FLYING HOME: COVID testing, security, Greenland

Happy to see this sign on the way into Customs at SFO

Sun 29 May (written mostly on Sunday)

We're home! Back in Menlo Park. So many feelings... a lot of happiness and relief that things went so well. On the road, one always has a low level of background tension: tracking your stuff so you don't lose anything, navigating in new surroundings, making sure you make all your connections, hoping you don't get sick or have an accident. In a way, it's part of the excitement of traveling; you have to have a heightened sense of alertness. 

I'm very glad we never had a major mishap. We never missed a connection, we never showed up at a reserved hotel or b&b only to find they had no place for us, we didn't get COVID! Although Doug did get a sore throat, which bogged him down some the last week. The weather was amazingly cooperative. Although we had some overcast days, the most rain I remember was on our long driving day up to the Lake District, and we were in the car. We had many lovely, sunny days.  Thank you O travel gods, for being kind to us on this trip.

COVID testing

Our last day in England was basically devoted to getting ready to fly home. In the morning we went off to our COVID test appointments at 9:40am at a DAM testing facility. Doug had booked us there when it appeared that airport testing was going to cost £150 (though a friend says you can actually get it for £35), and also because Allison had mentioned you could get tested in London. Doug had looked for a place that seemed legit and did antigen testing, plus one that wasn't too expensive (~£23) and wasn't too far from us. The place he had settled on (and booked on Tuesday, our first night in London) was in Fulham Broadway, just 2 stops away from our home base of Earl’s Court. We left our hotel at maybe 9:15 and were back by 10:30ish, including getting a breakfast snack; Doug think the process itself, without the breakfast snack, probably only took 45 minutes. 

When we got to the testing location, it wasn't very busy but it was encouraging that there were at least some other people there on a Sunday morning. A family with kids was checking in ahead of us, and some folks followed us. Doug had already done the basic registration, but he needed to add a photo of me, so we took one there. The test itself went quite quickly; Doug believes that the test used was exactly the same as the home test kit he’d used on Wednesday, when we had the COVID scare. The only difference is that someone else is doing it, so presumably it’s harder to fake results. We left right after the test (they e-mail you results); we were only at the testing place for maybe 15 minutes total.

Since you're not supposed to eat for 30 minutes before testing, we hadn't had breakfast yet. We saw a Pret a Manger on our way back to the Tube  stop, and we had some quick breakfast snacks there. By the time we got back to our hotel, Doug had gotten the results by e-mail already, and we were both negative, as expected, yay! Doug still had the scratchy throat, runny nose, and cough that scared us on Wednesday, but we haven't had any further health changes, so we expected to pass. It would have been a major drag not to be able to fly today, but since we were pretty sure we’d be ok, we didn’t spend much time figuring out what we’d do in that case. We figured we’d cross that bridge when and if we came to it... (I found out later Doug had done a little bit of thinking about it; his backup thought was that if we needed to stay longer, he could book us at a less expensive Travelodge location.)

By noon we had checked out of our hotel, and we headed to Heathrow Airport. Our flight wasn't til 5:30, but there wasn't really time to do much, so we'd decided to go straight to Heathrow and try to do some last postcard writing there. We could get to Heathrow simply by taking the Piccadilly line there. 

Doc Check, Security

While I was finishing my last packing, from 11-12, Doug was entering our vaccination and testing status at a Virgin Atlantic "FlyReady" site. It basically collects all the info needed to document you've satisfied US requirements for re-entry. After Doug had entered all the info, in our hotel room, he got an e-mail about 15 minutes later, confirming that we were cleared. When we got to the airport, there was a "doc check" station for Virgin Airlines, where all we had to do was show the guy the e-mails and/or the app confirmation. Then he put a little sticker on the back of each of our passports, which served to show we'd been cleared for US re-entry. It definitely expedited things to have entered all our info online already. If you're curious to know more details about our COVID testing or FlyReady, Doug is the one to talk to.

