MIKE’S TRIP TO LONDON, MARCH 2008
Friday 28 March: Denver to London Got to DIA at 12:35 pm for my 3:35 pm flight to Wash and immediately asked for wait list for the 2:30 pm flight although there was a 2 hour layover and everything was showing on time. Good thing I was so defensive as the 3:35 pm flight got delayed indefinitely after I was up in the Red Carpet Club. It turned out that I was the only standby to actually get on to the earlier flight. I was 3rd on the standby list but the other two didn’t show up. The original connection didn’t arrive in Wash until my London flight was on the runway to take off. (I heard it on the air traffic control.) Rerouting through Chicago was not possible since many of the flights to and from ORD were cancelled due to a drizzle or something else deemed troublesome by United Airlines. I guess I got lulled in by the good flights to Sydney and back from Hong Kong. I suppose I would have been put up in DC and delayed a day since United wasn’t offering anything other than the waitlist I was already on. I wouldn't be surprised if any others connecting to London are still in Washington. I was seriously considering asking for my money back and pleading with United Vacations for my pre-paid hotel had I not gotten on the eariler connection, but I guess I didn’t have to go to that plan after all.
Arrived about 30 minutes ago at my hotel. It’s 11:30 am and about to shower, shave, and then go and buy theatre tickets for a couple of nights if I can. It’s raining on and off and about 45 to 50 degrees. Could be worse. I’m glad to be here but will be gladder tomorrow after I sleep. Cinema note: Juno is ok, Dan (or someone) in real life, isn’t. I didn’t like any of the characters in the latter movie except the cop.
I think in the "old days" flights were generally on time, and I do remember you got fed. Oh well. It wasn't so long ago that they had free wine with dinner even in economy on international flights. They didn't even come by with water on the flight this morning. It seems on United that all the flight attendants must leave the plane for a few hours or are probably hiding in their tent in front of row 21.
It's 4:30 pm now. Just got back from a nice long walk IN SUNSHINE (after the rain stopped, temporarily I’m sure) throughout the West End, Covent Gardens, across the Waterloo Bridge and along the Themes to the Tate Modern*, back across the river and along it back to the West End. I'm walked out for the day--well until dinner time. It's windy but beautiful. Almost went to take that gigantic Ferris wheel and then remembered my gondola ride in Hong Kong. Probably will go to the symphony tomorrow for Mahler's 4th and for last minute 10 pound senior ticket for The Importance of Being Earnest on Tuesday. The Arthur Miller play was sold out and expensive. Major Barbara is at the National Theatre. Maybe I'll try to do that instead of the symphony which is next door (near the enormous Ferris wheel).
I think I'll use my free beer ticket now and plan tomorrow. I think I'll try to go to Coventry or Durham, both supposedly very nice towns. My dinner with Jim, my cruise travel guy, is Monday evening. Wish I could stay awake tonight at least till 9. Hope all is well there. Send an e-mail and say hi. The free connection in the room in my hotel is T-1 speeds both way. I’ll probably have the computer on whenever I’m not outside.
*The Tate Modern is my favorite contemporary art museum unless you count MOMA in NYC. It’s built in an old power house. They always have a most interesting exhibit in the “Turbine Room” (which is 5 stories high) and there’s an (artificial) 50 Hz hum in the room. (Artificial hums in the US are 60 Hz.) Last time they had children’s slides from all the levels intertwined; the time before was a huge 2 block long mirror on the ceiling. Watching the kids on the floor was a hoot. Today they had a crack—yes a crack—of from an inch to 6 inches at least 5 feet deep running in a serpentine pattern the length of the museum. Many visitors were photographing the crack. Maybe THAT was the exhibit.
Saturday 29 March: To the Scottish border and back. Just came back from a rail trip up and back to the border with Scotland. After my free included breakfast at the hotel in Earl’s Court I got the 8:10 am 125 mph+ train to Leeds and caught the very scenic slow line to Carlisle. It crosses a very isolated mountain range in the north of England. The stations are in the middle of nowhere providing access to hikers. There were hundreds of them though, walking in the rain with funny hats and walking sticks. They were all dressed like Eskimos, but in a British sort of way. The train was a funky two-car self propelled diesel full of old ladies who evidently live in very small villages and wear a lot of perfume or not enough from what I could tell. I thought I’d be able to get back in time for the symphony, but the west coast line was closed and I had to take a pretty neat train across to the east coast line to Newcastle and then the fast train back to London. This added about an hour, so there went Mahler’s 4th. No problem as daylight time starts tonight in all of Europe; so it’s later than I think.
