<Beeep, beeep, beeep>
The alarm blared in my ear which was good news; I hadn’t missed it or overslept. I’m always a little leery of closing my eyes for fear of looting and pillaging- finding my underwear and deodorant missing would kinda be a big deal.
Oh, alright, maybe the passport too.
The nap in my hidey hole was short, but really did help get me through the rest of the travel. Other surprises helped too, but I’ll get to that.
With still an hour to go, I trotted on over to my gate in Heathrow’s Terminal 3. If you recall, when I left Nashville, I was told I’d have to get a new boarding pass in London. Cool, that’s easy enough.
“Here’s your new boarding pass, ma’am.”
“Oh, I paid for my seat, is it still a window?”
“You’ve been upgraded to First Class, Ma’am. It’s still a window.”
Wait, say what?! I am NOT one to kick a gift horse in the mouth, nor am I one to make waves of any sort. I thanked her profusely, knowing full-well she had ZERO to do with this nice little surprise, and sauntered down the jetway with probably too much obvious wind in my sails. It was MY turn to watch the chattel in the back make their way to their seats. LOL! (Which is me 100% of all of my other travels.)
***Side note on upgrades- and this is only MY opinion… I generally won’t do that, even on long hauls, as my reasoning is that I can spend that money on a very pricey flight OR a few more fancy meals, a couple of extra souvenirs, or tickets to something I might not otherwise treat myself too. Case in point coming up in the next few chapters. Of note, I do realize that there are many folks who do like to snatch up those upgrades when they can. No judgement here! That’s the beauty of travel, there’s a style and method for every type of traveler!
Settled in to my super cushy, loads-of-room space, I was offered a glass of sparkling wine. Yes, I accepted. We taxied out and I spied the nice livery of a WestJet Dreamliner and thought of my travel partner and wondered how the whole connection drama was unfolding. EEK! Tight connections are no joke; I’d 1,000% rather hang at a lounge for $80 for 3 hours than chew (more of) my fingernails off. But that’s a story for pkondz to tell…
While I waited on my upgraded breakfast, I fiddled with the flight maps and scrolled on my phone. The flight from Heathrow to Prague is only 2 hours, so basically, it’s enough time for a meal service and a seatback game or two. I did not get a hoity-toity menu like *some* people; I surmised this was a take-it-or-leave-it affair. I took it. And I loved it!
It was plentiful and for British cuisine, surprisingly pretty good. There was a small wedge of meat pasty, a half Scottish egg (I know I have at least one reader from the UK, so correct me if I’m wrong!) and an assortment of chutneys and really very nice cheese selection. The scone was soft and the clotted cream and jam were perfect! As for the blob of mayonnaise-y stuff… I was at a loss. It wasn’t “bad” but I didn’t eat it all either. Nor did I really touch the cake. When I removed the jam lid, I was pleasantly amused by the little saying. Yes, Eat Well and Love Life!
My only complaint was that I was forgotten about for the beverage service. Once I realized I was overlooked, I had to signal the cabin steward to bring me an apple juice and that took a bit of time. It would have been nice to have had something cold to drink with the meal as well. A small detail that’s easily forgiven!
Green fields and rolling hills passed below me and soon gave way to more urban settings signaling our imminent arrival. The Vltava River came into view, and Prague’s signature multiple bridge crossings stood out as a truly lovely feature. I peered through my window down onto Prague Central and was giddy that very soon I’d be exploring as many places and sites as I could cram in with only a day and a little to give it before moving on to the rest of the planned itinerary. That excitement of seeing new places is just as exhilarating now as it has always been for this heart filled with wanderlust.
The wheels touched down and without much ado we de-planed and were corralled to the immigration kiosks. The first stop was an electronic jobbie where you put in your passport info and some other misc. stuff. After that, I got in a line that was absolutely insanely long. EU passie holders could get in a pretty much non-existent line and breezed on through. Any other foreign passie holders (including UK) had to endure a tortuously long queue which ended up taking about an hour all told. At that point, seething and exhausted, I was trying for the life of me to figure out the point of the kiosks as they didn’t spit out any form of paper or slip saying you’d even done it. No clue. As pkondz mentioned, the EU had just very recently rolled out their EES system and it’s causing long delays all over the place. We’ll get to one particularly poopy crossing later in the trip…
Here’s the State Department Site that may help you stay up to date and learn more:
https://travel.state.gov/en/international-travel/planning/guidance/europe.html
I made it to Prague and was done with the entry process, but did my travel partner make it?! THAT is the all-important question! Would we start this trip out on the same day? Or would our paths intervene sometime later?
A quick word on phone use while overseas: I use T-Mobile for my provider and have a Basic International Plan that I pay $15/month for. It allows me 15GB of data, unlimited free texts, and calls for $.25/minute an is good in 215 countries. Totally, totally worth it!! They also have daily, 2-week, and monthlong plans if those suit your needs better. I used to use the eSIM add-ons in the past but don’t need to mess with that whatsoever now. So easy!!
Ok, Friends, stay tuned and remember… Eat Well and Love Life!