After the doc check, we checked the bags we weren't carrying onboard, and then went through Heathrow security. I hadn't really thought about the fact that it might be different than security in US airports. It wasn't much different, but there were two differences: we didn't have to take off our shoes, and they really wanted all liquids/gels in a single plastic bag. They did provide bags but I hadn't taken one because I thought the clear case I usually use would suffice; I ended up doing a hurried last minute transfer into an extra ziploc bag I had. Doug had stuff in two plastic bags but needed to consolidate into one. I went through security fine, but Doug did have to go through extra screening, including a full-body pat down and some sort of monitoring device run around his shoes. Fortunately they did let him pass in the end, and we ended up with about 2.5 hours of airport downtime before boarding.

Flying

The flight home was much more comfy than the flight over, due largely to one unexpected boon: Economy was far from full on our flight—I heard a flight attendant say there were something like 100 empty seats. After takeoff, a number of people reseated themselves, including the aisle seat guy in our row, so we had the entire three-seat row to ourselves. It was great. Not only did we have more room, but with fewer people, the bathrooms are free more of the time. The sound of the announcement system was also better than on the trip over. The sound through the supplied headphones (to watch movies/TV) was still not that great; I think the best strategy if you want to listen is to bring your own headphones/earbuds.

One of the interesting things about long flights is seeing how food and sleep is managed. Our flight went from 5:30pm to about 4:30am London time. The following times are all London time, to keep things simple. We got served three meals: dinner around 7pm; a late snack, if you were awake, around 11pm, and "afternoon tea" at 2:30am, a couple of hours before landing. We also got a fruit popsicle at 10:15pm! The lights were dimmed on the plane from roughly 9pm to I think 3am. 

The most efficient flight path from London to San Francisco is to fly northward, across Greenland and Canada. We also flew at 40,000 feet, avoiding most weather system issues. Our entire flight was in daylight, so I looked forward to being able to see Greenland. However they dimmed the inside lights during part of the trip (so people could sleep), and with the Dreamliner aircraft we were on, they also dim the viewing windows (darn!). I couldn't see Greenland as well as I would like to have, but it was still exciting to see it. 

The photos below are dimmer and bluer because the window itself was dimmed. The one on the left is of the western edge of Greenland, as we go past it; the other is of ice chunks at the top end of Canada (click on any photo to see a larger version of it).

Landing, customs

We touched down at SFO at about 8:20pm California time (4:20am London time), just as the sun was setting. I remember in the past having to fill out a customs form on the plane, but things are different now, at least at SFO, and pretty streamlined. The process itself is fast, but there were lots of incoming people, from multiple flights, at the time we landed; most of the time it took was waiting in line. You are channeled into a room with dozens of little kiosks (you can't take photos there or I'd probably have taken a photo). You wait for a free kiosk; then at the kiosk, you scan your passport in, take a photo of yourself, and answer something like six questions—the kind of questions that were previously on the paper form. I don't remember all of them, but here are a few I remember:

• Are you bringing in any commercial products? (We assumed this meant stuff to sell.)
• Are you bringing in more than the allotted $800 in duty-free gifts/purchases?
• Are you bringing in any prohibited agricultural products? (The actual question spelled it out more.)

At the end you can add who you're traveling with, so we could've done it together at one kiosk, but we didn't know that. Then the kiosk prints out a little receipt, which includes a grainy version of the photo you just took, your passport number, other info, and for each question, whether you said Y or N. A woman collects your receipt. If you had N for all questions, you're done; otherwise she shunts you over to an agent to deal with you in person. After that, we waited for our bags. Once we had our bags, Doug called for a Lyft. I think that was at 9:30ish, so the customs and baggage claim took an hour or so.

It was quite chilly at SFO, waiting for our Lyft; chillier than I remember being during most of our trip. We were home by 10:10pm California time.

Next posts

For the next few days, I will continue posting some summary reflections and highlights of the trip; things I wasn't able to cover along the way, especially food and signs. I may also reflect on what we did right and what, if anything, we would do differently next time. I appreciated getting some hellos and commentary from people; please continue to do so.  It's nice to hear from people.

My friend who lived near London for several years made a few fun comments on the blog itself; if you're curious to read those, you need to go directly to the blog site itself (https://england2022.blogspot.com) or at the end of the blog e-mails, if you click on "Continue reading" it will take you to the blog website. At the end of each post it indicates whether or not there's a comment. 

