I travel a lot for work, and know how to travel light and get through security pretty efficiently, especially since I have TSA precheck. However, on my trip to London yesterday, I learned something new and also a hard lesson on keeping an eye on my belongings more closely as I go through security (unless the line is completely backed up due to TSA's sheer stupidity).
Apparently, those RFID sleeves you put your credit cards into contain some sort of metal that sets off security alarms--I thought they were just some type of plastic! I had my money belt on, which contained several of these and we couldn't figure out why i kept setting off the alarm! I kept taking things off....shoes, belt, etc.--felt like I was undressing in front of strangers--and must have gone through the screener 4 times. So effing annoying! Once I got through and headed toward my gate, I realized my house keys were missing. Of course, panic set in immediately. To make matters worse, I was on the other side of the airport due to security technical issues (had to go through the A B and C security vs. D security, which at Portland International airport, are not close together). After all that bullshit, I decided to treat myself to a mimosa and light breakfast while waiting for my flight to depart.
Finally got on my way from Portland to Seattle, albeit a very short up and down flight, then had to wait over 3 hours at Seatac to catch my flight to Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic.
Once I got to the other side of Seatac via train to get to my Heathrow gate, I was so excited when I finally got to board. We were welcomed with a glass of champagne
and I quickly acquainted myself with the upper class seating area, which has a ton of different buttons and pop out shelves to figure out.
The dinner on Virgin Atlantic upper class is awesome. You have several items to choose from, starting with bread, soup or salad, entree, cheese and biscuits, then dessert. I enjoyed a pretzel bread stick, a small salmon salad, mushroom risotto, and sticky toffee pudding. The latter was effing amazing!
After a restless night's sleep on the plane because of some idiot drunk guys that wouldn't STFU, then a delicious breakfast,
I arrived at Heathrow around 10:30 the next morning, excited to get my first passport stamp ever. I summoned an Uber and had him head toward my London apartment rental. Quickly realized that it was too early for me to check in (I had about three hours to go), so I had him to take me to a local mall to walked around, got my nails done and had a hell of a time keeping my eyes open considering I had been awake for about 24 hours. I felt like a zombie.
Eventually I was able to get into my apartment, which is adorable, but tiny and has a ton of house rules, including this hilarious one:
Post a Comment