A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31
Well, finally having finished writing up the last two days of this trip and the final thoughts and got some photos into the first couple of updates, I think I'm finally ready to go - just a week after returning home. Not bad going!
If you haven't read the pre-trip report, you can find it elsewhere in this forum, but I will warn you there's a lot to read through.
Here's what you really need to know:
We took an 18 night back-to-back cruise on the Disney Magic in September, starting with an 11 night Transatlantic cruise from Dover to New York City, then staying on board for the next seven nights to Quebec City. The whole time we were cruising with our good friends Mari and Raleigh who we've vacationed with many times before. Our good friend and sometime evil travel agent Sara joined us for the second cruise.
Then we had a couple of final days in New England visiting friends (more of that to come in due course ) and seeing some places we hadn't had a chance to on previous New England visits before heading home. In total, it was a three week vacation.
It all starts the day before our cruise was due to depart. Mari and Raleigh flew into Scotland a couple of days earlier, as they wanted to go back to some places and see some new places that we didn't get to do on our Scotland road trip last year. They were flying down to us early on the Saturday morning from Edinburgh to London Gatwick....
It’s fair to say that today did not turn out the way it was planned at all. First, we were both awake before 5:00am. I asked Mark what time it was and he told me “5:00am”. Ok, the alarm will be going off in 45 minutes’ time… might as well not worry too much about going back to sleep then. I was a little confused when I heard the BBC news top of the hour music and asked him again what time it was. “Ah yes, it’s now 5:00am”. Oh for goodness’ sake…
I’d just decided to get up and turned my phone on and that’s when I saw the message from Mari…
Stay put! Plane isn’t supposed to depart until 11:00!!!! Could have slept in longer!
We couldn’t believe it. I had looked at departures from Edinburgh last night and I had noticed that they’d all been at least half an hour late, so I figured there was some issue and it might carry on into this morning, but not by this much…
A message from Mari later said that something had apparently happened to one of EasyJet’s planes and they had to make up the delays today and it was affecting all their scheduled flights for today. I did look later on the Edinburgh and Gatwick airport websites and it was literally only their flight that had such severe delays. I guess it was literally just their plane that had the problems then. Oh well, it’s annoying, but there’s nothing you can do about it.
We were up stupidly early, but it actually worked out well for us, as it gave us the opportunity to catch up on some TV and get some things done that we didn’t know how we were going to fit in before we went away. I felt so bad, as Mari and Raleigh were stuck at the airport for hours, but it actually worked out Ok for us. We were able to take the electricity and gas readings (the company only sent an email asking for it by 26 September a couple of days ago) and even go into town to run some last minute errands…
The bad news continued with the flight. Mari and I were messaging and she told me just before 10:00am that they didn’t have a gate and it was due by that time. I tried to reassure her that happened to us and I remembered a woman who travelled regularly through Edinburgh saying they always cut it close with announcing the gate number. Sadly that wasn’t to be. By the time we got home from town, I checked the Edinburgh and Gatwick websites and it was saying their departure time would be 11:55am, then as I watched, it went back to midday!
I don’t know if you’ve ever done this before, but sometimes when you go on an airport website you spot a flight that is just hideously delayed. Sometimes, if our flight is delayed, I look at it and think “well, we’re having a bad day, but thank goodness we’re not on that flight!” Well today that flight is definitely Mari and Raleigh’s….
We tried to just get on with things and catch up on some more TV and check our packing again, while really being on tenterhooks. I’d already said to Mari in a message that we would not leave the house until their flight was airborne. First, we saw the gate had closed, then it seemed like ages until they said it was taxiing. Finally, at 12;16pm, a whopping five and a quarter hours after they were supposed to depart at 7:00am, they were airborne.
We finished a very small lunch and headed out just after that, seeing some of my bovine buddies on the way…
While we were making our way to Gatwick. I kept an eye on Google, as there are roadworks on the M23 as you head to Gatwick. On our way there, it told us there’d been an accident in the roadworks, so we decided to take the back roads. Wouldn’t you know it, we met a bloody tractor almost straight away, just after we got off the dual carriageway, where we could have overtaken.
We chugged along with about 10 cars in front of us, not one overtaking. It was so frustrating! Thankfully we headed off on our own route and, apart from meeting a pack of cyclists, which we had to overtake, it was Ok. Phew!
Mari and Raleigh’s plane was expected at 1:24pm and, as we drove along, we saw two EasyJet planes landed and figured they were probably on one of them.
Poor Mari and Raleigh. That's certainly not the way you'd want to start your trip from Scotland. Hopefully things get better.
I hate it when I wake up earlier than I need to and there isn't enough time to go back to sleep.
Are you ready for tonight? I have the dvr set up to record the premier of Doctor Who Although, they're repeating it for the rest of the day.
Liz
How sad for Mari and Raleigh with the delay. On your part, it also puts a big damper on plans as you are just waiting around and don't want to get too involved in any long term activity. I'm glad they finally got on their way. At least it was a short flight once they took off.
Ahhh, yes. The joys of being on "that" flight. It's like winning the wrong kind of lottery. Glad you guys could make the best of the wasted time, but what a bummer for Mari and Raleigh!!
At least you got to see some cows along your (longer than should have been) drive!
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Tanya
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Wow! I am impressed that you’ve started already! Me on the other hand...still dragging my feet with photos and going through notes from our September trip.
Not a very good start with Mari and Raleigh’s flight. :
Poor Mari and Raleigh. That's certainly not the way you'd want to start your trip from Scotland. Hopefully things get better.
I hate it when I wake up earlier than I need to and there isn't enough time to go back to sleep.
Are you ready for tonight? I have the dvr set up to record the premier of Doctor Who Although, they're repeating it for the rest of the day.
I just watched it! Oh my goodness, it was certainly interesting. I thought Jodie Whittaker was great and I think she'll make a great Doctor from what I saw tonight. I really liked the whole team in fact.
It was darker in mood than I expected. As Mark said, some of that would scare the kids, but I thought it moved at a reasonable pace (I thought it could have been a little more pacey) and it showed a lot of promise. The most exciting bit for me was to see the trailer of the actors still to come - oh my goodness, those guest star names were unbelievable!
First, weird that this is already duplicating (and triplicating) posts. Usually I don’t see that happen until it’s really long - not still on page one.
What a frustrating day, for all four of you. At least you could still be productive though.
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I am glad you were able to get the TR started so quickly. Sorry that Mari and Raleigh had such a delay with their flight. Hopefully it all gets better soon.
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
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joined us for the second cruise. 
) and seeing some places we hadn't had a chance to on previous New England visits before heading home. In total, it was a three week vacation. 
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Pixie Dust
First, we were both awake before 5:00am. I asked Mark what time it was and he told me “5:00am”. Ok, the alarm will be going off in 45 minutes’ time… might as well not worry too much about going back to sleep then. I was a little confused when I heard the BBC news top of the hour music and asked him again what time it was. “Ah yes, it’s now 5:00am”. 
Oh for goodness’ sake… 
I had looked at departures from Edinburgh last night and I had noticed that they’d all been at least half an hour late, so I figured there was some issue and it might carry on into this morning, but not by this much… 
By the time we got home from town, I checked the Edinburgh and Gatwick websites and it was saying their departure time would be 11:55am, then as I watched, it went back to midday! 
]
It's like winning the wrong kind of lottery. Glad you guys could make the best of the wasted time, but what a bummer for Mari and Raleigh!!
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
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