Heathrow Hassle

We got up got dressed, returned the car (after getting lost twice),

Driving back to the airport

Bob stopped to ask for directions - the GPS said terminal 2

Booth to return the car

and it was really terminal 3.

Bob on the car rental bus (from the scooter)

Got to the airport and found 50 school kids on a trip trying to check in to our flight. They were from Bridgewater School in Colorado.
I went up and asked if we could check in and they said come back at 8. So we had breakfast at Cafe Nero there in the airport. Bob had porridge.

I had a scone and tea

We went again at 8 and they were still too busy to check us in. So I used the bathroom and looked around the airport.

bathroom selfie

Finally got checked in and boarded. They took the scooter and put it in the closet.

UNHANDY HEATHROW
In the last two years (2015 and 2016), we have been in and out of Heathrow four times, and I also transitioned through Heathrow twice in 2007. I need some kind of transport because I can't walk far so I request a wheelchair. The problem is that I usually book flights with a good amount of time between them so that if there is a delay I won't miss my plane. That means that my ongoing flight has not yet been posted as to what gate it will leave from.

EVERY SINGLE TIME, the wheelchair from whatever lounge I am waiting in to the gate has come SO LATE that I don't arrive at the gate until the flight is almost finished boarding. I have not missed a plane, but it has sometimes been close

Nothing I have done has helped this situation.

2007 - Our boarding pass said that plane doors would close at 14:50 and it was now 2:30. Finally about 2:45, the wheelchair came, and took us up to immigration. The wheelchair guy walked very fast on each of the three long moving walkways My grandson was behind him carrying the bags. They had not opened the gate until about 3 - very late. We got in line at the end of the people boarding.

2015 - Got to Heathrow and it was only 11:00 and our flight out wasn't until 2. Plus the gate for our on-going flight wasn't posted yet. Had to wait a long time for the wheelchair person on the plane. She took us to the Club Lounge.

Fortnam and; Mason from a wheelchair

Then we had to beg and plead for a wheelchair person to get to the boarding gate which was C64. I started asking for a wheelchair at about 1:15

Bob at the concierge desk trying to get a wheelchair

as soon as there was a gate listed. From the lounge we went down in an elevator, up in an elevator through the airport (all in Terminal 5),

Horse statue photo from a speeding wheelchair

took a train, and then up in an elevator and down in another elevator and did not get to board until almost the time when the doors were shut. And they took the scooter from us and gate checked it although I am sure there was room for it in the closet. (Or would have been if we had been there when they started boarding.) This time, we got the scooter OK when we landed.
===Future Trip 2016===
[On our last trip in 2016 - Our plane arrived at Heathrow early - 10:05. The wheelchair person at the gate tried to get me to walk up the gangway - not going to happen. So she pushed me to the holding area, and then we got another wheelchair person who took us to the Lounge. But first we had to go through security again - we had to dump out all our water (which we just got on the plane and wasn't even open). This time they picked Bob's carryon to do an extra special inspection - scrutinized his electric razor and the charging stuff for the scooter and also of course the scooter battery and the scooter. We did not get out of there until 11:30. And as before, we got a wheelchair out of the Lounge at the last minute.

Returning in 2016 - I had gate checked the scooter on the flight TO Heathrow and they did not give it back to me when I got off the flight. They broke the control head off and instead of giving it to me at the gate like the tag said they should, they sent it to baggage claim at Heathrow. Which I didn't go to as I was on an on-going flight.

We got a wheelchair to the 'assistance area' and after a bit another wheelchair (with the same guide as before) to take us through security again (again they gave Bob's bag a special inspection) and to the lounge. Our gate was not on the board as we have several hours to wait. Although I asked to leave the lounge at 3:00, they did not even start moving us until 3:30, and then when they were to transfer us to a cart, they couldn't open the back door on the cart for us to sit there. So the little Indian lady with us got into the cart, and Bob walked with a man pushing me in a wheelchair to gate A10. This proved to be a gate where we had to take a bus to get to the plane. They asked me if I could climb steps and I said I could if I had to and they decided that I should not have to and put us in a lift van with several other people. I didn't get the scooter until two days later - broken. ]

Back to 2015

Taking off from Heathrow

BA planes lined up on the ground

Leaving England

Had a good flight. We had lunch.

Starter tomato and mozzarella

Salad

Bangers and mash

And then they gave us tea.

Tea and sandwich

and landed on time.

Landing BWI

Went through immigration OK but Bob insisted on putting on the customs form that we had been on a farm, even though we had not actually set foot in the farmyard and had only looked through the windows at it. He wanted to send me through customs on my own, but he had the form and they wouldn't let me through without it. Also the scooter did not come for a long time - and eventually came in as Oversized luggage. But it was intact. We went through customs and then because he put that we had been on a farm (even though we were only outside from the parking lot to the door), we also had to go through agriculture. I called the Hampton Inn (had to look up the phone number on the internet because it wasn't in my phone for some reason). Bob was going to call but he couldn't find it on his phone.

Waiting for the hotel shuttle

Got to the hotel and got checked in. I didn't want to try to drive home tonight after we got up at 1:30 a.m. EDT and it was now 2000 EDT. I'm not as happy with this hotel as before. The radio alarm went off at 3 am and Bob wanted to know what I had over on my side that was flashing. It took me awhile to figure out that it was a message on the phone. After I listened to it, I found that it was from Feb 1.

25 March 2015

I looked on my bank website to see what had been charged on my card and found two charges for last night. The Hampton Inn charged us twice on two cards although it was the same card - just that Bob's card has different numbers than mine. They did fix that, but it was still wrong, because they had not charged us for parking. I couldn't figure out how to explain it to the girl at the desk.

Bob took a shower - we will leave after breakfast but they are calling for freezing rain. We left and drove home.

Almost home

Fortunately there was no ice and not much rain. Partly unpacked and did most of the wash and had dinner.

Advertisement for the CD in the bus

The other thing that we bought, we bought after we got back. There is a CD offered by Colin who does the Summer WIne tours which has videos of some of the last days of filming in the series. But we weren't sure we could play that CD on our CD player so we didn't buy it there. I waited until we got home and then purchased it. It is available at several places in Holmfirth as well as by mail

This was the first of the four trips we made in 2015

Our next trip was 15 days later when we went to meet our grandson's fiance in Penn Yan NY. It was just a weekend April 10-12