Day one- Hopping the pond
It's that time of year and we're headed off to wander! For the past three years we have kept our holiday ventures in the states, once to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and twice to Montana and several western states. This year, we head back across the pond to Europe!
Our first stop will be London, for one night stay. We seem to find this helpful as it lets us recover from jetlag just a bit. It also allows a buffer so we're not rushing to make a connection on little sleep. We'll arrive, transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick, and stay in a hotel right in the airport. We'll take the city bus into the village of Horley to visit a pub and have an early dinner, then return to our hotel for an early bedtime.
The next day we have an early flight from the UK to Bordeaux, France! We'll spend two days in Bordeaux and then take a train to Donostia-San Sebastian in northern Spain. We'll travel northern Spain for roughly two weeks, return to London, and have two more nights there. Then home.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to write a blog this time. We have a few things going on that have my mind preoccupied but Laurie insisted.....and told me "a lot of people look for this!" I don't know how often I'll write but I will...and I'll most certainly post lots of photos. I brought so much gear that Laurie bought me a new photo backpack for Christmas! It's nifty.
We're in the Nashville airport having a beer (a true rarity for me) waiting to board our British Airways direct flight to London. As we booked using miles (I seldom if ever pay for flights), the fee for our flight was like $150 to London. So I splurged and upgraded us to Premium Economy on British Airways.
Business class looks like what first class used to be. From what I can tell, Premium Economy looks very much like business class used to look. Bigger seat, more recline, fancy pillows, and blankets, fancy food, early boarding, noise cancelling headphones......it's pretty nice. Since we're basically flying for free with miles, I didn't feel bad splurging $289 for the upgrade.
In a few hours we're eastbound. See you on the other side.
Our first stop will be London, for one night stay. We seem to find this helpful as it lets us recover from jetlag just a bit. It also allows a buffer so we're not rushing to make a connection on little sleep. We'll arrive, transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick, and stay in a hotel right in the airport. We'll take the city bus into the village of Horley to visit a pub and have an early dinner, then return to our hotel for an early bedtime.
The next day we have an early flight from the UK to Bordeaux, France! We'll spend two days in Bordeaux and then take a train to Donostia-San Sebastian in northern Spain. We'll travel northern Spain for roughly two weeks, return to London, and have two more nights there. Then home.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to write a blog this time. We have a few things going on that have my mind preoccupied but Laurie insisted.....and told me "a lot of people look for this!" I don't know how often I'll write but I will...and I'll most certainly post lots of photos. I brought so much gear that Laurie bought me a new photo backpack for Christmas! It's nifty.
We're in the Nashville airport having a beer (a true rarity for me) waiting to board our British Airways direct flight to London. As we booked using miles (I seldom if ever pay for flights), the fee for our flight was like $150 to London. So I splurged and upgraded us to Premium Economy on British Airways.
Business class looks like what first class used to be. From what I can tell, Premium Economy looks very much like business class used to look. Bigger seat, more recline, fancy pillows, and blankets, fancy food, early boarding, noise cancelling headphones......it's pretty nice. Since we're basically flying for free with miles, I didn't feel bad splurging $289 for the upgrade.
In a few hours we're eastbound. See you on the other side.