Tomorrow is Sunday when all the trains have curtailed and/or disrupted schedules due to “engineering works”. I will decide which of Coventry (without Lady Godiva, alas), Gloucester, or Bristol has the best schedule. These are all locations in my guidebook of day trips from London that I haven’t gotten to yet. I have dinner with my cruise travel agent (from Seattle) on Monday—so I’ll have to make sure I don’t come back too late. I think I’ll try for Liverpool or Blackpool on Tuesday, but I may try to make The Importance of Being Earnest or Major Barbara that evening. The former has a “10 pounds for last minute seniors”. I guess that means I can’t be early or too young. Other jokes upon request.
About to advance my alarm clock and watch to summer time (for the 2nd time in a few weeks) and go to sleep before the drunks in the street get too loud. Fortunately my room is on the very quiet courtyard side. I like this hotel and neighbor(u)rhood.
Sunday 30 March: Bristol and Gloucester Just got back from today’s walking/train riding excursion. Sunny today—all day—even though the forecast was for all day rain. I don’t think I remember ever having nice weather for the entire day during one of my train/walking trips here before. I liked Bristol a lot. It a very nice small city with beautiful harbor(u)r front, pretty and hilly residential areas, and deep gorges and rolling hills right out of town. Most of all there were lots of people out of all ages. Attraction for me was the fantastic Brunel designed railway station (and his Great Western Railway from London, of course) and the 150 year old suspension bridge that spans the gorge, 250 feet up. When Brunel was my age he was dead for 10 years (to paraphrase Tom Lehrer). Gloucester had nice Roman designed layout and ancient waterfront but was dead today except for hordes of young people shopping in huge shopping centers. Only really neat thing was the spectacular cathedral where a very old group of very old ex-solders were having a service. I didn’t stay for the parade. I figured the age of the participants would mean that there would be little lively stepping.
Planning on visiting Coventry tomorrow and thinking of Liverpool. Exchanged e-mails with Ray Solair, a long time friend who was the senior Cruise Director for Silversea Cruises, just before I left Boulder. He invited me to come up to the Lake Country and even stay at his mansion, but the days he was available didn’t work out. I couldn’t just see him for lunch since the West Coast train line is not running and couldn’t do the trip with the replacement buses in one day.
Gotta run. Dinner time. Will go to Chinatown. It's a lot quieter in the West End since the theatres are dark on Sundays. Too crowded with drunk kids on Fridays and Saturdays.
Monday 31 March: Coventry and Rochester Last night was pretty good. I guess it would have been better if the hotel wide fire alarm hadn’t gone off as I getting ready to go to bed. I had a little trouble trying not to think it was going to do it again at random times. It was clearly a false alarm since it only lasted 30 seconds—a long 30 seconds to be sure.
Back resting up before showering and getting dressed for dinner. Visited two new places today. Coventry was bombed to smithereens during WWII. The 50’s era event center is showing an original play. I didn’t get its name. The subtitle is, “Was Coventry sacrificed to win the war?”. The town is mostly enclosed walkways around the downtown full of shopping centers with stores like, “Peeping Tom”, surrounding a center square with a statue of Lady Godiva, but the new cathedral is a knockout. It was built in 1962 to (finally) replace the old 14th Century one that was mostly destroyed in the war. All that remains is a beautifully original tower and the old walls. The alter—now in fresh air—has a mid 20th Century mosaic saying “Father Forgive”. One authentic medieval street remains as well but it looked kind of, uh, old. I looked at the boat basin (the town is on a long boat canal that I watched for 50 miles on the train) and then went back to the station.
I expected Rochester, about 50 miles from London, to be either a boring far London suburb or very touristy since Charles Dickens lived near there most of his life. (Maybe kind of a literary Stratford upon Themes.) The town seemed did seem to be infested with numerous groups of French high school kids on tours with very exasperated teachers. (They were screaming and no one was laughing. The kids looked upset.) However Rochester was a beautiful town along an estuary of the lower Themes surrounded by lovely Kentish rolling hills. A beautiful and well preserved Normal castle looks down on the water on a site where a Roman fort stood. A 11th Century cathedral was quite lovely—as those things go—with a nifty “elevated choir” holding a lot, really a lot, of organ pipes. Lectures to bored French high school students were progressing throughout the nave or is it the transepts? There were two of those, apparently, since the brochure speaks of a “double transept.”
