Dallas to London for a Day

Thursday, May 7th we flew from Dallas to London (9 hours). We left at 3:40 pm and arrived around 7 am. The intent was to sleep on the plane. That did not happen.

The original plan, which seemed okay before this flight, was to store our luggage at the airport, tour Windsor Castle, and have lunch before boarding our flight to Rome later in the day. It was going to be more than $60 to store four bags for a few hours and then car service was going to be about $80, and did I mention we were tired? 

We went to guest desk at airport and asked if they could locate a room that we could check in at 8 am and leave later in the afternoon. Well, hello Heathrow Marriott Hotel. We went to hotel, brushed our teeth, and took a nap.


After the much needed nap, we asked the concierge where a good place for lunch would be and he suggested The Pheasant Inn. We walked there and ate with the locals.

Everyone was dressed in suits or business casual and drinking quite a bit of alcohol (mostly Stella Artois). We were in hoodies and jeans.

We couldn't figure out the lunch thing. There was a separate area for table service in a swanky looking area (we read that to mean expensive) and there was not a single person in that area. We wanted to eat on the patio.

We decided to do what the locals were doing...if we could figure it out. 

The place was like a zoo. After some people watching, we figured it out. I stood in a line at the bar to get beers and Nick stood in a very long line to order food. Nice teamwork.

After you order the food, they give you a spoon with a number and bring your food to your table when it is ready. Kind of like McAlister's Deli, but two lines. It took an hour to order and get food, but it was worth it.

Nick had Bangers and Mash and I had an open-faced roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce and lots of sides. This was an awesome meal. With a couple of large beers it was about $40 USD.

Later in the afternoon, we went back to London Heathrow to get checked in for our 8pm flight to Rome.

I had no idea that I was supposed to take my tablet out of my backpack. I thought it was only laptops. There were no instructions at security. My tablet was fine in my bag at DFW. Au contraire in London.

My suitcase made it through unscathed. This little bag held all my clothes and shoes for a 10-day trip. I packed my clothes in gallon baggies and smooshed the air out of the bags. I think that helped.

I also brought a small backpack for my toiletries, tablet, phone, books, a sea of adapters, books, and chargers. Anything I might want easy access to while on the plane.

My backpack went to the 'secure' area. I had to wait behind the other losers who were tagged. The TSA agent eventually dumped everything out of my bag. She individually swabbed every item in my bag. Then, she took my tablet and sent it back through the x-ray machine and informed me, not very nicely, that the next time I came through Heathrow I needed to take my tablet out. Did I mention that Nick had his iPad in his backpack and his bag went through fine? But don't worry, Nick's bags might have made it through security, but Nick got his turn at a body search at Heathrow. I laughed as I typed that.

So the next time I went through Heathrow, I took my tablet out and guess what? They 'secured' the bin with my tablet and a few other assorted items and swabbed it all. Oh, and Nick's iPad was just fine again. He did not get body searched the second time around. I think they hate me or Samsung tablets. Urgh. 

Before boarding, we went for dinner at the airport. Again, this restaurant had two sections: table service and NOT table service. We sat in NOT table service. We went to the bar to order food and drinks and the bartender brought the food to the table when it was ready. 

This was the only day that we did not follow our itinerary.