The way home

[magid]

In stages...

1. Walking, suitcase on back, backpack on the front of one shoulder. Originally planning to walk to the train, but there was a
   
2. Bus coming, so we hopped on. No time to go to the upper level, however, especially with all the bulky objects. We got off at the
   
3. Train station, and since it was cheaper to get an all-zone pass than a one-way to Heathrow, that's what we got. We took the train from Enfield to Tottenham Hale, where we switched to the
   
4. Tube, taking the Victoria line from Tottenham Hale to Finsbury Park, then switching to the Picadilly line, which goes all the way to Heathrow. Luckily we got seats on both lines. After using the day pass to exit the tube, we
   
5. Walked to the terminal, using
   
6. Moving sidewalks along the way. I like the cultural diversity posters up along the way, pointing out how different cultures interpret the same things differently (colors, lucky numbers, what football is, what's insulting, etc.). After checking in, there was much more
   
7. Walking, including the successful quest for a kosher sandwich (egg salad and cress on whole wheat, which cost just enough more than in the city; I had 13 p left in English money afterward), then through security, through the huge duty-free shopping area, and out towards the gate. Oddly, there was a huge hallway with lots of fans and little seating; the gate wasn't open, so we sat in an empty hallway for a long while. Eventually, the gate opened, and we went through another security check, including a check of my bags and a body search. Which was weird, because everything had already been scanned before, so I was surprised it happened again. Next, we
   
8. Boarded the plane, for the trip home. The timing was good, a late afternoon flight, but it was still exhausting, and made more difficult for me when they turned up the heat; I do better chilly with a blanket on. Plus, there was a bunch of turbulence. On the plus side, the kosher meal made it, and was much more appropriate for eating while moving: salmon, rice, peas and carrots, pasta salad (with dill, tuna, and sweetcorn :-). The movie options were reasonable, I finished a book, and they offered lots of liquids. Oh, and the joy of watching the map of our progress. It was also interesting to see the light shift as we moved west, and the clouds from above. The frustrating part was having to wait to deplane, as another flight boarded. But we finally got to leave, and
   
9. Walked to passport control, where the line for citizens moved fairly quickly. Not that it made a huge difference, since we had to wait for our luggage (the penalties for checking in early) before going through customs (verifying that I'd brought food, but it was all packaged. They could redesign their form to have that as an option.), then walking out to find a
   
10. Shuttle bus to the T. There was one right there, which was nice. We took that to the T, and I had to exchange my token (carefully bought before leaving, since my T pass went missing last week) for a CharlieTicket, which is rather like a tube ticket in how it moves through the machine and opens the gate. Then it was onto the
    
11. T, taking the Blue line from Airport to North Station, switching to the Green line one stop to Park Street, then onto the Red line to Harvard. The waits were small, luckily. Then I came out into the rain and
    
12. Walked the half mile or so home. Despite the rain, I just put on my hat, not a jacket; I'd sweat so much from wearing the suitcase and the backpack that I wasn't going to get much wetter, and the cool of the wind was what I wanted.

And so I was home, about 13 hours after setting out, if you include the time difference traveled through (did time stretch for me, or was I doubled for a bit? :-)

Comments

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Hooray for no problems on what sounds like an enormousely complicated route!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Er, the comment below was supposed to be in reply, and I'm too lazy to retype...

[magid.livejournal.com]

Well, 7-12 is pretty much a given for any plane travel I do, unless I permute it by taking the Green line to Lechmere and taking a bus from there. Which these days is less feasible, due to Lechmere being closed except for shuttle buses, which is why I took my more usual Red line route.

But yeah, it's nice when public tranportation works :-)
(I just love how many lines and trains there are in London.)