Time to lie down for a while and read my book. Then to shower and use the new English deodorant I bought at a "99 pence" store in one of the numerous shopping centers in Coventry. Tomorrow Liverpool and/or Blackpool. Weather today was “fine” which means that it was 50ish, cloudy, but not raining. I’m getting the hang of the weather forecasts. All forecasts mean rain or clouds. Sun is mentioned on special occasions, like holidays.
Other observations: old lady on scenic train on Saturday through the north wilderness who came over to tell me about the mountain ranges and the businessman on the 140 mph pendalino train train who talked continuously on cell phone all the way to Leeds (200 miles) about his meeting in London the night before. Now I know too much about the business of English football (Rugby) leagues or at least about this big shot. He must have called at least 20 people and gave each a slightly different account of his meetings. And this was on Saturday about Friday evening’s meeting. Yesterday’s train guard (conductor to us) on the mainline train from Newcastle to London decided to get into a discussion with me about international economics and the mortgage industry. He knew a lot and had some very good insights, but he started each statement with, “I’m only a train guard; so what do I know, but….”. This morning I got into a conversation with a 40ish businessman waiting with me for the Paddington station master to post the Bristol train’s platform on the display board. We discussed how people concentrate on these boards with much more attention than watching a movie or TV, except for sports (for some). He told me that he lives in Bristol and that there is “nothing for tourists there.” I found Bristol to be one of my favorite towns to recommend to visitors, almost up there with Bath, and about on a par with Canterbury, Brighton, or Dover. So what does he know. Trip back from Gloucester was crowded in the two 1st class cars. Mine was the “quiet car” which means absolutely no cell phones. So one young lady kept going into the vestibule to scream on her “mobile” and the other 20-something young man across from me made lots of cell calls but spoke in a very soft whisper. Everyone here (at least those under 60) are talking or texting on their cell phones continuously, all day. Everyone who completes a voice calls immediately stops walking dead in their tracks and has to fiddle with the keys and read something on the display. Maybe it’s a degree of merit and a score for the conversation. (I gave most calls I heard—that is all calls within 20 feet—no more than a 4 or 5 at best.)
Tuesday 1 April: Liverpool and Blackpool Failed to mention that my train a couple of days ago almost went through the town of Giggleswick. I almost burst out laughing as I started to think about what the people were like there. The serious business guy talking on his cell phone (in the quiet car, by the way) looked at me kind of weird. I guess he isn't used to tourists, uh, giggling. Especially near Giggleswick.
Friday 28 March: Denver to London Got to DIA at 12:35 pm for my 3:35 pm flight to Wash and immediately asked for wait list for the 2:30 pm flight although there was a 2 hour layover and everything was showing on time. Good thing I was so defensive as the 3:35 pm flight got delayed indefinitely after I was up in the Red Carpet Club. It turned out that I was the only standby to actually get on to the earlier flight. I was 3rd on the standby list but the other two didn’t show up. The original connection didn’t arrive in Wash until my London flight was on the runway to take off. (I heard it on the air traffic control.) Rerouting through Chicago was not possible since many of the flights to and from ORD were cancelled due to a drizzle or something else deemed troublesome by United Airlines. I guess I got lulled in by the good flights to Sydney and back from Hong Kong. I suppose I would have been put up in DC and delayed a day since United wasn’t offering anything other than the waitlist I was already on. I wouldn't be surprised if any others connecting to London are still in Washington. I was seriously considering asking for my money back and pleading with United Vacations for my pre-paid hotel had I not gotten on the eariler connection, but I guess I didn’t have to go to that plan after all.
Arrived about 30 minutes ago at my hotel. It’s 11:30 am and about to shower, shave, and then go and buy theatre tickets for a couple of nights if I can. It’s raining on and off and about 45 to 50 degrees. Could be worse. I’m glad to be here but will be gladder tomorrow after I sleep. Cinema note: Juno is ok, Dan (or someone) in real life, isn’t. I didn’t like any of the characters in the latter movie except the cop.
I think in the "old days" flights were generally on time, and I do remember you got fed. Oh well. It wasn't so long ago that they had free wine with dinner even in economy on international flights. They didn't even come by with water on the flight this morning. It seems on United that all the flight attendants must leave the plane for a few hours or are probably hiding in their tent in front of row 21.
