Day 2 – Upwards and Onwards

The good news about the flight delay – if it’s possible to have good news in such situations – was that our new travel insurance policy kicked in and we got free lounge passes for the 3 of us as our delay was longer than an hour.

It would be a long day ahead

We only had this new insurance because the old insurers had cancelled our policy when Elizabeth was taken to hospital and wouldn’t insure her again for at least 8 weeks after any successful operation.

We were offered two possible at Gatwick’s South Terminal – the No. 1 Lounge and the Grain Store and Café.  There was a long queue at the No. 1 Lounge and they were turning away anyone not pre-booked with them.  So off we went to the Grain Store.  The woman at the entrance said we could use the passes for up to £15.50’s worth of food and drink each.  With a long day ahead we all went for the full English with either tea or coffee each.  That came to around £13 each so we got it all for free.

Call me an old cynic of you like, but when we checked in early at the terminal the night before there was a fixed notice on the check-in desk from BA to say that it your flight was delayed by 2 hours or more, to ask what help, compensation etc passengers were entitled to.  Strange that our delay was officially down as 1 hour and 55 minutes!  In the event it took off more than 2 hours late so perhaps I should start asking the question.

On the other hand, the delay was due to the fact that the plane had come in overnight from Antigua and was probably delayed by Dorian, so perhaps it’s a bit mean for m to do that.

The special assistance boarding slot was very short and Elizabeth and Joyce were absent in the ladies’ retreat when we were called so we ended up boarding with the masses.  The staff were helpful getting us down the aisle and settled and the main mass of passengers then poured in.  Joyce thought the plane was enormous, but it’s only a run-of-the-mill job these days.  The plane moved off to join a long queue of others waiting for clearance to get to the runway and then we were off.

The flight was uneventful except for some quite strong turbulence mid-way.  The choice of entertainment was excellent and none of us were bored. The pilots were clearly trying to make up time and used a straight across the Atlantic route rather than going in the usual curve up to near Iceland and Greenland.

Land in sight on the mock up of the pilot's view. Titusville and Merritt Island are next to the Cape Canaveral complex

The Space Coast is now in sight

Cape Canaveral Complex including the service runway and the various launch pads near the beaches

Intra-Coastal Waterway below

Coming down ...

Notice how far away the control tower is

Soon land was in sight and we were down.  We waited for the cabin to empty and then made our way off. We had someone to push Joyce along and she showed us to the immigration officer for US citizens, Canadians and others legally resident and, as always, there were no long queues there.  It was even better for the fact that a Virgin Atlantic flight had arrived just before ours. A friendly immigration officer took our photos and stamped our passports, asked us how long we were staying and off we went – no fingerprints and no customs card to complete – what is going on here?!

The assistance lady stayed on with us while we were waiting for Joyce’s bag to appear but eventually melted away and it was only later that Elizabeth said she was probably waiting for a tip!  It never crossed my mind!

Then we were off to get our hire car – no queue there which was again a surprise and off we went to choose our mid-size SUV.  We chose a blue Nissan Rogue and off we went.

We were soon in familiar territory and stopped off at Walmart on Old Lake Wilson Road for some provisions and then on to the house.   We got the car emptied and had a welcome drink.  Alex and Tim had got us some water and a wind up radio in case of hurricane problems but the risk to us here is receding with each forecast update.

And finally, at 10.20pm US time, 3.20am UK time it was time to hit the sack.