Layovers

Jake has been hiking the Camino Primitivo in Spain for most of the last three weeks and we are meeting up in Porto, Portugal tomorrow.  My journey started yesterday and as seems appropriate to the word “journey” involves many hours of passing time.  I dropped Calla (my dog) off in Oxford with my parents and chatted over a cup of coffee, back to Easton to clean the house, did some grant writing, and headed north to Adkins Arboretum for book club.  We discussed a book on paw paws by Andrew Moore and there was a great turnout of people and paw paws.  Paw paw cookies with a mysterious reddish hue, jam, and fresh fruits in varying degrees of ripeness.  A few enjoyable hours passed in tasting and book discussion followed by a half hour of discussion with the Arboretum’s director on upcoming grant applications.

I arrived at BWI about 3 hours before my 10 pm flight.  I found a great spot in my favorite area of the LongTerm A parking lot and only had to wait 1 minute for the bus despite an announcement that said the next bus would be in 8 minutes. It’s the little things that make travel “easy” or “a royal pain”.  Maybe they just always over-estimate to make you feel good when the bus arrives earlier than expected?  I don’t think I’d been to Terminal E (International Departures) for a while, and there isn’t much there.  Not even a long corridor for exercise! I am one of those people who skips the rolling walkways and escalators unless I’ve got my rolling suitcase with me so that I can stretch some between flights. I think Terminal E is being renovated though.  Anyway, thanks to Jake I am flying business class so I could go hang out in British Airway’s Chesapeake Lounge.  I had a dinner of finger sandwiches with a nice glass of cabernet while reading a couple more chapters of the paw paw book (at least I’d gotten some of it read before book club!).

Turns out they offered a full dinner on board, but given the late hour I just opted for dessert and an attempt at sleep.  I think the sugar woke me up though, so sleep was light.  Oh well, not much going on today anyway!  We arrived at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and I took a longish bus ride to Terminal 3 where most of the inter-Europe flights leave from.  Looks like I’m going through customs in Portugal.  I was kind of hoping I could use some of my layover to get that done. 

Terminal 3 is like an upscale shopping mall with a lot of seating.  The lounge here is crowded and very large.  There are many rooms but not so many charging stations available, particularly if you packed your outlet adaptor in your checked bag!  Fortunately my phone charges quickly and the Kindle and Jake’s laptop are holding their charge well.  I have been moving around the lounge as time passes.  I started out under the tv in a more comfortable chair first, but everyone started watching the tv when the news report on Brad and Angelina’s divorce started so I decided it was time to move to the computer area where I could charge my phone.  I was amused reading the Daily Telegraph that the split is being called Brex-Pitt and that invasive species were covered on page 3!  How great is British news?  Then I moved to the dining area for some lunch.  Now I’m back in the bar area with a cappuccino and cookies.  Only 2 hours to go before my flight to Lisbon!