Sign #8 that it is time to go: You have not one but TWO holes in your sandals.
A few years back, there was a movie released entitled, "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey." While the story of Christie and I returning to North America is not quite as heart-warming (and doesn't involve cute animals), it seems nearly as epic when you stand with 8 bags on your back while sweating through your shirt in the middle of the London subway system. Let me bring you up to speed...
Christie was definitely not happy to leave the beach...
After 3 amazing days in the French Riviera, it was time to head for London and our connecting flight back to Edmonton. However, just like in Catania, we were still packing enough luggage for a small army (or at least 4 teenage girls.) The first hurdle was getting to the Nice airport. Good News: A hotel employee volunteered to drive us there for a fraction of the cost of a taxi. The Bad News: His car was a "Renault Cleo" ... which makes the Nissan Micra look like an SUV. They did not think our luggage could fit & were shaking their heads at us, but I quickly made them believers!
The drive to the airport was without incident, and I loved the sign indicating the departure drop off area: KISS AND FLY. That is so cute it makes me want to make a keyboard smiley face :-)
However, once inside it was not at all fun and games. We were flying EASYJET, which despite their name, orange colored logo, and overall happy demeanor, are notorious within "European Flying Circles" as being sticklers for luggage weight. We chose the most jovial looking employee, and batted our eyes at her in attempt that she would take pity on the hapless Canadians. (In such circumstances, it is best to avoid any reference to George Bush and his foreign policy, especially in France.) Everything seemed to be going great - until she informed us that the 'sports bag' we had booked had a 10kg weight limit and that we were over by 30 kg! At 10.5 Euro per kilo, we did the quick math and knew it was going to be ugly. Luckily, we were able to talk her down a little, but still ended up paying 100 Euro per person!!! EURO-LUGGAGE IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!!!
As for the flight itself, it went smoothly -- however I did have a hilarious and slightly confusing conversation with a flight attendant as the plane was getting ready to depart:
"How long is the flight, ma'am?"
"Well... it usually takes an hour and fifty-five minutes, but we are taking a short cut so we hope to do it in an hour-forty..."
SHORT CUT? Was she serious? Now, I'm no pilot or "navigational expert" - I just am curious to know how one can find a short-cut while flying in a straight line from point A to point B. One theory involves a "flux capacitor" and the "Space-Time Continuum," or perhaps they were just planning on skipping the little "scenic tour" of Denmark on our way up...
Happy to be back in an English Speaking Country!
Our flight - shortcut and all - got us safely into London at 6:30pm. We caught the "Stanstead Express" train into the city, then made a connection onto the underground metro system (The Tube). We finally arrived at our hotel around 9, and counted our blessings that we were now just one flight from home!
Let me tell you... stairs SUCK when you have lots of luggage! You should have seen the looks on people's faces as we lugged our stuff from the train to the "Tube." Our favorite reply was, "Don't worry - we're only here for the night."
~ J. Twice
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