Going Home

After 10 fun filled days of seeing new cities and towns, and making lots of new friends, it was time to leave. We'd joined a shuttle from the port with 4 other people. The latest we could get was 9:00, although our flight wasn't until 3pm. Our luggage tags indicated that we could just disembark whenever we wanted and our bags would be waiting. I'd asked the concierges how long we'd need to get off the ship - my thinking was it wouldn't be long because there should be no reason to go through any sort of customs, since the entire cruise had been in both the EU and the Schengen area, ie passport free zone. And they confirmed you just walk off and get your luggage and away you go. Of course, we did have to get out of the room by 8.

So we left at 8 to grab our last breakfast at Luminae. After breakfast we said goodbye to the staff with lots of hugs, and went back to the room to grab our carry ons. Glen needed to use the restroom, so I headed to Michael's to wait for him. Just about 8:45 he arrived, so we said good bye to concierge Adrianna and headed to the gangway. Sure enough, walk off, grab the bags, and look for the shuttle.

It was a bit chaotic there, so I left Glen to wander the port area. At the far end, I found the driver. I told them I was going to get Glen and back I went. I found him, lost him in the crowd, but he quickly after a call to me, found us, and the 6 of us introduced ourselves to each other. We loaded the van and away we went.

By 10am, we were at the airport. I was concerned about our friends JoEllen and Alan, since they were traveling to Atlanta, at that point in the midst of the visit from Hurricane Irma, so I texted her. Yes, their flight to Atlanta was going and on time at 12:30.

We tried to check our bags, but was told by the stern looking Lufthansa employee that we couldn't check our bags until 3 hours before the flight. I then asked about trying to get on a earlier flight since there was one leaving at 11:45. Even if we couldn't get the earlier flight from Munich to London, we could at least get to Munich, which would probably be a better airport. We were directed to the customer service counter for Lufthansa. They said since it was a United ticket, we'd have to go to the United counter, or call. The agent gave me the European number to call. We then, with bags trekked down to the end of the terminal where the US flights go from. When we asked about about the United counter they said there wasn't a counter. So I called. They could move us, but only for several hundred dollars. I guess we are staying put.

So we grabbed a luggage cart, loaded all our luggage and took the elevator to the 2nd floor and the food court. Actually it was more of a counter service restaurant with stations like a corporate cafeteria, actually. We staked a table, and then I went to get us some coffee. I got in the coffee line, but was then told I had to go to the order counter first and pay. So I did, and of course had to explain that to the next American in line.

We enjoyed our coffee, hung out at the restaurant until noon. While there, got a confirming text that our friends were on their flight. Went back to Lufthansa, checked our bags, and were directed to the Alitalia lounge.

United Club it was not. We noticed a food section with no labels, and lots of seating areas with used dishes glasses etc. I finally found two seats, moved some dirty dishes, and we settled in (said dishes were not removed for at least an hour and half). Our 3:15 flight was ontime until about 2:30, when it went late, along with almost every other flight on the board. Agents said it was the weather.

We finally boarded, and I think we were about an hour or so late. The flight attended assured me that we wouldn't miss our connection in Munich. I was just a little worried, since we'd go through passport control there, but she let me know it wasn't far, and flights to London were always late.

Upon arrival, we headed directly to passport control, up one level in the same terminal. No line, so we headed toward the gate. We stopped for a brief break in the Lufthansa lounge - much cleaner than the Alitalia one. The flight was showing on time, so we headed to the gate just after 7. We were told that due to ground holds from London weather, we were delaying boarding and departure. Eventually, they decided to board us about 20 minutes after we were supposed to depart and sat on the plane for a while. We left about an hour late.

My original plan was to check in to our hotel and walk to a local pub for dinner. Our late departure would put us on the bubble for that.

When we arrived in London, we had to go through customs, and we did get a fast pass for that. Grabbed our bags, and headed to where the buses were. For the London airport busses there are no free shuttles, but there's a 5 pound "hoppa" bus which has about 5 routes, each of which visits different hotels and terminals. The first bus we saw said "Renaissance" so I asked the driver, and he said they didn't, I needed a different number. From what I saw from the website, it would be another hour, and the hotel was close enough to the airport that the price would be close, so we took a cab. Most of the drive was getting out of the airport, but we soon arrived at the hotel.

By the time we checked in we decided, due to two meals on the Lufthansa flights and some snacks, we weren't really hungry, so we passed on the pub. About then I got a text from Jo saying the'd landed, but in New York, not Atlanta. I offered to share my sisters contact info, but it seemed they had the situation under control (I found out later they did manage to get home in the middle of the night).

The next morning we had breakfast in the restaurant, and noticed it backed up to the runway, so after breakfast, since our flight wasn't until mid afternoon, and due to London being an hour earlier than central Europe we were up early, we took a walk through the parking lot to watch the planes take off.

We then grabbed our bags, and waited for the next bus that went to our terminal. It came roughly when the schedule said it would. It was the same number we'd seen the night before.

When we arrived at the airport, we checked our bags, and then headed to the VAT refund area. I suggested we go there first so that we could then put our purchases into checked luggage, but apparently I wasn't clear enough so the bags got checked.

Things got a bit interesting at the VAT refund area. We had to do it in London because that was our point of departure from the EU. (Brexit hasn't happened yet). Because the amount had to go from Euros to Pounds to Dollars it dropped considerably. They also had to give some change in Pounds. On the way to the lounge and the gate, we stopped in a store and bought a few odds and ends. Not enough to use up the pounds.

Our visit to the United Club was uneventful and our flight was on time. I was happy to see that all three Godfather movies were on the entertainment system, because I wanted to see them now that I visited some of the filming locations.

Things were going great until about midway through Godfather 1, when the entertainment system froze. And froze. The rebooted it. Freeze again. etc. Oh, wait it was also on the personal entertainment system, so I could watch on the phone. Nope, that was so slow that I could watch a minute, wait for it to reconnect and then watch another minute. Eventually I gave up and watched some stuff that I had on my laptop. We did get some flight credit for the inconvenience.

That was the most interesting thing about the trip home. Arrived in LA, waited for our SF flight, all good.

Thus concludes our first cruise to the Med sea. And I still can't spell it. Next cruise is a 5 day to Cabo in February.