Dallas Fort Worth sucks! Sorry to start with a negative statement but you’ll see why when you read on. Just to lift you up a little, we are safely on board, it’s Sunday and we’ just at our second trivia of the day. No wins yet though.
So, we flew out of Heathrow on Friday. We had separate seats on the upper deck in BA Club World but a nice chap opposite me agreed to swap with Paul so we ended up across the aisle from each other. The flight was smooth apart from a 30 min stretch with the belt sign on but even that was not really bumpy. Food wise Paul had the steak and I opted for chicken Caesar salad. We’d had cooked breakfast in the airport earlier so I wasn’t overly hungry. Talking of the airport, I didn’t mention my airport shipping did I? I looked in Tiffany’s at the charm I was due to pick up in Dallas and bought a friendship bracelet from Links of London. Paul was looking for a specific camera lens but didn’t find it.
The flight itself seemed to pass really quickly to me even though it was the full 10 hours, I read my multitude of magazines that Paul had put on my iPad and did some puzzles. I did snooze for a few hours too I must confess. Paul watched a film called Cloud Atlas and also the latest Die Hard movie. The flight for him was tough though as he had a migraine but was well attended to by the cabin crew.
We landed early, about 3:45 and then it started. Apparently this made the UK news so you may already know but essentially it took 3 and half hours to get out of the airport. As we got to the immigration hall we knew we were in for a long wait just looking at the line. Of the 40 desks there were about 6 open for us. Even the US citizens had a long line (although it did clear quicker). Lots of people had connecting flights but it mattered not! No one was prepared to help so the line became full of rather fractious folks…..
After getting through in just under 2 hours we sighed with relief thinking we could finally get the car and go shopping but oh no…the line in the baggage hall to exit customs was just as long, winding it’s way all around the baggage hall.
We finally exited just after 7 and if you think that was the end of the evenings traumas you are mistaken. It got worse. Paul had found a map that showed a walkway to another terminal where our hotel was and given we had wheely cases we figured this was a better option that the shuttle bus. We followed the map and even asked 2 airport workers but no one knew so said walkway. It was hot, humid and tense as you can well imagine! Eventually we got the bus to the terminal and followed the signs to the hotel. Straight through the car park, what could be simpler? A car park without constant stairs up then down that’s what. I swear there were half a dozen sets of stairs and we had 3 x 26 kilo cases plus Paul’s photography equipment. As we finally made it to the hotel we must have looked very dishevelled, so much so that a very nice man rushed to my aid and even gave me a bottle of water. Poor old Paul, who had done most of the hard work I must admit was dripping with sweat. The hotel was lovely and the service was very good, things will get better now right? WRONG!
We had booked a hire car for the evening as we had researched some shopping malls and an Applebee’s for dinner. I also had to collect my Tiffany’s charm. Since time was getting short we thought a taxi to Hertz might be quicker so asked the concierge. It took about 10 mins when a town car arrived and offered the trip for 30 dollars. As its only 3 miles away we laughed and asked if he thought we were stupid. In another few mins the booked taxi arrived clearly displaying his meter rates of $2.95 plus 75c per quarter mile. As we approached the driver told us it would be a flat fee of $23, it would have been $21 for one person. Paul asked about the meter, demanding the trip be metered. The driver got very tetchy and in the end drive off! So, running later and later we opted for the shuttle bus after all. By now it was well after 7:30 and the mall we want closed at 9. Paul thought he best call Tiffany’s to check and looked at me horrified as he announced they closed at 7pm. Given we were flying out the next morning at 9am I was stuffed. We were going to have to ask nicely for a refund and I was without my birthday prezzie from my mum.
We got the shuttle to the terminal, then another shuttle to Hertz where thankfully our car was waiting. We still went to the Gallaria mall, arriving just after 8. I did manage to get the things I want from Sephora (make up items) and also got a charm from pandora (guardian angel – angel wings and a pearl) and also a leather cuff that I’d seen online and wanted from Coach.
We left the mall and headed for WalMart. We needed to stock up on tablets for home and Paul got some coke to take on board. He also decided to joke distastefully at the counter that we had loads of pills and a bottle of coke to go wash them all down with. The lady at the counter seemed unimpressed but sold us over Thousand pills and the coke anyway!!
It was getting late, 9pm, and we were both tired (being Texas we were 6 hours behind). We found the Applebee’s on sat nav and off we went. Paul opted for the chicken won ton tacos and I had a fajita wrap, both with fries. It was 10pm when we got out of there and had the awful palaver of the 2 shuttles again to get back to our hotel and we worked out by the time we got to bed we’d been up for 22 and a half hours.