We checked out of the Radisson Edwardian at 10.30 and made
our way to Heathrow Terminal 5.
I was in total awe of the building. It’s absolutely enormous
and very, very impressive, especially when compared to the old terminals at
Heathrow.
Despite picking the slowest bag drop queue with a French
family in front of us, repacking their suitcase to get under the weight
allowance, we dropped off our bags and made it through security pretty
quickly. One thing that impressed
me was that because we had the BA iPhone app, we had en electronic boarding
pass and didn’t have to have a separate bit of paper – they just scanned the
iPhone at every stage :)
Laura kept remarking that T5 seemed like it had transported
us to the future as there were hundreds of LCD advertising screens all showing
the same advert simultaneously. And the underground rapid transit system that
takes you to the satellite terminals felt like it belonged in Total Recall.
Our plane was already boarding when we got there so we
walked straight on and proceeded to our seats at the back of the plane. The
plane was full and sat next to us was a really nice woman from Philadelphia.
She’d been bumped from the previous day’s flight and seemed very happy that BA
had compensated her with £500. We chatted about where we were planning on going
and we mentioned the obscure Red Caboose Motel in Strasberg and she said “Get
out! No way!” as it turns out her family are all from Strasberg. In fact,
there’s a diner in the town called Zuggi’s which is named after her
grandfather. Small world. Anyway, she was very chatty and although we didn’t
get her name, for the purposes of this holiday she will now be known as Kristen
(as she looked a bit like Kristen Wiig, although not so much in this picture).
The seven hour journey (well, closer to eight in the end) passed quickly. I watched a couple of good films (50/50 with Joseph Gorden Lovit and Seth Rogan Josh; and Crazy, Stupid, Love with Steve Carell) watched a TV show on the iPad, read Empire magazine and whiled away the time watching the little aeroplane icon slowly move over the in-flight map as we made our way over the Atlantic.
Laura: Natalie forgets to mention the most important part of the flight. The food. We had a lovely chicken curry as our main meal, although we both made the mistake of eating one of the bits of chilli which were ridiculously hot. After years of travelling by Ryan Air where you are charged for pretty much everything, the thing that I was impressed with the most was getting free drinks. Free tea, free wine, free vodka, it was a lovely way to start the holiday.
Excitement levels were set to Manic Grinning Level 5 by the
time we arrived in Philadelphia. We got through customs and security unscathed.
I managed to appear normal throughout and they agreed to let us both in the US
– hurrah!
We got a taxi to the hotel in downtown Philadelphia and
managed to pick the scariest driver in the smelliest car. I think it took about
2 hours for my nose to forget the smell of wet dog and for my knuckles to
unclench... oooh they seem to drive very fast over here!
At the Sheraton hotel there was a national beard competition
going on. I know this because (a) I kept seeing people with crazy beards
walking around and (b) because when I jokingly asked at reception if there was
some sort of beard competition going on, she replied “Yes. There’s a beard
competition” without any elaboration as if it was the most normal thing ever. (Laura:
Only seeing one crazy beard and getting to the hotel after the beard
competition had finished was pretty annoying, although I would’ve only been
jealous so it was probably for the best!)
There was also an awards banquet for Lockheed-Martin
happening last night. I know this
because I shared an elevator ride with the CEO of Lockheed-Martin. I was busy
wandering the hotel at this point, looking for ice and a coke while Laura had a
power nap in our room on the 19th floor.
After waking Laura up, we headed out and had a wander around
Downtown. We decided we couldn’t be bothered to go and see the Rocky Steps as
it was a bit of a trek, plus we had a really good view of them from our room.
It was about 7 and a bit chilly, but we had a lovely stroll around.
We
marvelled at the Comcast Tower (15th tallest building in the US) and
smiled at the sight of a grate in the street with steam coming from it, a fire
hydrant and a fire engine (ah, clichés). We found a 7-11 and stocked up on
snacks. I took a picture of some beef jerky with a picture of Chewbacca on it
because it looked funny. We found a McDonalds and I purchased a strawberry
milkshake, which was just as good as the one I had near Florida in 2006 (yes,
they’re not the same as the UK ones). (Laura: We also saw yellow school buses, which for
some reason Natalie wasn’t bothered or impressed by at all, this I can not
fathom as the yellow school bus is just as iconic as the Statue of Liberty,
yellow taxis or the White House to me. They’re exciting damn it!)
We saw City Hall and lots of giant things (a giant clothes
peg, a giant paintbrush…) before making our way back to the hotel. Laura found
a channel on the TV called Cute Tiny Dog Puppies Network (or something like
that) and at 9.30pm we went to bed. (Laura: It was the Animal channel actually, it just
happened to have a programme on called Too Cute, which was following three dog
families and their puppies, it sent me to sleep with happy thoughts. Plus
Natalie definitely enjoyed it too, I reckon I need to download and play this at
regular occasions, I’ll have a dog in no time at all!)
More about the beard cometition http://215mag.com/features/East_Coast_Beard_and_Mustache_Championship
ReplyDelete"The participants were broken down into fourteen various categories, including “Full Beard Natural”, “Freestyle Beard” and “Styled Mustache.” There were even categories for female participants, including “Fake Beard Most Realistic.” Most, if not all, the participants came on stage to loud applause and calls from the audience, proclaiming their name, what state they hailed from (many of the participants came from the “Great State” of Texas, much to the chagrin of host Brandon Biggins) and, their club affiliation. Quite a few took the the festivities even further, not only sporting their follicles for all to see, but dressing in various costumes that suited their specific facial hairstyle."
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.422244961123681.114428.111992842148896&type=1