Adubs European "vacation"

[RichZ]

1. Love the use of queue. A word best described as the letter "Q" followed by four useless letters. Very British to say "queue" instead of line.

And queueing is the only word in the english language with 5 consecutive vowels.

4. When, where, how do you think you got the 'rona? Back in US? At airport? While on the plane?

How could you fail to list Arby's as a possibility?

 

[Chin Diesel]

So you may appreciate this. I haven’t had a drink since wedding Sunday, just got back from Tesco an hour ago ( UK Walmart/target ) and figured it was time for MY medicine! 17 pounds ( about 19 bucks). I don’t think it is great but the price was right after the money we’ve burned through this week and it’s going down nice! Getting ready for part 2 of this mess!

View attachment 77692

Love the cloth face mask hanging off the clothes line.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And queueing is the only word in the english language with 5 consecutive vowels.

How could you fail to list Arby's as a possibility?

I left the entire US as a possibility.

 

[RichZ]

And I thought our Tampa sojourn last month was fraught with problems. We are but amateurs in the game of travel #$%! ups.
We went there for a birthday party at "the Don", which is a place I would never go to on my own. Party cost 40 grand to put on. There were 56 guests, and I believe only 4 of us did not come down with Covid within 10 days following the event.
Get well, and get home before the season starts.

 

[August_West]

Stanley Tucci has "Searching for Italy"

August has "Searching for Tylenol, Codeine and Cheap Booze in Scotland"

You’re only allowed to buy one box a day, ( 32 pills) and I’ve had to skip last few days but I was stocking up, Boots ( the ubiquitous pharmacy) is my jam. Selling them here is at pharmacists discretion. So they interview my symptoms, I lift up my pants leg and show them my left knee, and then they throw the box at me and say “ you should see a Dr.” Lol

 

[HuskyHawk]

You’re only allowed to buy one box a day, ( 32 pills) and I’ve had to skip last few days but I was stocking up, Boots ( the ubiquitous pharmacy) is my jam. Selling them here is at pharmacists discretion. So they interview my symptoms, I lift up my pants leg and show them my left knee, and then they throw the box at me and say “ you should see a Dr.” Lol

You don't even need the mobility scooter this time.

 

[Fishy]

Heading to Europe in October.

Generally would fly BA, but our TA said that the absolute most reliable way to get to Europe these days is to take one of the cheaper carriers and connect via Iceland.

 

[August_West]

OK We are going to finish this part 1 leg now. Just keep in mind we aren't at our first destination even yet in this story (Edinburgh), that will be part 2. And man oh man there is a ton to unpack including the wedding.


so after learning our bags were gone** we head out to Taxi stand , FREEDOM! Things are now in our control! Overall I love the UK and think they get a ton of things more right than the US. I'm here to tell you a Taxi stand at a major airport is NOT one of them.

Its after midnight on a weekday at Heathrow, shouldn't be THAT crazy but ok its an international hub, sure, but the cancellations have sent the curb at that hour into another frenzy. I see that they have a taxi queue. Great. There is some order to this madness, we get into the queue, maybe 75 people long. In NYC that queue is empty in 4 minutes. In Heathrow it took 75? Why?!!!! I quickly learned why. They have a "checker" seating people in the cabs. They only have one checker. And he must set the people in the cab, get their destination address, and then with a handheld scanner like my shipping department uses at work, he has to scan the barcode of the taxi drivers ID. Meanwhile there are literally 40 taxis lined up behind waiting to pickup fares. The process was so asinine it literally hurt my head after all I had been through that day. And people started yelling and guess what? The more they yelled the slower the checker would go intentionally as response. Incredible.

So while we are in line we are searching for last minute hotels. Its close to 1AM my GF STILL hasn't eaten, and we know that we need to get out of London in just a few hours and find a train to Edinburgh. So we didn't want to spend much money on a 6 hour hotel. So we booked the Ramada in Hounslow supposedly just a few miles from Heathrow. And it probably was, but it took 35 minutes and cost 6o pounds.

We got there, and I will start part 2 with that.


** you've seen me asterisk mention of my bags a couple times. Obviously we still don't have them. We gave them 3 forwarding addresses, the hotel in Edinburgh (never got there), the Air bnb in Alva (never got here) and my GF house in Dunoon (where we are going tomorrow for remainder of trip) . We have called them every other day since when we have worked up the gumption to try and find out the status. Last time was this morning they give us the same answer they have every other time we've called them in the last week + " we are sorry but we haven't located them yet, do we have your address on file?" The funny (or sad thing) is that in preparation for this we put apple air tags (if you don't know what these are find out and get them if you're a traveler!) in all of our bags and we tell them " the bleeping bag is in the same bleeping place it was on the same bleeping night you bleeped us, its in a warehouse off of heathrow, you want the bleepin' GPS location?" I don't think it will ever get us our bag back but I'm starting to enjoy my every other day BA baggage swear routine. Because they are dumbfounded when I finally break it to them.

 

[August_West]

Love the cloth face mask hanging off the clothes line.

We’ve done a lot of laundry here the last couple days laid up, and without half of OUR BLEEPING CLOTHES!

 

[8893]

Just keep in mind we aren't at our first destination even yet in this story (Edinburgh)

Just keep in mind that it has taken us (your readers) longer to get out of London than it took you.

 

[NJHusky]

Heading to Europe in October.

Generally would fly BA, but our TA said that the absolute most reliable way to get to Europe these days is to take one of the cheaper carriers and connect via Iceland.

Good opportunity to spend a few days there? Never been but I’ve heard good things

 

[August_West]

Heading to Europe in October.

Generally would fly BA, but our TA said that the absolute most reliable way to get to Europe these days is to take one of the cheaper carriers and connect via Iceland.

