Up and at it bright and early Saturday morning for the first leg of the journey… Stanfield to Heathrow for 6hr direct flight! For NS’s it’s a real treat to eliminate a trip into Toronto / Montreal only to backtrack. Only one “newer” piece of travel info for that crossing… the UK 🇬🇧 now requires an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) and there is a £10 fee per person. It involved an app download, passport scanning and obligatory fees (almost $20 🇨🇦). The authorization lasts a couple of years, so maybe we’ll get another “go round” out of the purchase.
So… when planning, we really go the extra-mile to make sure departure goes as expected. Checks and double checks for passports, cards, technology, and that documents are in order. Not a real “shexy” day for sure… straight up travel! The iPhones get “busier” than normal with flight / attraction / accommodation notifications. Security at Stanfield was quiet (at least we thought so during March Break) and we managed an easy wait at the gate! Great group of kids from Bridgewater (Soccer Club Team) doing a week of games in the UK 🇬🇧. We also took the time to do some last minute phone set-up… installing Airalo E-sims to handle the data / roaming concerns while in Europe.
As things go, our flight was delayed a bit at take off (something about cargo hold was announced) so take off was about 40 mins late. Regular turbulence this trip… not alarming, but multiple rocky stints! I’d also like to add that the meal we had was spot on… a chicken dish and yummy little salad. Just enough to keep the wolves at bay. Even better, free in flight texting 💬 kept us informed of the LFC win Saturday and in contact with the gang at home. Otherwise a normal crossing, as I noodled with iPhone and Ms L was into the movies.
We were on the ground at Heathrow settling in to our gate at about 9:00 PM GMT (4 hrs ahead of AST) only about 25 mins late. It was a jaunt to passport control (Heathrow is massive) but after a much needed walk we quickly tumbled through customs and Terminal 2. We sat and had the Airalo up and running (minus the ability to text each other) almost immediately. Then an Uber ($$$) to the Hyatt Place London Heathrow where we stayed on Scene+ Points. Finally, a short planning session to make sure morning logistics to Terminal 5 were in place and off to bed 😴. Nope… nothing too exciting but a huge step closer to our destination!