June 14: From Isle of Wight to L.A. in one 32-hour day
We had to get up very early using the portable alarm clock we got at Muji. We walked down the Esplanade, up the hill and through Shanklin for the last time to catch the Southern Vectis bus at 0630 am at the Somerfield. We rode through Shanklin and Sandown and then through Ryde where we saw a humorously named restaurant, Wimpy’s. We had earlier seen a restaurant in Shanklin called David’s Fish and Chips and a restaurant in Ryde called Ian’s so you could argue that my brother and I have businesses on the Isle of Wight.
We got off at the Ryde bus station and walked the quarter-mile long pier to catch the Wightlink ferry. Again, the ferry was full of festival attendees, this time returning. After disembarking from the ferry, we got some flapjacks for breakfast at a little shop, Pumpkin near the bus station and then caught the National Express bus back to Heathrow airport.
We arrived at Heathrow and got in line to check baggage. We were able to carry all our bags on except for our largest bag. From there we found the VAT refund counter and my wife turned in the VAT refund form she had filled out at HMV days earlier. It was the only purchase worth getting the VAT refund. They told her they would send her the refund in about six weeks.
We went through security and then entered a large shopping area. There were large duty free shops, eateries both cheap and expensive, and many other shops. There were even branches of Harrods. My wife got some Thorntons toffee at the Chocolate Box and a Union Jack mousemat at Glorious Britain. What we call mouse pads the English call Mousemats. We got some sandwiches for lunch at Caffe Italia.
We left the shopping our to find our departure gate. It was very long walk because Heathrow Terminal 2 has so many departure gates, about 55. We arrived waited at the gate. When the time came we boarded the plane that was an Airbus plane and was smaller than the Boeing 747 we took to get to London. It had the screens but there weren’t as many choices for movies and TV shows and also you couldn’t just start the movies whenever you wanted. You could only watch what they showed on the channels. There were radio stations but no CD jukeboxes as there were on the flight to London. I watched the 2-hour Christmas episode of The Office and besides that there wasn’t much else good on. They also had the skymap feature. They again served us dinner and later a breakfast-like meal. Periodically they came by serving tea and orange juice or water. For one drink I had some Virgin-brand lemonade. I learned that the English call drinks like Sprite and Seven-up “lemonade”. At one of the supermarkets on the Isle of Wight, my wife had seen a beverage we would call lemonade called “cloudy lemonade”. The flight attendants also served “Ice Lollies”: popsicles made out of frozen orange juice.
The plane took off an hour late because the crew needed to fill the plane’s water tanks. They again gave us gift bags that this time included sox and a notepad along with a siesta mask, pen, toothbrush, and toothpaste. The gifts also came in bigger plastic bags.
We arrived at LAX, picked up our checked bag at the baggage claim and then went through customs. We had to go through one at a time and all we did really was turn in the customs forms they gave us on the plane. They asked my wife about the chocolates she had gotten at some of the gift shops but otherwise we went through smoothly. I exchanged the rest of my English currency and we returned home via the Van Nuys Flyaway bus and my car. It felt strange to drive after having traveled in England on nearly all modes of transportation other than cars.
Epilogue
The trip was definitely a success. We did everything we planned to do and more and all our transportation plans went smoothly for the most part. I took lots of pictures and the x-ray bag protected my film. The pictures all came out great; even the owner of the photo shop where I had them developed said so. The success of our trip showed us how planning ahead makes a trip run more smoothly and makes it more enjoyable. We’ll let you know when we’re going on another adventure.
We had to get up very early using the portable alarm clock we got at Muji. We walked down the Esplanade, up the hill and through Shanklin for the last time to catch the Southern Vectis bus at 0630 am at the Somerfield. We rode through Shanklin and Sandown and then through Ryde where we saw a humorously named restaurant, Wimpy’s. We had earlier seen a restaurant in Shanklin called David’s Fish and Chips and a restaurant in Ryde called Ian’s so you could argue that my brother and I have businesses on the Isle of Wight.
We got off at the Ryde bus station and walked the quarter-mile long pier to catch the Wightlink ferry. Again, the ferry was full of festival attendees, this time returning. After disembarking from the ferry, we got some flapjacks for breakfast at a little shop, Pumpkin near the bus station and then caught the National Express bus back to Heathrow airport.
We arrived at Heathrow and got in line to check baggage. We were able to carry all our bags on except for our largest bag. From there we found the VAT refund counter and my wife turned in the VAT refund form she had filled out at HMV days earlier. It was the only purchase worth getting the VAT refund. They told her they would send her the refund in about six weeks.
We went through security and then entered a large shopping area. There were large duty free shops, eateries both cheap and expensive, and many other shops. There were even branches of Harrods. My wife got some Thorntons toffee at the Chocolate Box and a Union Jack mousemat at Glorious Britain. What we call mouse pads the English call Mousemats. We got some sandwiches for lunch at Caffe Italia.
We left the shopping our to find our departure gate. It was very long walk because Heathrow Terminal 2 has so many departure gates, about 55. We arrived waited at the gate. When the time came we boarded the plane that was an Airbus plane and was smaller than the Boeing 747 we took to get to London. It had the screens but there weren’t as many choices for movies and TV shows and also you couldn’t just start the movies whenever you wanted. You could only watch what they showed on the channels. There were radio stations but no CD jukeboxes as there were on the flight to London. I watched the 2-hour Christmas episode of The Office and besides that there wasn’t much else good on. They also had the skymap feature. They again served us dinner and later a breakfast-like meal. Periodically they came by serving tea and orange juice or water. For one drink I had some Virgin-brand lemonade. I learned that the English call drinks like Sprite and Seven-up “lemonade”. At one of the supermarkets on the Isle of Wight, my wife had seen a beverage we would call lemonade called “cloudy lemonade”. The flight attendants also served “Ice Lollies”: popsicles made out of frozen orange juice.
The plane took off an hour late because the crew needed to fill the plane’s water tanks. They again gave us gift bags that this time included sox and a notepad along with a siesta mask, pen, toothbrush, and toothpaste. The gifts also came in bigger plastic bags.
We arrived at LAX, picked up our checked bag at the baggage claim and then went through customs. We had to go through one at a time and all we did really was turn in the customs forms they gave us on the plane. They asked my wife about the chocolates she had gotten at some of the gift shops but otherwise we went through smoothly. I exchanged the rest of my English currency and we returned home via the Van Nuys Flyaway bus and my car. It felt strange to drive after having traveled in England on nearly all modes of transportation other than cars.
Epilogue
The trip was definitely a success. We did everything we planned to do and more and all our transportation plans went smoothly for the most part. I took lots of pictures and the x-ray bag protected my film. The pictures all came out great; even the owner of the photo shop where I had them developed said so. The success of our trip showed us how planning ahead makes a trip run more smoothly and makes it more enjoyable. We’ll let you know when we’re going on another adventure.
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