Hi Ho!

Specific travel tips and advise are found under “Notes” below.

I understand why people book a tour or let a travel agent plan their itinerary: it’s easier and saves time, brain damage and, often, money.  But I am not one of those people. I love the research and challenge of travel planning and I even became a travel agent to take advantage of discounts and perks, which have come in handy. (if you want to do that too, see my website, www.AyshaGriffin.com, ). However, despite the best-laid plans, I am always surprised when they work, and disappointed when they don’t.

This just-completed 2-week trip began in November 2006 when United Airlines Mileage Plus program sent me an email saying that if I did not use my 110,000 miles by the end of 2007, they would expire. Where would you like to go? I asked David, my life-partner who has declared he will travel only “for the architecture.” England, he replied. That’s fine, I said, but we can’t go to England without inviting Jan (David’s sister and a director of Shakepearean young people’s theatre) and Richard (her master-woodworker husband), who live in New Hampshire and have never been “across the pond.” You’re right, David said, they have to come with us.

Planning travel for one couple is complicated by trying to accommodate both people’s interests, but the logistics of planning for two couples is more than double the complication: all lodging must have two separate bedrooms and baths, all four people’s interests and needs must be considered, and traveling from different starting points to an overseas destination must be coordinated.

For at least six months I planned this, first with the full two weeks in England and then, after reports in July of major floods in Oxfordshire and Gloustershire, I reconfigured the trip — cancelling all four different B&Bs and a week-long car rental from Oxford to Heathrow Airport (LHR) — with 4 days in London and the remainder in France. However, we would have to make our way back to London to fly out of LHR for our return tickets.

Note: airfares could not be changed without paying fees almost equal to the fare itself; that was partially due to my having booked the Boston-London fares via cheaptickets.com which used two different carriers (one for each direction) and has its own fees for changes, in addition to the airlines. My Mileage Plus miles could have been changed but there was no longer availability on the dates I wanted.

Jan and Richard’s Virgin Air flight from Boston to LHR (which they said was exceptionally comfortable and service-oriented, in coach class) arrived on time and David’s and my United flight (ABQ to Chicago’s ORD to LHR) landed 45 minutes after, as scheduled. While standing in a snaking line for an hour to show our passports, I called Jan from my international cell phone to hers — both worked! A miracle. And we rendezvoused, as planned, in front of the Virgin Courtesy Counter. Another miracle!

Note: My international cell phone, purchased via cheaptickets.com, proved to be an excellent deal. The phone company, www.ekit.com, charged $29 for the phone, provided a toll-free number for friends to use from the states, free minutes, easily rechargable time, incoming calls from the states at just 45-cents per minute and other reasonable fees, a British cell number and a Simms card-enable phone to keep and use again when traveling overseas.

Note: If you can fly into Gatwick, Manchester or any other airport rather than Heathrow, I am told you will have a better experience.

article continued in next posting.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.