It's 4:30 pm now. Just got back from a nice long walk IN SUNSHINE (after the rain stopped, temporarily I’m sure) throughout the West End, Covent Gardens, across the Waterloo Bridge and along the Themes to the Tate Modern*, back across the river and along it back to the West End. I'm walked out for the day--well until dinner time. It's windy but beautiful. Almost went to take that gigantic Ferris wheel and then remembered my gondola ride in Hong Kong. Probably will go to the symphony tomorrow for Mahler's 4th and for last minute 10 pound senior ticket for The Importance of Being Earnest on Tuesday. The Arthur Miller play was sold out and expensive. Major Barbara is at the National Theatre. Maybe I'll try to do that instead of the symphony which is next door (near the enormous Ferris wheel).
I think I'll use my free beer ticket now and plan tomorrow. I think I'll try to go to Coventry or Durham, both supposedly very nice towns. My dinner with Jim, my cruise travel guy, is Monday evening. Wish I could stay awake tonight at least till 9. Hope all is well there. Send an e-mail and say hi. The free connection in the room in my hotel is T-1 speeds both way. I’ll probably have the computer on whenever I’m not outside.
*The Tate Modern is my favorite contemporary art museum unless you count MOMA in NYC. It’s built in an old power house. They always have a most interesting exhibit in the “Turbine Room” (which is 5 stories high) and there’s an (artificial) 50 Hz hum in the room. (Artificial hums in the US are 60 Hz.) Last time they had children’s slides from all the levels intertwined; the time before was a huge 2 block long mirror on the ceiling. Watching the kids on the floor was a hoot. Today they had a crack—yes a crack—of from an inch to 6 inches at least 5 feet deep running in a serpentine pattern the length of the museum. Many visitors were photographing the crack. Maybe THAT was the exhibit.
Saturday 29 March: To the Scottish border and back. Just came back from a rail trip up and back to the border with Scotland. After my free included breakfast at the hotel in Earl’s Court I got the 8:10 am 125 mph+ train to Leeds and caught the very scenic slow line to Carlisle. It crosses a very isolated mountain range in the north of England. The stations are in the middle of nowhere providing access to hikers. There were hundreds of them though, walking in the rain with funny hats and walking sticks. They were all dressed like Eskimos, but in a British sort of way. The train was a funky two-car self propelled diesel full of old ladies who evidently live in very small villages and wear a lot of perfume or not enough from what I could tell. I thought I’d be able to get back in time for the symphony, but the west coast line was closed and I had to take a pretty neat train across to the east coast line to Newcastle and then the fast train back to London. This added about an hour, so there went Mahler’s 4th. No problem as daylight time starts tonight in all of Europe; so it’s later than I think.
Tomorrow is Sunday when all the trains have curtailed and/or disrupted schedules due to “engineering works”. I will decide which of Coventry (without Lady Godiva, alas), Gloucester, or Bristol has the best schedule. These are all locations in my guidebook of day trips from London that I haven’t gotten to yet. I have dinner with my cruise travel agent (from Seattle) on Monday—so I’ll have to make sure I don’t come back too late. I think I’ll try for Liverpool or Blackpool on Tuesday, but I may try to make The Importance of Being Earnest or Major Barbara that evening. The former has a “10 pounds for last minute seniors”. I guess that means I can’t be early or too young. Other jokes upon request.
About to advance my alarm clock and watch to summer time (for the 2nd time in a few weeks) and go to sleep before the drunks in the street get too loud. Fortunately my room is on the very quiet courtyard side. I like this hotel and neighbor(u)rhood.
Sunday 30 March: Bristol and Gloucester Just got back from today’s walking/train riding excursion. Sunny today—all day—even though the forecast was for all day rain. I don’t think I remember ever having nice weather for the entire day during one of my train/walking trips here before. I liked Bristol a lot. It a very nice small city with beautiful harbor(u)r front, pretty and hilly residential areas, and deep gorges and rolling hills right out of town. Most of all there were lots of people out of all ages. Attraction for me was the fantastic Brunel designed railway station (and his Great Western Railway from London, of course) and the 150 year old suspension bridge that spans the gorge, 250 feet up. When Brunel was my age he was dead for 10 years (to paraphrase Tom Lehrer). Gloucester had nice Roman designed layout and ancient waterfront but was dead today except for hordes of young people shopping in huge shopping centers. Only really neat thing was the spectacular cathedral where a very old group of very old ex-solders were having a service. I didn’t stay for the parade. I figured the age of the participants would mean that there would be little lively stepping.
