There and Back Again

Wednesday, June 01, 2011 Road Junkies 0 Comments

3 MONTHS IN EUROPE, Day 93: 
London, England to Atlanta, USA. 
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We took the Piccadilly subway line from Leicester Square to Terminal 4 at Heathrow.  With many stops along the way, the trip took just over an hour.
    
Our flight from London was relatively uneventful.  We discovered when we checked in online a couple of days ago that Delta would have "Economy Comfort" seats available on our flight home, offering a small number of seats at the front of the coach section with a few inches more leg room, priority boarding, and one free drink.  
    
First class, it ain't!
It's a long way from first class, but then again it doesn't cost nearly as much.  For just $80 more on this transatlantic flight, we were able to move into seats that provided a bit more leg room.  It doesn't sound like much until you think about being in an airline seat for 9.5 hours.  Today was the inaugural day for this particular service.  We found it to be a good value and something we would definitely try again on such a long flight.
     
Landing in Atlanta
We arrived in Atlanta (pictured above)  to discover that summer had arrived while we were away.  The high temperature  forecast for the next six days is 97 degrees or higher.  Really?  And we're still three weeks from the official beginning of summer. 

The cab ride from the airport jolted us back into another reality— the long distances we frequently drive at home and take for granted. Though Peachtree City is often called Deltaville because of the large number of airline employees who live here, the city is 24 miles from the airport.  We reminisced as we rode home about the day last week when we visited six or eight villages in the Reading, England area, yet our round trip mileage for the day was 20.
   
Back to Georgia
Gas prices are certainly higher than when we left on March 1 ($2.99 when we last filled up at the end of February), but nothing like what we paid in Europe, our highest being $9.05 per gallon in Great Britain. 
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We found our apartment exactly as we had left it except the air conditioning was running rather than the heat.  Our housesitter did a great job providing us with the security of a weekly email that all was well.  The van apparently tired of just sitting in the garage for three months and needed a jump start from AAA to get it going again.

Now we have a whole day to rest and recover before heading to Alabama for Uncle Joe's 80th birthday celebration.  Lots of family will be there.  Can't wait!
      
WEDNESDAY, 1 JUNE 2011