The Journey to the Airport

Past routes

One of the things we have never quite settled on is the best way to get from home to the airport when travelling to North America.

Over the years we have:
a) Flown from Cardiff via Amsterdam to New York (2002)
b) Used an Airport Taxi to take us the whole way (2004 and 2006)
c) Had my brother act like an Airport Taxi in his large Chrysler - he kindly did this for us, at far less cost than an Airport Taxi, on three occasions (2009, 2011, 2013) but has since emigrated to Australia, meaning this is no longer a viable option
d) Travelled by train to the airport and stayed overnight in an Airport Hotel. (2015, 2017)

Today's Route

So this year we are trying something different again. When we booked the flights to Logon Airport, Boston they were at 5.30 in the evening. This seemed way to late to plan an overnight stay the night before, plus Drew's leave didn't start until the Friday, so we decided to travel up on the day itself. In the meantime Virgin changed the flight time, so it will now leave at 3.25pm. This time change matters. From South Wales to Heathrow any train journeys before 9.30 are inordinately expensive. After 9.30am supersavers and advanced tickets become available, but not before 9.30, which is the rush hour for trains heading to London. If the flight had been at the original time we would have opted for the train, but with the earlier time, when we saw the train price (£240 for us both, even with early booking) we opted to use National Express instead (£24 for a return). So this morning's journey will be by bus/coach.

The Journey begins

I woke at 3.45am. three quarters of an hour before the alarm was due. But with the excitement of a holiday I got up, had breakfast, shaved, brushed my teeth, washed and dressed. 

So by 4.30am the cases were all packed and ready for our departure at 5.55am.

The Suitcases packed and ready

Here are our bags, and Captain Jack, ready to go. The Samsonite, which has been a faithful companion for many years, was bought by my sister for my birthday one year after I had travelled with them around the US. She thought my old case was too tatty which led her to this generous gift in case she would be seen with me again on holiday! Drew's case was bought last year in Miami, when his previous one came to its end - the story of the purchase is at the end of the blog post you can find here. 
For those new to the blog, Captain Jack came home with us from Florida in 2004 and has been with us on our travels ever since. His photo gallery (or as he calls it his electronic portrait log) can be found here.

We left the house at 5.55am - to early but I'd always rather be early than just on time or late, a psychological hang over from my father's habit of getting us to places just after we should be there when we were growing up.

132

The 132 left on time at 6.15am. With my free bus pass, I was sixty in February and got it the day after, and Drew's season ticket, he travels to work on this bus every weekday, 
this part of the journey was free.  

River Taff

It is a short, and pleasant walk, from the bus stop at the Angel Hotel (we arrived at 6.40) beside the River Taff, to the National Express Coach Station at Sophia Gardens. We arrived at the Coach Station at 6.50 - only an hour before our Coach departs. I did warn you I was prone to get places well in advance! <<Co-pilots note: Ummmm!!!>>>

We had a pleasant time sitting reading in the extended bus shelter which forms the heart of the coach station. We used the toilets here, they were remarkably clean and well kept.

A group came along for the Birmingham bus, they were looking forward to going to Edgbaston for the Test Match, clearly they had decided to skip sleep as they seemed to have carried on drinking overnight, to prepare them for their journey They were planning to have a lot of fun, by the sound of it! I hope they did have fun, with the current score perhaps they have swapped to support India!



The coach arrived twenty minutes before departure time, so with eTicket in hand we put our bags in the luggage area and got on the coach.













The journey was uneventful. We stopped to pick up passengers at Newport and Bristol and then headed along the M4 arriving at the Heathrow Central Bus Station 10 minutes before our scheduled time. Having dropped us off the coach went on to terminals 4 and 5.

We walked in the subway from the Bus Station to Terminal 3 and went straight to the bag drop for Premium Economy, having checked in via the app yesterday.

The process was again very smooth. We got off the coach at 11.25am and got to the Virgin desk at 11.32am we had our bags weighed in by 11.35am and went into security. We were through it by 11.50am - some sort of record. With neither of us setting off the metal detectors. We did, as usual, have to take our laptop (me), iPad (Drew) and Kindles (both) out of the bags, but otherwise everything was very smooth.

Having made our way through security we headed to the Lounge we had booked. This was the No1 Lounge which we had visited previously in 2015 - it has gone through a makeover, retaining the cool comfort of air-con, but with a wider range of food and drink, and a selection of comfortable, and table set seats. As I was going to write up this post, we opted for the table style. 

Snacks when we arrive in the lounge - it has been 8 hours since breakfast!

Anyone who has read my blog before will know I'm very keen on being comfortable the few hours before getting on the plane, and the small expense of booking a lounge certainly sets things off for me. In this lounge, in addition to the usual snacks and nibbles, they now offer a small bistro style plate of food which you order at the bar and is served at your table.

Salmon Salad, New Potatoes and Lemon Dressing

I opted for a smoked salmon salad, which was tasty, with crisp lettuce and gently smoked salmon. 

Falafel, roasted carrot hummus, lemon yoghurt and khobez bread

Drew went for falafel and roasted carrot hummus, apparently the hummus was very hummusy and the lemon yoghurt was sharp and lemony, the khobez bread (pitta to you and me) was fresh and tasty.

Time for some more coffee, soft drinks and relaxation before we board at 2.25pm and fly at 3.25pm. See you all on the other side.