Planning on visiting Coventry tomorrow and thinking of Liverpool. Exchanged e-mails with Ray Solair, a long time friend who was the senior Cruise Director for Silversea Cruises, just before I left Boulder. He invited me to come up to the Lake Country and even stay at his mansion, but the days he was available didn’t work out. I couldn’t just see him for lunch since the West Coast train line is not running and couldn’t do the trip with the replacement buses in one day.
Gotta run. Dinner time. Will go to Chinatown. It's a lot quieter in the West End since the theatres are dark on Sundays. Too crowded with drunk kids on Fridays and Saturdays.
Monday 31 March: Coventry and Rochester Last night was pretty good. I guess it would have been better if the hotel wide fire alarm hadn’t gone off as I getting ready to go to bed. I had a little trouble trying not to think it was going to do it again at random times. It was clearly a false alarm since it only lasted 30 seconds—a long 30 seconds to be sure.
Back resting up before showering and getting dressed for dinner. Visited two new places today. Coventry was bombed to smithereens during WWII. The 50’s era event center is showing an original play. I didn’t get its name. The subtitle is, “Was Coventry sacrificed to win the war?”. The town is mostly enclosed walkways around the downtown full of shopping centers with stores like, “Peeping Tom”, surrounding a center square with a statue of Lady Godiva, but the new cathedral is a knockout. It was built in 1962 to (finally) replace the old 14th Century one that was mostly destroyed in the war. All that remains is a beautifully original tower and the old walls. The alter—now in fresh air—has a mid 20th Century mosaic saying “Father Forgive”. One authentic medieval street remains as well but it looked kind of, uh, old. I looked at the boat basin (the town is on a long boat canal that I watched for 50 miles on the train) and then went back to the station.
I expected Rochester, about 50 miles from London, to be either a boring far London suburb or very touristy since Charles Dickens lived near there most of his life. (Maybe kind of a literary Stratford upon Themes.) The town seemed did seem to be infested with numerous groups of French high school kids on tours with very exasperated teachers. (They were screaming and no one was laughing. The kids looked upset.) However Rochester was a beautiful town along an estuary of the lower Themes surrounded by lovely Kentish rolling hills. A beautiful and well preserved Normal castle looks down on the water on a site where a Roman fort stood. A 11th Century cathedral was quite lovely—as those things go—with a nifty “elevated choir” holding a lot, really a lot, of organ pipes. Lectures to bored French high school students were progressing throughout the nave or is it the transepts? There were two of those, apparently, since the brochure speaks of a “double transept.”
Time to lie down for a while and read my book. Then to shower and use the new English deodorant I bought at a "99 pence" store in one of the numerous shopping centers in Coventry. Tomorrow Liverpool and/or Blackpool. Weather today was “fine” which means that it was 50ish, cloudy, but not raining. I’m getting the hang of the weather forecasts. All forecasts mean rain or clouds. Sun is mentioned on special occasions, like holidays.
Other observations: old lady on scenic train on Saturday through the north wilderness who came over to tell me about the mountain ranges and the businessman on the 140 mph pendalino train train who talked continuously on cell phone all the way to Leeds (200 miles) about his meeting in London the night before. Now I know too much about the business of English football (Rugby) leagues or at least about this big shot. He must have called at least 20 people and gave each a slightly different account of his meetings. And this was on Saturday about Friday evening’s meeting. Yesterday’s train guard (conductor to us) on the mainline train from Newcastle to London decided to get into a discussion with me about international economics and the mortgage industry. He knew a lot and had some very good insights, but he started each statement with, “I’m only a train guard; so what do I know, but….”. This morning I got into a conversation with a 40ish businessman waiting with me for the Paddington station master to post the Bristol train’s platform on the display board. We discussed how people concentrate on these boards with much more attention than watching a movie or TV, except for sports (for some). He told me that he lives in Bristol and that there is “nothing for tourists there.” I found Bristol to be one of my favorite towns to recommend to visitors, almost up there with Bath, and about on a par with Canterbury, Brighton, or Dover. So what does he know. Trip back from Gloucester was crowded in the two 1st class cars. Mine was the “quiet car” which means absolutely no cell phones. So one young lady kept going into the vestibule to scream on her “mobile” and the other 20-something young man across from me made lots of cell calls but spoke in a very soft whisper. Everyone here (at least those under 60) are talking or texting on their cell phones continuously, all day. Everyone who completes a voice calls immediately stops walking dead in their tracks and has to fiddle with the keys and read something on the display. Maybe it’s a degree of merit and a score for the conversation. (I gave most calls I heard—that is all calls within 20 feet—no more than a 4 or 5 at best.)
