Our time in England was over far too quickly.
The weather warnings for Friday 27th December meant we left home with plenty of time to get to the airport - not usual for us! We had also noticed when checking in for our flights on Thursday evening that we just had an hour at Heathrow between our flight from Manchester landing and our flight to Montreal departing. Having booked the flights ourselves, separate to the Montreal/Heathrow flights, we were worried we had left too little time. Especially as when we had landed at Heathrow the previous week it had taken us 45 minutes to get through security. (It was due to a poor lady sparking off an alert in front of me with something in her hand luggage. I had, for one awful second, thought it was my bag shutting down the x-ray machine.)
Last time we flew from London, our flight had been at 6pm, and I think, in our hurry at booking the seats we had seen 16:00 and the six had stuck in our minds...
Getting to Manchester early meant we were able to check in on the preceding flight.
Phew!
Last time we flew from London, our flight had been at 6pm, and I think, in our hurry at booking the seats we had seen 16:00 and the six had stuck in our minds...
Getting to Manchester early meant we were able to check in on the preceding flight.
Phew!
That also meant we had time to browse the sales at terminal five!
The flights weren't that bumpy - from the gales forecast we had expected a great deal of turbulence - so that was a pleasant surprise.
On arriving in Montreal, I switched on my mobile and got a text from British Airways informing me that one bag hadn't accompanied us to Montreal. Our other three bags came out reasonably quickly, and so we were able to go to the desk and fill out the lost baggage forms rather than waiting and watching people collect their bags from the carousel, the baggage area becoming quieter and quieter, and then the carousel stopping and still being a bag short; which is never a nice experience!
Thankfully the bag in question was T's golf clubs, the best possible bag to still be in England. He had been trying to be reunited with them for the past two years since leaving them with his bother when we moved to Munich. We got the feeling the clubs didn't want to leave England!
Thankfully the bag in question was T's golf clubs, the best possible bag to still be in England. He had been trying to be reunited with them for the past two years since leaving them with his bother when we moved to Munich. We got the feeling the clubs didn't want to leave England!
We had decided to get a taxi to and from the airport to save us having to dig out the car from the snow and mess around de-icing it when we landed in the evening.
It was a good plan and we were very thankful to just go straight from Arrivals to a waiting taxi. Although the plan wasn't totally flawless; as we arrived home to be greeted by this where our front path should be:
It was a good plan and we were very thankful to just go straight from Arrivals to a waiting taxi. Although the plan wasn't totally flawless; as we arrived home to be greeted by this where our front path should be:
With three wheely suitcases and two wheeled hand luggage bags, in English winter clothiers (i.e. nice shoes and trousers), poor T had to set to and clear a path for us to reach our front door!
Welcome back to Montreal...!