On the road

Well, here we are, once more, in the USA.

Planning has paid off! We left early enough, and survived an hour-long traffic jam on the M25. Why was the traffic stopped? Because the traffic was holding it up! No obstructions, no accidents, just slowing down because the traffic in front was slowing down. Makes no sense to me.

Gatwick was Gatwick. Walk huge distances to get to the Assistance desk. Walk huge distances to get to the toilet. Fight to get past people who were trying to get on the little trolleys, specifically there for disabled people. Just the usual.

Special mention for Wetherspoons. Almost impossible to get a table. Utterly impossible to get a meal. You can stand at the bar, trying to make eye-contact, wave menu, flash a debit card. Nothing. You can even ask, in a loud, clear voice “Am I f***ing invisible?”. No chance of getting served, as the staff chat to the visible customers. Thow menu on bar in disgust – nobody noticed , collect wife, and take another long, long walk to the other end of the terminal. Go to Wondertree. Food fine, service excellent.

Norwegian Airlines. Fare price good. Service fine. Seats cramped (787 Dreamliner). The meal was OK, the portions were tiny. The flight was an hour late (presumably, they arrived via the M25) – no explanation. Flight OK. Watched Avatar again. Landed in Boston. And waited, yet again, because a JAL plane was blocking the terminal slot. ( Perhaps if we had arrived on time … ?)

When we arrived in Boston on previous occasion, the experience had been dreadful. No wheelchair for the wife ( she was waiting to have her knee joints replaced) and we had to fend off a representative of the Boston Wheelchair Pushers Local (union), who used an old lady in a wheelchair as a battering ram, and who cackled in glee, because she had a key to the lift, and we did not. The wife had to walk down the stairs, while I carried a wheelchair and two cases.

This time, what a difference! We had a very helpful lady ( from the same local!), who was delightfully helpful, offered to carry cases, got us by all the queues, and immigration, and took us down in the lift to the baggage hall. If you ever have a moan about how long a lift takes to arrive, just think of us. We had to wait over ten years before that lift arrived!

This will do for the moment. I’ll get on to the car rental, and the drive to our destination, in the next episode. Will it be less of a shambles than the previous trip? Wait and see!