Tuesday 1 April: Liverpool and Blackpool Failed to mention that my train a couple of days ago almost went through the town of Giggleswick. I almost burst out laughing as I started to think about what the people were like there. The serious business guy talking on his cell phone (in the quiet car, by the way) looked at me kind of weird. I guess he isn't used to tourists, uh, giggling. Especially near Giggleswick.
I had a wonderful dinner with Jim, my cruise travel agent, and his recent college grad son at Wilton’s near Buckingham Palace last night. They live near Seattle but are on their way to India. We met at 7 pm (in an otherwise empty restaurant as 7 is kind of early). We had champagne, then a nice Alsace white with my crab salad, Dover Sole prepared in olive oil and sautéed spinach with a dry red wine, and then coffee. We closed the place at midnight, and I got one of the last Piccadilly Line Underground trains back to the hotel. The long meal was due to our having a very nice conversations covering cruises, travel, economics, politics, and other topics. The ones after the 3rd wine I can't remember. All in all a very nice evening and quite different from my dinners at tourist Chinese places. I'm about to have breakfast and head for Euston Station for Liverpool. I'll try to get to "The Importance of Being Earnest" tonight if I don't wilt from lack of sleep from the late night last night. More later. I'll worry about what's next with me when I get home. Meanwhile I'm nicely distracted.
Just got back from Liverpool (nicer than I expected) and Blackpool (also nicer than I expected). The former is a much more cultural city than I expected: lots of museums and theatres and what will be a beautiful waterfront when they finish a tremendous amount of construction. Blackpool is a very large beach resort area, bigger than Brighton, and the home of a number of performers I’ve met on the cruises. It was sunny (between some clouds and a little rain) but lots of wind. It seemed to me—a definite foreigner in many ways there—to be a combination of Los Vegas and “Are you Being Served?”. I actually loved it and would have stayed longer, but the wind was extreme and made it kind of unpleasant to wonder about. But I’ll plan to spend go back to Liverpool especially, maybe on a trip where I can take the ferry to The Isle of Man. I was most impressed from what I expected with both places. (There's a 1/2 size Eiffel Tower in Blackpool for some reason.) About to go out on the town here in London (that means a rice bowl in Chinatown) and then come back to my hotel in Earl’s Court and think of packing. It’s too late for the theatre. I fly back to Colorado on the new non-stop from Heathrow tomorrow (United Airlines willing).
Wednesday 2 April: United wasn’t willing United has cancelled ALL their 777 aircraft flights today and for an indefinite period (while they inspect fire extinguishers that they didn't do until they got nailed by the FAA). So much for my wonderful seat on my new non-stop to Denver. So first this morning I was on the phone for a long while to get booked on another flight that got cancelled when I got to the airport, then on various queues at Heathrow for about 6 hours total. I’m back at the K & K George Hotel in Earl’s Court for another night with the following BOEING 777 aircraft booking on British Airways for tomorrow, 3 April:
BA 0219 LHR – DEN 3:45 pm – 6:25 pm
I even went to Terminal 4 (thank heavens not Terminal 5) and got British Air to print out the itinerary to ensure that I really was booked. Now back at the hotel I called again to get my BA booking reference number so I could get a seat assignment later today and request my lactose free meal. But it is a 777! Maybe I should have stayed home. Maybe United should have done the required inspections. Maybe I am a fool for liking to travel. Maybe I'll go to Greenwich now and straddle the prime meridian until this all blows over, and maybe I'll go to The Importance of Being Earnest tonight after blowing it off yesterday. For all it's worth, I used a lot of tricks of persuasion at Heathrow and was able to get a nice United supervisor to phone reservations on his phone from my position on the line that was at least 5 or 6 hours back from the counter. He got the new flight and even let me call the hotel I had just checked out of to rebook for tonight. Then I got another supervisor to get my PNR (itinerary in airline talk for Passenger Number Record) printed out, and then the first guy suggested I go to Term 4 and get BA to confirm all was well. I feel bad for the nice people I met on the various lines who are no doubt still waiting. When I first arrived at Heathrow, a UA customer service agent was going up and down the line telling people to "Just Go Home". You should have seen the riot. I just found another agent and turned into my father. Shame on UAL. Shame on UAL. Shame on UAL.
