Tuesday, Dec 13, Day 2!

I left off with us at the airport, so it's only fair to continue with us ON THE PLANE!! Making our way downtown...er, I mean, to London.  Just look at all these happy people!!  :)

Needless to say, we all had some roomy, business class pods on United's LAX to LHR red-eye flight.  All in all, the seats were comfortable enough, and for the next 11-ish hours, we were set.  Our chairs were able to lay flat, and we had our own little lockers next to the chair, inside the pods.  I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the "freebies" that we paid a ton of money for.  There were actually TWO options for pillows, one was just a standard pillow, and the other was a memory foam brick, I mean square of comfort.  From there, we also had two options for blankets, one the standard scratchy airplane blanket, and the other was a Saks 5th Avenue quilted something or other that was soft and comfortable.

 

We were given the choice of Flat Iron Steak, Half Chicken with a "Brown Sauce" (Bill's description), and a Pistachio Tortellini. Between the three of us, Mom had beef, Bill had Chicken, and I had tortellini.  I liked mine, Mom ate hers, I think, and Bill said his wasn't very good, but it was "better than Japan's flight."  From there, we were given the option of a Cheese Plate, Ice Cream "Sundae", and a Creme Brulee that was more like a Flan.  I actually splurged and had a Cheese Plate AND a Sundae.  However, no one told me I'd need to bring a damn ice pick to eat my brick of ice cream.  The dang thing was harder than permafrost in Antarctica! (To be fair, I wouldn't know since our Antarctica cruise was cancelled...TWICE!!)

 

In short order, I took my night time meds, and fell asleep for several hours.  When I woke up, Mom was perched on my table in my pod "stretching her back" and Bill was STILL watching whatever Kung Fu movie/show he had found.   OH! I almost forgot.  Prior to going to sleep, there was an announcement on the plane asking if there were any medical professionals on board, as there was a "need for assistance."  Cue the Airplane! music...  I texted my family to let them know that I had the tortellini, Bill had the Chicken, and Mom had the steak.  My brother dutifully texted back and asked who was blowing Otto up...

 

Once I got my bearings, and mom went back to her pod to try and lay down, I looked around and saw that there was a commotion happening near the front of the plane.  Upon covert inspection, I found that a lady was laying down on the floor, with her feet propped up in the seats, and had not one, but TWO individuals taking care of her.  Aha! Apparently mid snooze, they dragged this poor woman up out of the cattle section and into our pristine business class.  I guess to lessen the impact of all the looky loos.  For shame - who would go out of their way to gawk at this woman and her poor medical condition?!  Clearly not me, since my pod was angled wrong to see her, and would have required me to get up, and like go to the bathroom or something.  Too bad I had to pee...

 

Anyway, to keep myself entertained, I went ahead and found a movie to watch (Bullet Train).  Before it started, a screen popped up letting me know that there were scenes that depicted sexual and violent acts, and that I should consider whether or not someone near me might be offended.  If so, I should choose another title.  The good news is, I wasn't able to offend anyone, as about 5 minutes into my show, Mom came to visit me.  I'd like to think that she was respecting the privacy of the medically disinclined, as she stood with her back in the aisle, thus preventing anyone from gawking.  The bad news is, as she leaned over to do so, her boobs were in my pod.  

 

That's a LONG plane ride!!

Before too long, the sun started peaking through the windows, and I knew that we were finally getting closer to London.  After all, London is known for it's clouds, right?!

On second inspection, apparently were over ICELAND!  Ugh.  Still a ways to go.

If you look closely, these are NOT actually clouds.  Nope, those are snow covered Mountains, WITH clouds as well.  Snow...and mountains...in ENGLAND.  No.

I know we're getting closer, and as I looked out my window, my first thought was: "Eff, that looks cold."  Then my second thought was: "I did NOT pack properly for this trip.  I'm going to freeze my arse off."  (See what I did there?)

 

We landed at Heathrow and actually came to a complete stop.  No sliding off the runway on an icetrail or anything.  However, we had to stay seated upon landing, as they were having ground personnel come on board to "handle a matter" before we deplaned.  After sitting for a while, wondering when they were going to come get the lady off the floor, I looked back towards the door, only to see FOUR POLICE OFFICERS ESCORTING A TEENAGE KID FROM THE CATTLE CAR.  Like, wait.  What?! You only see that on TikTok!  NO WAY!!

 

Once that non-sense was handled, we were able to deplane.  Gathering our belongings, Bill had a little oops, as his sweatshirt (seen clearly in pic #1 above) was MISSING IN ACTION.  Like, it was gone.  I even searched his pod (Get your mind out of the gutter), and couldn't find it.  Well crap.  We said eff it, and got off the plane, IN LONDON!!

 

Which I'll tell you more about tomorrow, because it's late as balls and I'm tired.