It is Friday morning and very early.
We have a flight on Aer Lingus out of Gatwick to Dublin. There is a complacency in visiting a city for the second time. Then, something happens and you realize how little you know.
"How do I get to Gatwick?". "Where is Gatwick?" "What if I screw up and we miss the flight?"
I have done research and it is two underground rides and one train. Sounds like Gatwick is not close. In fact, Gatwick is the second largest airport in the London area.
I have decided after consultation with Caroline that we can remove some of the turmoil by taking taxi or Uber to the train station instead of the Underground.
I have been using an app called Mytaxi and it works, but I am not confident. We need to leave the apartment @6 AM. Our flight is 10:10. I am allowing an hour plus to the airport and an hour for security. Yes, this means that I am one of those people who get nervous waiting for a bus.
The decision is made easy by the fact that no taxi appears available on the screen. An Uber driver is five minutes away.
Let me explain - telecommunications and Internet are not truly worldwide. For US telecommunication companies, it is a patchwork of technology and agreements. Because of that, use of your cellphone is not inexpensive. If you do not work at it, it becomes very expensive quickly. The short lesson is turn off cellular data and use WIFI whenever you can.
All this planning goes out the window - when access to the WIFI ends at the street. Our recourse is to turn on our limited and precious cellar data and try to locate to locate an Uber driver.
He is 3 minutes away. Caroline states the obvious - what if the Uber vehicle is too small for the four of us and our luggage. I am running out of prayers. Is there a patron saint for this situation. I am now angry at myself for limited research.
A Citroen Grand Picasso (comment - why would a car company named a van after Picasso) turns the corner and moves slowly toward us. He smiles and I am relieved.
Our experience this trip with London Taxis has not been the best. Over our six day stay, I have begun to notice that the drivers seem to be padding the tap by increasing the number of occupants from 4 to 5 and sometimes 6.
Based on this apparent mistake - I find Uber more reassuring. Also, I note on this trip to London that Taxi drivers seem not to be as knowledgeable about addresses as previously I can see why Uber is very popular.
The driver drops us off at the train station. There are a number of public transportation systems in London area about half are public and half private. We are experienced Underground users. We have not used the bus system. We have used the train system from London to Oxford and London to Paris and back. We now learn about the Metro Train system.
It is efficient - Underground above ground. It is also crowded which is reassuring. People with luggage - I have got to be going the right way.
Two stops and more people. It is Friday and long weekends. Gatwick is the home of many of Europe's low cost airlines. The airport is jammed with people moving forward. And, I am suppose to know where and what to do. I bought the tickets.
We locate Aer Lingus and their terminal. You move with the masses.The signs are explanatory. "Security this way". I am not familiar with the system, but seems to be easy. Find an entry gate, flash your boarding pass on the reader and smile at the camera above you. I have all the boarding passes so I have to flash as Betty, Caroline, Bill and myself pass approvingly through the gate. No pressure - there are only thousands in front of us and tens of thousands behind us. All moving at you with crushing confidence - hell, there are only seventeen of the gates.
I fumble through and we move onto security. Shoes, Belts, Computers, Body Scans - it is Orwellian.
I am pulled out and given a pat down and screening. We all fumble. It is 8 AM in the morning. Short of sleep, disoriented - strangers in a strange land.
I start to look for gate information. There is none. In Europe (yes, the UK and Ireland are Europe), they do not post your gate until about a half hour before takeoff and, more importantly, about 20 minutes before final boarding.
Leaving security, you are forced to enter the maze of "duty free" shops. Think IKEA. You literally are forced to walk by liquors, perfume, handbags etc. The path is "S" shaped. You can see the end. There are no shortcuts. Five minutes and you are dumped into large food court with hundreds of people standing in front of the two hanging monitors announcing that your gate is not posted yet.
At Gatwick, you have to take an escalator to the food court. We have little over an hour to wait before the gate announcement. We find seats. We lay out our carry-on and backpacks and try to relax. Get a cup of coffee and something to eat.
Seating is barely adequate for the number of passengers. The seats with a table require purchase by Nanda (A London Portuguese oriented fast food chain - no earthly reason why they serve breakfast).
So we find chairs and spread out. Coffee and breakfast are eaten out of our laps.
Finally, our gate is posted - B17. How far away can B17 be? It is a long way. I will never, never complained about O'Hare again. We walk and check. It cannot be this far. Oh, yes it can.
We arrive 10 minutes later with priority already boarded. The number of those precious overhead spaces has dwindled. I never figured out in 32 days how we always got beat so badly to the assigned gate. There is a trick.
The gate attendant looks at our boarding pass and flashes across a screen. Chaos.
I am told that when we entered security by flashing our "check in boarding pass" and passport that I failed to coordinate the specific boarding pass with the photo being taken. Gatwick security is high tech. Apparently, they track you through the airport by facial recognition.
I am watching the "gate keeper" eyes glisten as he sees that he is about to prove his superiority to hopeless tourists. Fortunately, the security person beyond the desk is more sensible and a few cliches and she has corrected the problem.
Most importantly, our carry-on luggage passes the test. Betty was confident since she had gone out of her way to assure conformity. I was not as confident having heard stories and read "traveler tips" about European airlines curse on carry-on and as a true revenue source.
I did hedge my bets slightly by paying a few Pounds Sterling more for carry-on and priority boarding.
We move to our seats; lift our carry-on and stow our backpacks at our feet.
The Aer Lingus plane is new and seats are better than US carriers. The cabin staff are efficient and polite for the one hour flight to Dublin.
I have found that the most trying part of arriving in a new city is how do I get from airport to hotel or rental. And, how much is it going to cost and how much will I overpay.
What we have come to expect - we walk about a quarter of a mile to exit airport. Dublin does not have an underground. It is buses or taxis.
We locate the Taxi Station; hire a cab and try to help the driver find the address. The driver is a great guy. He makes a cell phone call and locates directions. Now, in this age of google maps and GPS on phones - why commonly, the drivers always seemed to get slightly disoriented - I have no idea. Not all - but about 40% of the time. Several times, Caroline had to open up her app to assure the drivers had not gotten lost. Of course, there are no discounts for mileage while lost.
Betty has done a great job scouting and booking a rental. We are in a great neighborhood. It is a house with a great little kitchen and two bedrooms.
We settle in. Betty has forgotten one of her prescriptions and Bonnie has Fed Ex to the owner's supplied address. It should have arrived prior to our arrival. It has not. The Fed Ex driver could not locate the address given (sounds like everyone has this problem).
Betty confidently resolves the problem with Fed Ex (who were great) and arranges delivery Monday. We leave Tuesday. If we miss, it will be almost impossible for the prescription to catch up with us.
We have been on the road for seven days and some laundry needs to be done.
We locate on Google one self service laundry. Bill and I walk there. Closed and it looks like "to infinity and beyond". Returning, Caroline locates another laundry but not self service. We leave our dirties. Tomorrow they are open to 2 PM and close on Sunday. So it is Monday.
Bill and I go food shopping. Great location. A market is down the street. It is the typical European Grocery store - all the necessities and nothing more. This store has a small deli section which is well used.
We return with food, wine and desert. Television is upstairs. The room is small but it is great way to end a long day.
Tomorrow is Guinness and Teeling Whiskey.
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