Travelling to Anaheim from Paxton to start our holiday – A full day of travel driving to Heathrow Airport in the aftermath of the great storm, dropping the car off at the Excelsior off-airport car park and then checking at Terminal 3 and on to a TWA Boing 747 for the 10 ½ hour flight that taxed both our mental and physical stamina. All of the immigration checks and forms and further problems with our hire car and the drive to find our Ibis Hotel in Anaheim but we made it and turned in at about 9pm local time (5am in the morning for us) and thus ended a tiring day.
A little late to bed, running around and making last minute arrangements, so that all was reasonably ready for an early start this morning. First task for each of us was to get washed and dressed, before having a normal cereal and toast/fruit juice breakfast. Then the packing of our personal things and toiletries that could not be stowed away last night. In the end we had four suitcases and a pushchair for the aircraft’s hold, and then four carry-on bags and a camera holdall to take into the cabin. A dull and chilly day greeted us, as we loaded the things into the Range Rover and set off about 8.30am. Drove off down the A1 carriageway, in company with quite a bit of traffic, but made good progress. A little tense trying to ensure that we had taken everything with us that we needed and we did make a couple of false starts, alarming and disarming the house, before we were underway.
An unfamiliar journey these days, along the A1, and I particularly noticed a couple of tree stumps over and less their trunks after the recent gales – they must have presented a hazard to the traffic on this busy trunk route. Once down near Hatfield, we took the M25 orbital motorway ring road west and around the outskirts. This relatively new route saves a lot of congestion to the airport, though it itself, is already quite busy if still moving. As ever, such new facilities soon reach their own saturation as traffic grows to fill the available capacity. We decided not to stop on the way, but drove straight into the airport and arrived at the Excelsior off-airport car park. I used to use this place a lot in my international business days. The drill is to park the car in the open air compound, leave the keys with the desk in the cabin and then be taken by a ‘courtesy bus’ to the airport terminal that you need. When returning you phone their number and get picked up. For this you pay £3.75 per day – some £25 for a week! – which seems quite a lot. Even so, we only just arrived (at 10.00am) in time for a place, as evidently several other such car parks have closed down and their custom transferred here. I should imagine that the alternative use of development land is too much of an attractive investment to keep these plots free at Heathrow Airport. Off then to Terminal 3, where we checked our luggage in and waited whilst the folded pushchair was collected from a special trolley for dispatch, as being of an awkward shape. We then went off for a morning drink, because we had been told that the flight had been delayed an hour. Once upstairs, we opted for a restaurant, rather than a buffet, and settled down for a meal. ‘Settled’ was perhaps not the best word, as the flight’s time on the video screens had not been changed as being late and secondly they kept flashing up messages, ‘Proceed through passport control immediately upon checking in’. This was all unnecessary, as there is plenty of time, but it is a combination of the Airport Authority wanting you to be ‘just sitting there’ for their convenience and also drawing you into the high priced area of 64p soft drinks, duty free shops and other means of maximising income from you. So, through to the departure lounge, where I stocked up with newspapers and periodicals for reading on the plane. A long wait, but Di had packed the girls carry-on bags with things to amuse them and they took pleasure in discovering and playing with each of them. Eventually on to the plane, a Boeing 747 in TWA livery and we were given five seats, with two window seats, in the rear, non-smoking, ‘coach’ section. Then the long, long flight, which takes over 10 ½ hours and taxes both mental and physical stamina. They do their best to break up the journey; drinks, a lap lunch, a ‘movie’, more drinks, another meal etc etc, but the seats are cramped for a large traveller and the chances of sleep limited to the very young. Della was a bit bored and fretful for the entire trip and did not seem to be able to sleep, but, considering her health and cough, she coped reasonably well. I had difficulty doing my reading in the end, as the children were quite demanding and Di struggling a bit with Della. Eventually, the journey came to a blessed end, with me frantically completing immigration forms for each of our 5 family members and a further customs form for us together. We were at the back of the aircraft and thus at the back of the queues at the immigration counter. These people (normally middle aged ladies, who are of stern and unhelpful disposition) always keep you waiting in long queues if you are not US citizens (who are first priority) then Resident Aliens (who are not quite so low as tourists, who are the lowest of the low), Met an old computer industry buddie in the queue and also saw the principal actor in the UK television antiques series ‘Lovejoy’. After an hour’s wait, we quickly gained our luggage back and cleared customs and there was a lady from Jetsave to meet us with a courtesy coach to take us the hour to our Ibis Hotel in Anaheim. Pity no one had told her that we had arranged a Hertz hire car through the travel company and were making our own way! We picked up the Hertz car, but had to query it somewhat. It had no front number plate and a small dent on the bonnet and so I insisted that the girl noted both on the document. Then the difficult car journey to Anaheim. I was very tired, the evening was dark, and we set off in the middle of rush hour! Got to Anaheim by turning off along Garden Grove, but finding the Hotel Ibis was a problem and we were close to despair when we found it at last. Some debate over the rooms to have, but we eventually settled for two adjoining ones, where the car could be parked outside. We had five beds – two queen beds for me and Di and two others and a small bed in the children’s room. We turned in at about 9pm local time (5am in the morning for us) and thus ended a tiring day.