The Journey Continues

I made it to the UK, only slightly later than expected. However bumps in the road have still jostled me at every turn and it feels as though I’ve been awake for 2 days so far.

The plane into Dulles was actually slightly early. They had said to expect a 10:48pm arrival when I talked to customer service, and it seemed we were slow getting the plane going in Denver, but we managed to arrive at 10:26pm. I got off and started walking through the concourse, somewhat resigned to finding customer service, tracking my bag down, and then getting to a hotel.

Instead I found a board that listed the 11:08 London flight as on time, and close. I wasted a couple minutes thinking about it and then raced back the way I’d come to the end of the concourse. Sure enough, they were boarding and I didn’t have much hope, but I gave my ticket to the desk agent and he said he could get me on the flight. A middle seat, but in economy plus, so I had legroom, and there was no one on one side of me.

The flight over was long, and I’m glad I got a glass of wine as it enabled me to (fitfully) sleep for a few hours on the way over. I landed in Heathrow, tired, worn out, and not in a good mood. And for good reason. The agent said that I might not get my bag and he was right. 15 minutes after waiting for bags to come out, I resigned myself to the fact that mine wasn’t on the plane. Sure enough, it was somewhere over the Atlantic, on the next flight over. The good news is they confirmed it on the plane and it lands at 10pm tonight.

The bad news is that they won’t deliver it to Cambridge and the hotel until tomorrow night (Monday). Grrr. Running shoes, socks, underwear, toothbrush. Most things I need are in that bag. I had some shopping to do today.

It wasn’t all bad. The driver was waiting for me when I left, and I managed to again, fitfully sleep on the hour drive to Cambridge. It self like a 3 hour drive, especially as this guy liked his relatively new Audi 5 speed and would whip around corners and use the shifter. If I hadn’t been tired, it would have been a good drive.

I arrived at the hotel to find out my reservations were made for next week. Fortunately they had space, but unfortunately no rooms were ready. So it was off to walk around Cambridge and find some things. I’ve been here a couple times, so I wandered around and found a pharmacy for deodorant and toothpaste, and then a store to get some shorts, socks, running shoes, and a spare shirt. I’m assuming my bag comes tomorrow, but I did need a few things, and my running shoes were getting old. I’ve been considering replacing them, so this wasn’t a huge cost.

All in all, I got back to the room and I have some clothes, and can relax a bit.

Now I need a run so I can have some beer or wine and try to unwind after this long journey. Total time? I woke up at 6:30am Saturday in Denver, left the house about 9am MST. I arrived in Cambridge, at the hotel, the next day at 12:30pm UTC. So that’s about 22 1/2 hours to get door to door. Not much fun.