June 26: Arrival In London

After a wild start to the day, we had a very smooth flight (much shorter than our Euro adventure on the Rhine River this past April), and had a great intro to Royal London England as we boarded our ship the Viking Sea. 

I wish I had a better excuse but I can't really explain why the day started the way it did, but thank goodness for our son Jeff!  We've known all our dates and flights for months.  And two weeks ago I typed up a summary itinerary for our three "kids" and our families in Ohio and Pennsylvania.  CLEARLY I had identified our departure date as June 25 with our first day here on June 26.  And I've worked with the trip and daily weather reports, excursions, etc.  Yet for some reason over the last week or so I had it in my mind we were leaving on June 26th.  I sent out the itinerary info sheets on Saturday and talked to Jeff on Sunday briefly about the trip and mentioned our departure on Tuesday the 26th.  So this morning (Monday the 25th in So Fla) Jeff texted me and said, "So today's the big day?"  And I said no, we leave tomorrow afternoon.  He replied that he had looked at the itinerary I'd sent and thought it said the 25th.  I told him it was either a typo or he was confused.  A little later he sent me the itinerary to show me he wasn't crazy.  Even then I didn't think anything other than I couldn't believe I'd typed it up wrong.  But just to be sure I went to united.com to check our reservations.  OH NO.....I looked at Kim who was on the phone with our daughter and said, "We leave TODAY.....we need to go to the airport in just a couple hours!"  Luckily we were 99% packed and called for our Uber a little before 11 am.  Then as I watched on my phone the guy was completely lost and so I called him TWICE.  Finally got him there a half hour late and by now we were both frazzled.  But the trip to the airport was smooth, boarding smooth.....and we were off!

The first flight to Washington-Dulles was only two hours in the air (unlike when we traveled in April when it was four plus hours to Chicago) and then our layover was only two hours (unlike the four hours in April).  We boarded our jumbo jet and "moved into our apartment" - I'd upgraded our seats to Economy plus and got the "front row" with only two seats in the row.  Made for roomy and comfy trans-atlantic flight.  Before we boarded the captain came out to the boarding area and welcomed us to the flight and told us it was a "Great day to fly" and that we'd be early.  While in the air I watched two movies - "Pitch Perfect 3" and "Game Night."  In the first film a lot of it took place in Nice, France where Kim and I were in 2016 and so many of the places the action took place were the EXACT places we'd been.  Enjoyed that.

We "arrived" in London a little before 6:00 am local time but we had to circle around for nearly twenty minutes before we could land.  We had absolutely no delays and walked right off the plane.  The hike to customs was about a twenty minute walk - got our exercise for the day.  When we reached the custom agents we were fourth in line and were through in about three minutes.  Walked into baggage and as we stepped up to the carousel our luggage came tumbling out!  Walked about twenty yards out the door into the greeting area and RIGHT there were the Viking reps.  They immediately took our bags and told us we were the FIRST to arrive!  :)  WE WIN....we're number 1!  After everyone else came out we boarded the bus for the ninety minute drive from London Heathrow airport to our ship.  Along the way we stopped for a panoramic overlook of the Thames River and the Greenwich skyline (as well as London in the distance).  On the way to the lookout point we walked by the Royal Observatory which was established hundreds of years ago.

Off the bus to a very well-organized boarding check-in tent where we were the second couple to be ushered in.  Minutes later we had our room keys and were out the tent headed to the tender to take us to our ship, the Viking Sea.  We couldn't get into our rooms for a while so we hung out in the lounge for about half an hour and then went up to have lunch.  We dined on the Aquavit Terrace with the cool breeze from the River Thames blowing.  After we finished eating I opened my Viking Oceans app on my phone and booked our specialty dining reservations.  Unlike every other cruise line these specialty restaurants are INCLUDED in the price of the trip, you just have to make reservations once you get on board.  Did it on my phone while overlooking the skyline of Greenwich!

After lunch we went down to the guest services area and they directed us to the shore excursions desk.  You see, you book your excursions online from home but several were "sold out" online.  I had called before booking for a back-up/alternative and I'd been told that if I waited they always kept about 20% openings for on-board bookings.  So before we left I had made a day-by-day booking plan and printed it out.  We sat down with the agent and he booked all of them within ten minutes and printed out tickets.  So we had our specialty dining and all excursions booked and we had not even made it to our room yet.  We toured the spa and looked around the ship and then went to our room just to see if it was ready, about 1 1/2 hours early....IT WAS!  So we moved into Stateroom 3075.....

It was a great first day!  Tomorrow we are in London until after lunch and we have a tour of Greenwich.  Then we set sail for Scotland at 1 pm and will be on the open waters until Friday morning! 

Thanks to THE best travel agent in the world, Nancy Nelson of Dream Vacations for making all the arrangements and for our welcoming gift.  If YOU want to see the world and make YOUR dreams come true you should contact Nancy.