Last, but definitely not least, thanks to Doug, who made it all happen, and Allison, who gave us the reason for going. ♥

On the plane.
In general, Doug was more cautious
about masking than I was. He also didn't
want to spread his sore throat germs.

LONDON 5: Last looks...

Parliament Square with flags of all the Commonwealth
nations, plus Big Ben on the right, London Eye at center back

Sa 28 May 

(written late Saturday)

Today was a more unplanned day, which allowed us to take some last looks at London. It's actually one of our favorite things to do when traveling—just walking around, looking at different parts of a city, and running into serendipitous sights, like the fashion you'll see at the end of this post.

Orange = Thurs.; Yellow = Friday; Purple = Sat.
The top purple marker is the Kings Cross area, the
next lower down is Piccadilly, the bottom three
are Buckingham Palace, Westm. Abbey, Big Ben
The red one, lower left, is our hotel.

Google London and the Kings Cross area

Our first task of the day was to try to see the Google London office in the King's Cross area. Doug had brought his Google badge; a Googler can typically gain access to any Google office, worldwide, with their badge. Google offices are often situated in the heart of cities, in prime locations with good views, so they can be worth tracking down. At the Kings Cross Google office, we were able to get in, but doors to the outside terraces were closed on weekends, so we couldn't get as good a view as we were hoping for. 

Round building is King's Cross Tube station; long building on right is King's Cross train station. Foreground is Google terrace that was locked.

Still, it was fun to wander around the London office, and afterwards we had great urban life viewing in Granary Square, a huge public space filled with a big grid of unpredictable spurting fountains, and currently also featuring award-winning photographs from a travel photography contest. We had lunch in the area, and it was a fun, very lively city scene.

F&M Shopping

Beloved Son & Daughter-in-Law had made a few requests for us to pick up at the snazzy fine food department store Fortnum and Mason. We tried to find the items at a smaller branch store in the Kings Cross area, but decided we'd have better success at the main store on Piccadilly—plus we hadn't been to that area yet on this trip, so were curious to see it. It was easy enough to get there: take the Piccadilly line from King's Cross to Piccadilly Circus. Fortnum and Mason's main store was packed with enthusiastic shoppers, but Doug managed to find most requested items, while I rested on a chair. Then we walked along Piccadilly, an impressive upscale street, with lots of taxis and lots of banners celebrating the approaching Jubilee.

London Classics

We ended the rest of the day with a lot of walking around, catching last glimpses of London classics. We'd seen many of them on our earlier 1999 trip, so didn't make an effort to spend a lot of time at them this visit, but it was nice, and very London-y to see them again.

We walked through Green Park, with its rent-a-deck-chairs, to the Buckingham Palace area, prepping for the upcoming Jubilee. Then we cut through St. James Park to get to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. Doug was disappointed that Big Ben isn't chiming right now (he grew up with a living room clock that chimed like Big Ben), but I was excited because Big Ben was more sparkly than I'd remembered. We found statues of the Burghers of Calais, by Rodin—the same statues that are at the front of Stanford's quad (Rodin's sculptures often had more than one casting made of them). It's appropriate to have them near UK's seat of government, as the Burgers were an example of courageous leadership, willing to sacrifice themselves for their city (you can read their story here).

Lastly, we walked along the Thames, with a good view of the London Eye, before reaching the Embarkment Station area. We had dinner at a yummy little ramen shop there, before heading home to Earl's Court. Seeing the London classics was a fitting way to end our stay in London.

Next Post

It's hard to believe it's our last night in London. Tomorrow we do our COVID testing and then hopefully fly home. I'm ready to go home, but also sad that the trip is ending. Tonight at dinner, we already started talking about where we would go and what we would want to see, on a return trip.

Happened upon a Festival of Fashion put on by
the University of the Arts, London. I'm drawn
to the one on the right, what do you think?

LONDON 4B: Sky Garden, Zari, British Museum

View from Sky Garden, looking towards the Tower Bridge

Fr 27 May 

This post for Friday 27 May was written on that day, but is being posted now after adding photos. We spent Friday first in the central city section, north of the Thames, and then in the Bloomsbury area, more towards the west. I feel like I'm just starting to understand the areas of London.

