Stephen Kiel's Blog: Our trip Across the Ocean

Hi Folks!

We made it to Toulouse!

From LA:

Our trip from the house to the airport began as you might guess with a few surprises. We had called ahead for a van, and even his notes indicated that we would have a bike box and that we needed a van, but instead the driver showed up with a car. It could have been worse, it could have been a smart car. We were happy to find out that a bike box actually can fit in the trunk of some cars. The ride was tight, because the suitcases had to ride with us in the passenger compartment, but we made it just fine.

Heading down the freeway was kind of a deja-vu experience, the driver was just like Linda, hit the gas, swerve right, swerve left, hit the brakes and repeat for an hour. Linda hated his driving.

The check-in process went so smooth and fast that we had plenty of time to spare. They took our bags so fast it reminded me of air travel 15 years ago. Dare we hope the rest of the flight will go this well? We will soon see.

From London:

The trip over was one of the best I can remember for years. Everything at the seat, like the audio, video, and reading light worked. The staff was nice, the meals were good too. We landed basically on time, so all in all it was a really nice flight. We made our connection to our next British flight with as much efficiency as you can get at Heathrow. The Heathrow Airport is absolutely beautiful, it has a modern look, there is a lot of light and glass, is is spotlessly clean, but the people who figured out crowd control must have been in an asylum. To transfer from one flight to another, we took a train ride, took a bus ride, went through security again, had some people look at our paperwork again. They have lines to wait in the next line. After we got onto the plane it all went smooth again.

Toulouse:

We arrived about on time. Our luggage made it as well. Our friends Gilbert and Odile met us at the airport, and we are now in our hotel.