After our traditional pre-flight lunch at the Crow and Gate we headed for the airport with our new and matching suitcases. So glad we bought these. Not only do they just glide along but they stand out amongst the still many black suitcases. The flight to London was horribly cramped and certainly less space per person than the two Lufthansa flights we've taken since then.
Once in London we checked into the Sheraton Heathrow where we were less than impressed that they wanted 15 pounds,about$30 to get WiFi for 24 hours. At first we declined but later went back to sign up and complain fiercely but this time we got a delightful young lady who told us how to work around this rule and get it for free... As most other hotels.
Fortunately Michelle and I were both already awake at 5.15 am when the hotels alarm system went off followed by a speaker system telling everyone to go to the nearest exit and leave the building. Most people took the time to throw on some clothes but there were about a hundred people in the parking lot when the one lonely little fire truck arrived. Thankfully it was light, reasonably warm and not raining as people in various stages of undress hung around for the all clear. Other than a faint smell of burnt toast in the air we are not sure of what happened.
As you can see we were non the worse for our early morning trauma as we started the next leg of the journey. I have to say that there is a noticeable difference in the airports since we last visited these same places six years ago. London, Munich and Prague have gone through building renovations which have greatly improved them and the technology has all changed as my travelling friends will know. We were staggered by the sheer numbers of people at Heathrow at 7.00 am. And although we found it a pain to have to do everything for ourselves from boarding passes to luggage labeling and even getting your own trays to go through security, it is hard to imagine how airport staff would be able to handle the volumes if this hadn't happened. In some ways I find it sad to recognize the homogeneous nature of all these airports. Gone are the cultural differences, replaced by the same duty free products, the same books and chocolate bars in every airport, the only difference being the exorbitantly priced soccer shirts depending on locality.
Tonight we have finally arrived in Karlovy Vary, my mum's home town. Wow, it is such a picturesque place and we'll post pictures over the next couple of days.
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