I wondered why I was convinced to buy a 7 day underground pass on the new RFID London Transport Oyster Card. Now I can use it for today and tomorrow morning and to go to Heathrow.
As mentioned above, the UAL folks at Heathrow were truly bewildered but most of them tried the best they could to get up to speed fixing things, but they had essentially no tools. Imagine EVERY flight back to the States (save 2 on other equipment) and many domestic flights using 777s all being cancelled one at a time without them knowing what to do. I suspect there are still United customers in long lines at Heathrow. I was lucky to find a supervisor with a mobile phone. Now I think I won’t do a trip like this without a prepaid SIM card for where I’m going. I did get that unlocked quad band phone on EBAY for $35, but there’s a point of being too defensive. I don’t know what I’ll need to do to get my $250+ back for the hotel, but you know I’ll try.
I suspect if I had just come back to the hotel and waited (who, me?) for United to get things sorted out, eventfully a new booking would have appeared--or maybe not. It was surrealistic. Everything was going wrong, but I used all the skills I have. Phooey on this. I added lots of extra time at the airport to try to get someone at United to print out an itinerary for proof that I really was rebooked in BA and then at another line to get an “endorsement”: both activities proved not to be required since after about 2 hours I got to a reservation agent who said she was JUST TOLD that I didn’t need it. As for spending an hour trying to phone BA from my hotel to see if I could get the lactose meal and a seat: yes, and no. My phone in the room didn’t work until they sent up a guy to “unlock” it but were willing to make the calls for me. As I said, it was surrealistic as much as frustrating.
Finally got to see The Importance of Being Earnest. First I paid 15 pounds for a lamb tagine (kind of stew on rice). One does need to bring lots of money to the UK. Show was great but I laughed when none of the Brits were laughing and didn't find a lot of the things funny that they were falling over about. I suspect many in the audience knew the show. I had never seen it, and Oscar Wilde is pretty unfamiliar to me. I did get the satire and understand his points of view (not that there's anything wrong with that). Penelope Keith was fantastic, by far the best actor in the show. She is clearly the real pro and made her over the top character if not believable (none of the characters are supposed to be, of course), but she did make her true and “real”. I went to Covent Garden area when I finally got off the phone with BA at about 5 pm and went right to the box office and got the best seat in the house for 20 pounds, seat 11F right in the middle of the stalls. I could see the actors spitting and some nose hairs. House wasn’t full in the expensive seats but full elsewhere; so I had a place to put my (now) smelly jacket. Glad I made it to the show, but all in all I’d rather have been home. I usually kind of like being anonymous and alone on the fast trips to London, but today really hurt. I could be stuck for a week running up a huge bill or sick or having fits. It’s a bit scary.
Thursday 3 April: London, England Sunny and warm (for London, about 55 degrees) with no wind. Just came back from a walk through the interesting Borough Market between London Bridge and The Clink. It’s an old style European food market with lots of interesting meat and fish. They were closing down at 10 am. So I guess it’s real—not just a tourist attraction—serving mostly restaurants and small food stores. The Clink is, of course, the saloon where the vigilantes of Shakespeare’s time locked up anyone they felt like locking up. Threw them in the Clink, so to speak. I walked across London Bridge (not the famous Tower Bridge which is another mile downstream) and got back to the hotel to check out once again. I hope “once” again.
Will leave for Heathrow in about a ½ hour and check into my BA flight at Terminal 4, unfortunately not Terminal 5. They are still cancelling flights at the new BA only Terminal 5. The latest is that somehow a bunch of luggage that never got on any flight in the last few days mysteriously got sent yesterday via ship to Milan. The BBC reports that no one at BA knows why. United’s wows yesterday are now pretty much over, but my original flight is full for today. So I’m still on the BA flight #0219 that is supposed to arrive at 6:25 pm. By the way, just heard on the BBC that the FAA is now investigating SW, AA, UA, and Delta for they “failure to comply with regulations”. What a surprise. Shame on all concerned. Wonder how many people took that e-mail offer (from “noreply@united.com”) yesterday offering "appreciation gifts" when I got back to the hotel. I’ll wait and have a talk with them next week. Better brush up on my Hindi.