Your TA understands

 

[8893]

You know how long it takes to type this out while conveying details? Try it.

Try speaking it into your phone with voice commands and then editing.

 

[August_West]

Just keep in mind that it has taken us (your readers) longer to get out of London than it took you.

This is a live blahg not a finished novel. I can’t just copy and paste the whole trip ( so far) here. I’m writing step by step

 

[Fishy]

You’re TA understands

Plan is to fly PLAY out of Newburgh.

If the flight is cancelled, I drive a half hour home. If my connection is cancelled, I spend time in Iceland and come home.

 

[August_West]

Good opportunity to spend a few days there? Never been but I’ve heard good things

Oh it’s awesome here. It’s getting here that sucks ( and Instagram destination weddings suck too)

 

[8893]

This is a live blahg not a finished novel. I can’t just copy and paste the whole trip ( so far) here. I’m writing step by step

I know. Try speaking it like you are telling it orally. Except say "comma," "period," etc. for punctuation.

 

[storrsroars]

Try speaking it into your phone with voice commands and then editing.

Not that it matters to ADub or this thread, but you've got me wondering if voice-to-text has a Glaswegian setting.

 

[8893]

Oh, and I need one or two decent pavilion seats for Phish in Hartford on Sunday for face value. Can any of your w00ks back home hook me?

 

[August_West]

Not that it matters to ADub or this thread, but you've got me wondering if voice-to-text has a Glaswegian setting.

So my GF dad is that and then went to university in Glasgow, I love listening to him. Also Glaswegians use a “C” word that is taboo in America, but thrown out every other word in a pub here in a non offensive matter. Hard to get used to, i wince and duck every time.

 

[businesslawyer]

Plan is to fly PLAY out of Newburgh.

If the flight is cancelled, I drive a half hour home. If my connection is cancelled, I spend time in Iceland and come home.

I must say, while pre-pandemic I have totally avoided budget airlines, I'm curious about Europe from Stewart and now being able to fly to Vegas, LA and SF non-stop from White Plains. Not even about saving money, as much as just being able to avoid having to go in and out of a large airport on one end. (Not to mention how many hours before a flight I now would have to leave Fairfield to be comfortable that I won't be scrambling to make my flight at Kennedy.

 

[businesslawyer]

OK We are going to finish this part 1 leg now. Just keep in mind we aren't at our first destination even yet in this story (Edinburgh), that will be part 2. And man oh man there is a ton to unpack including the wedding.


so after learning our bags were gone** we head out to Taxi stand , FREEDOM! Things are now in our control! Overall I love the UK and think they get a ton of things more right than the US. I'm here to tell you a Taxi stand at a major airport is NOT one of them.

Its after midnight on a weekday at Heathrow, shouldn't be THAT crazy but ok its an international hub, sure, but the cancellations have sent the curb at that hour into another frenzy. I see that they have a taxi queue. Great. There is some order to this madness, we get into the queue, maybe 75 people long. In NYC that queue is empty in 4 minutes. In Heathrow it took 75? Why?!!!! I quickly learned why. They have a "checker" seating people in the cabs. They only have one checker. And he must set the people in the cab, get their destination address, and then with a handheld scanner like my shipping department uses at work, he has to scan the barcode of the taxi drivers ID. Meanwhile there are literally 40 taxis lined up behind waiting to pickup fares. The process was so asinine it literally hurt my head after all I had been through that day. And people started yelling and guess what? The more they yelled the slower the checker would go intentionally as response. Incredible.

So while we are in line we are searching for last minute hotels. Its close to 1AM my GF STILL hasn't eaten, and we know that we need to get out of London in just a few hours and find a train to Edinburgh. So we didn't want to spend much money on a 6 hour hotel. So we booked the Ramada in Hounslow supposedly just a few miles from Heathrow. And it probably was, but it took 35 minutes and cost 6o pounds.

We got there, and I will start part 2 with that.


** you've seen me asterisk mention of my bags a couple times. Obviously we still don't have them. We gave them 3 forwarding addresses, the hotel in Edinburgh (never got there), the Air bnb in Alva (never got here) and my GF house in Dunoon (where we are going tomorrow for remainder of trip) . We have called them every other day since when we have worked up the gumption to try and find out the status. Last time was this morning they give us the same answer they have every other time we've called them in the last week + " we are sorry but we haven't located them yet, do we have your address on file?" The funny (or sad thing) is that in preparation for this we put apple air tags (if you don't know what these are find out and get them if you're a traveler!) in all of our bags and we tell them " the bleeping bag is in the same bleeping place it was on the same bleeping night you bleeped us, its in a warehouse off of heathrow, you want the bleepin' GPS location?" I don't think it will ever get us our bag back but I'm starting to enjoy my every other day BA baggage swear routine. Because they are dumbfounded when I finally break it to them.

Hire an off duty cop as private security when you're back at Heathrow and just use your GPS and walk to the bags. Seriously. If you have an off duty cop or an off duty airport security worker no one is going to arrest you -- they're just going to let the guy walk you to your bags as a professional courtesy.

 

[8893]

Hire an off duty cop as private security when you're back at Heathrow and just use your GPS and walk to the bags. Seriously. If you have an off duty cop or an off duty airport security worker no one is going to arrest you -- they're just going to let the guy walk you to your bags as a professional courtesy.

They will arrest him when they see what he does after discovering that the only thing there is his Apple air tag.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I know. Try speaking it like you are telling it orally. Except say "comma," "period," etc. for punctuation.

Only a lawyer of a certain age would suggest this. I hated doing that back when I was in private practice. It was faster for me to type.

 

[8893]

Only a lawyer of a certain age would suggest this. I hated doing that back when I was in private practice. It was faster for me to type.

I didn't like it and didn't do it much, but learning how to do it has definitely helped me with voice-to-text.