting, which I appreciated.

The rest of the flight was uneventful.  Perhaps one of the few nice things about landing at Newark is the opportunity to get a view of New York City as we were landing.  I saw Manhattan, Lady Liberty, and the site of Coney Island (though not any of the structures on it).

For a layover, our time at Newark was less unpleasant than I expected.  Perhaps the amusing touch of shuttle driver using a bulb horn as he drove through the concourse put me in a positive mood.  However, it was the food that really won me over.  I started out with a Coke and fries from an A&W stand.  By good fortune, I was able to use exactly the US change I had on hand in buying this, so I didn't have to carry any American coins with me on the trip!

After I'd already ordered our A&W food, Janna spotted a place called Pizza Famiglia that looked good, better than what the bulk of what we can get around here.  I found out later that it was a pretty large chain (I even saw a franchise at a Pennsylvania Turnpike rest stop later!) but I found it to really hit the spot at the time.  We decided to split a piece and were quite happy with what we got.  It being a Friday, the atmosphere of the airport was unexpectedly festive; we could hear revelers in a nearby bar.  All in all my mood was surprisingly lifted for being on an airport layover!

Even after our meal we still had time to wait at the gate.  There was apparently a large Boy Scouts event taking place in England that week; we saw a man in full regalia while waiting and would see several others later.  This wasn't in any way significant to us, but it was just something that made the journey more memorable.  It was at this time that a subtle but symbolic transition took place.  We still had a memory cartridge on our camera with pictures from our previous European trip on it.  While waiting at the gate I erased this cartridge, making room for the new trip!

We boarded the plane on time, but that didn't mean we left on time.  We were delayed even before leaving the gate.  The luggage took a long time to load, which apparently led to us getting out of sequence for takeoff.  Even so, I don't think those two factors could account completely for our leaving 2 full hours behind schedule.

I was somewhat disappointed by our in-seat entertainment units.  There were no on-demand movies.  Instead we could choose from a limited selection, played at specific times rather than when I'd have wanted to watch.  I didn't use my entertainment unit apart from playing a space invaders type game briefly, but soon got bored with that.  Fortunately I had brought several books to read, as I always do.

The meal was served at 10 our time; I'm sure it would have been served at a more appropriate time if not for our late departure.  It was a pretty standard airline meal--beef with a salad, bread, and some salty vegetables--but I'd expect a bit higher quality on an international flight.  Alcoholic drinks used to be complimentary but now must be paid for, so I skipped out on having a wine with my meal.  Beside the missed chance to indulge myself it would have probably helped me sleep somewhat.

As it was I got very little rest.  I was in an aisle seat, so any traffic that went by disturbed me.  I also would have preferred to be able to lean against the plane wall; no matter how far I reclined the seat I could never feel like I was really lying down.  The best I could do was recline the little the seat allowed, kick my shoes off, stretch my legs as far as possible, and try to get what rest I could manage.

Sometime in the morning Janna told me that the pilot had mentioned the aurora being visible out of the left side of the plane.  It seemed that this announcement had been made while I was waiting for the bathroom; I'd heard the pilot speaking but hadn't heard what he said.  I was annoyed I'd missed my chance to see aurora for the first time.

It was about 8 AM local time (5 hours ahead of our native time zone) when we landed at Gatwick, about an hour late--precisely as Tim had predicted.  Even after landing we had to wait for the gate to clear before we could pull in.  However, compared to our flight travails in the past I considered it a pretty smooth trip.

The travel to the UK completed, I mentally rolled over my day count to "Day 1", so I will continue my recounting of the trip in my next post of this series.