Orange markers were Thursday's South Bank visits,
Yellow on far right is Sky Garden, far left is
Zari Galley and 2nd left is British Museum.

We started off the day by taking the District line to the Monument stop, where indeed there is a gigantic monument! It looks like a normal monument enlarged several times, so much so that you can actually go in it and up to the top (though we didn't). It's a monument to the Great Fire of London in 1666, built not long after, in the 1670's. We didn't go up the monument in part because we knew we were already going somewhere with views. Instead we had a quick breakfast in the nearby historic Leadenhall Market area.

Sky Garden

Sky Garden building

Then we walked on to our main goal, the Sky Garden, which Allison had recommended to us. It's a large viewing area atop a 38-story building, opened in 2015. The views are indeed spectacular, and they were especially nice on Friday, as we lucked out with a sunny, clear day. Amazingly, the Sky Garden is free, but you do need to book a ticket, and Doug had booked ours when Allison first recommended it (~3 weeks ago). Because we had pre-booked tickets, we thought entry would be fast, but in the end it did take some time to get in. It took time partly because they were taking walk-ins as well, but also because you go through a simple security process, where bags are scanned and you walk through a metal detector.

At the top, the views are great, especially on the south side, facing the Thames River. We could see the Globe (very tiny) and the Tate, which we visited yesterday! 

Globe is circled, Tate has a square

The space itself is also impressive, being three stories high, and having lots of plants, as suggested by its Sky Garden name. There's a cafe and a restaurant, and at one point Doug got us some avocado/courgette (zucchini) cake, and we munched in a quiet corner before going on our way. 

Zari Gallery

Next, we took the Central line from Bank to Tottenham Court Road. We noticed that this Tube line seemed older than the District line; there could be more of a gap to "mind" when you boarded or got off the trains. On the plus side, when we got to the Tottenham Court Road stop, the station had more interesting decor than most.

Coming out on Tottenham Court Road, we could feel that the vibe seemed a little different than in other parts of the city we'd been in. It seemed younger, hipper. We tracked down the Gallery, which had an exhibition called "The Art of the Athlete," featuring works where the artist is also an athlete. We were interested because our bootcamp leader, a former track star and current coach, had a couple works being displayed there. It was a small but very pleasant gallery, with the exhibition taking up space on both the first and second floors. Some athletes' work had to do with sport and athletes, but others enjoyed art as a way to explore other realms.

The British Museum

In general, we weren't going to revisit places we saw 23 years ago (Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, etc.)—not because we didn't like them, but just to give us time for discovering other aspects of London we wanted to see, such as Kew Gardens and the Globe. For that reason, we might have skipped the British Museum, but it wasn't far from Zari Gallery, and it's free, so...

The British Museum has so. much. stuff! And it has very large pieces, not just little artifacts in cases. Although some of the larger items are casts of the originals, many are actual original pieces—like the friezes from the Parthenon are the actual stonework from there. We focused on the Roman period and medieval times; both of which have been relevant to other parts of our trip. To give a very small sampling, below are photos of Doug getting a snack in the now enclosed Great Court (opened in 2000), some Roman busts, a famous medieval ivory chess set (~1150-1175AD), a ~600AD Anglo-Saxon helmet as it is now and a version of what it is believed to have looked like, and a guide explaining the Rosetta Stone (using a copy so he can touch it). The real one is in the museum, in a case. 

It's hard not to be captivated by the British Museum... the collections are so strong, and often dramatic—in terms of large pieces and/or significance. One of the guides we listened to touched upon an ongoing controversy in museum work, and that is: who "owns" pieces of the past? Should Britain still retain many artifacts which came to it in part because of the now gone British Empire? At that same time, those artifacts are clearly being very carefully kept, maintained, and documented, and there's value in being able to have a large assemblage of items in one place. These are tricky questions, and ones the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford was also contending with. In a way, items that belong to long gone civilizations, like the Egyptians and Romans, are really the heritage of all humankind; the question is not so much who "owns" them then, but who gets to be their caretaker? 

Next Post

On Saturday, our last full day in London, we have a couple of missions to accomplish, but otherwise the day is free to wander at will, to catch last tastes of London.

Close-up of medieval chessmen, from 
a postcard I bought at the British Museum