FYI, London is really better than it’s been in the last 10 years I’ve been visiting frequently. The Underground is running very reliably, as is the train network, the streets are cleaner, new buses, and lots of more subtle infrastructure improvements. There is an election for the powerful "Mayor of London" imminent or maybe there really was bad government or other economic issues here that have mostly been fixed. The pound doesn’t go very far and of course the dollar is in the dumps, but I’ve never not found new places to see and things to do, even when stranded here as today.
Ok, killed enough time. Need to finish packing up and “giving it another go”, as they say.
Boulder, CO I got home about 8 pm and am now unpacked and doing pretty well with jet lag. I let my nights and morning get later as the trip progressed. So the time difference is about ½ of the 7 hours I suppose. I may be able to stay up until as at least 10 or so. British Air flight non-stop London to Denver was fine, actually in some ways better than most United overseas ones I’ve been on. The leg room in their regular Boeing 777 economy seats was as much or more than United’s Economy Plus and the service was much, much better. I had phoned BA yesterday and ordered my lactose free meals, but is wasn't onboard. I found that out right after we took off when a flight attendant came over to my seat reading the labels on what they had seeing what I could eat. (United would have just said, "Your meal isn't here.") Then she brought me a tuna salad and a fruit salad from raiding their three galleys, all after I said it’s ok because I had my emergency stuff. They also had tables set up with candy bars and other snacks and constantly came around with juice and goodies. On my similar United flights it seems that the attendants disappear for most of the flight. Oh well. I guess United still has us but they will pay for what happened yesterday, you can be sure.
Friday 4 April: Boulder, Colorado Spent this morning with 3 phone calls, 2 to Delhi and one to Chicago with United Airlines. We discussed airworthiness directives and falsifying maintenance records, among other things. When I was done they agreed to pay for my hotel in London and probably my RT London Underground from and back to Heathrow plus meals, send me a $400 certificate for future travel, and credit my mileage plus with the return almost 5,000 miles (with will count towards Premier) for my return flight on British Airways. I am one charming SOB but getting a little old for this sort of thing.
Saturday 5 April: Boulder, Colorado I'm writing my request for reimbursement of direct expenses for the extra day in London. (It comes to almost $330. My, my, London is not cheap.) Whatever success I've got yesterday took a couple of hours on the phone. United has now sent me 6 (!) automatically generated e-mails to "once only use" links with a menu of "appreciation", whatever that term means. The automatic offers are for $300 or 25,000 bonus miles or some domestic upgrades. My getting $400 due to my phone call is a little better, 33% better I suppose. Of course, I opted for the money, well certificate, since we know how difficult it is to use the miles. More importantly, the phone calls allowed me to get documented the promise of reimbursement on the Customer Relations contact record. Getting the distance related mileage with elite credit was no big deal. The Mileage Plus customer service agent advised me immediately that it was to be credited. Of course, I don't know if this would have happened without my phoning and requesting it. I guess, the promised $400 certificate, $330 reimbursement, and full Mileage Plus miles with elite credit is better than a poke in the eye. Of course, they have already poked me in the eye.
Frankly, the automatic “appreciation” messages (which still seem to be coming) offering a menu of “tokens of appreciation” seemed a bit insulting since they started while I was still stranded in London without knowing if I was done with the inconvenience and aggravation due to their cancellations. These messages had no phone or e-mail contacts and came from a "noreply@" address. Of course, what makes these cancellations unique is that they were for ALL the Boeing 777 domestic and international flights simultaneously system wide due to at very least United failing to make required safety maintenance inspections and more likely their falsifying their maintenance records and getting nailed by the FAA. Even the former is criminal. Had I ever blown off any Airworthiness Directives on my owned aircraft and flown the plane, I would have lost my license, been fined, and could have gone to jail. Shame on United.
Good trip anyway. Go figure.
MB April, 2008
May 1, 2008: United did come through with, 1) full credit for the miles on the BA flight as if it had been on the flight that didn't exist including the miles counting towards Premier status and the Premier bonus, 2) the $400 certificate arrived in the mail, 3) a $350 certificate came as the reimbursement for the extra day in London. The amount actually covers the cost of the show (which I hadn't asked for, of course) plus the hotel, meals, and top-off to my London Transport Oyster card for the addition return trip from Heathrow to Earl's Court, and 4) another 25,000 miles were credited. Poor United, but thanks. As I said, they got me.
