Endurance

Photo of a random shop in Covent Garden. I poked my head in to get a glimpse of Christmas shopping in London before I went to Book of Mormon last night.

Today, I left Carolyn’s at 4:45 a.m. The Kentish Town train station isn’t open so I can’t buy a ticket at the kiosk for the train to Luton. I swipe my contactless bank card on the reader at the out-of-hours entrance to the train station, although I’m pretty sure this option doesn’t work outside the London metro area. I get on the train to Luton Airport and meet a lovely woman from Kerry who shows me how to buy a train ticket on my phone, something that would have never occurred to me. Not sure what this means for the bank card swipe I’ve already done. She thinks I may be charged the maximum fare. At Luton Parkway, I need to print a ticket using the confirm # in the e-mail I have on my phone. It doesn’t work. I try again. I’m sweating bullets because I need to get the shuttle to the airport. It’s 6:20 and I’m on the 7 a.m. flight. Kerry woman to the rescue--there were two long numbers in the e-mail and I was using the wrong one.

I run through Luton airport like a mad woman. The airport is the most hated airport in the UK because it is basically a shopping mall. There are no wide hallways, just restaurants and kiosks and a riot of retail where there should be uncluttered hallways for people running to catch planes. When I get to my gate, there’s a long line of people waiting for boarding to begin. Whew.

Once at Belfast airport, I catch the airport shuttle for the 45-minute ride into city centre. I haven’t had breakfast--unless you count a pear and a brownie consumed around 5 a.m. Then I catch the 4a bus to Ballyhackamore, then a 10 minute walk home, where I wolf down a bagel. Then I cycle 15 minutes to Dundonald to get the car I’d left in for repairs before I left. Then I drive to Comber to the cattery to reclaim Isabelle. The cattery is open only from 10-11 am--I was there with 15 minutes to spare. I drive my fur ball home, respond to a few e-mails, and go to bed.

What a bloody day. The reason I took the 7 am flight home was because that was the cheapest flight. But what a rotten way to start the day.
11-23