Goodbye hugs and kisses

I knew I wouldn’t get any photos today so Gavin took this photo of me saying goodbye to Xena as we left this morning. The taxi arrived at 9am and from the moment we got in the taxi we have worn masks all day, other than when we were eating or drinking. They are awful, I have forgotten what it is like to wear them. We are only wearing them as we have to do a Covid test before boarding the cruise boat, otherwise I would not usually wear one.

We booked with British Airways but actually flew with American Airlines a co share partner of BA. We were very comfortable in business class where the seats had a big screen and decent Bang and Olufsen headphones, so I could watch movies and actually hear them and see the picture properly! I watched Belfast which was excellent and also The Duke. It was a 9 hour flight to Chicago and I planned to sleep but I can never sleep during the day. When we arrived in Chicago the arrivals hall to clear customs was horrific, never seen anything as busy as this before. We were worried about missing our connecting flight to Anchorage.

Chicago airport is a bit grim, but then we are spoilt with Heathrow T5. It took a while to get across to the other terminal for our domestic departure, but we found the lounge and we were welcomed with a glass of champagne as we entered the door. Just what we needed after our long day travelling. Today we remembered just how awful international travelling is, it’s quite painful when you going through it but hopefully worth it when you arrive at your destination.

The next flight to Anchorage is another 6.5 hours so we are not getting much sleep tonight. And we booked ourselves on a hiking tour tomorrow, so fingers crossed we do get some sleep.