LONDON

MAY 7-MAY 18, 2019

TUESDAY, MAY 7

Flight to London via Newark

We packed all the luggage in Frank's car and the battery decided not to turn over, so moved all the stuff to my car. Something to deal with when we get home....

They have already changed our seats because they changed the plane. And so it goes. Get on the plane at Albany airport, all aboard, start to taxi and oops, we have to wait for half an hour because Newark is just so very busy they wouldn't give us clearance to leave. Then they shut off the engine—oh no!--but then turned it on again. So we were 45 minutes late which turned out to be okay because the Newark to Heathrow flight was delayed an hour.

WEDNESDAY MAY 8

THE NETHERLANDS

October 7-October 24, 2017

FLYING

Saturday, October 7

Flying is a hassle. We had made our flight arrangements months in advance but of course, United changed them, leaving us only 50 minutes between flights. They claim this all you need but we know that just deplaning and then finding the next gate, going from national to international terminals, etc, takes far more than that. Also, big international flights start boarding — guess what — 40-50 minutes in advance. Add to that, your first flight might not even arrive on time. In 50 percent of our last four flights, this has been the case.

So we re-booked , leaving us 3 hours between flights. But this meant we now had to go through Newark, which we were desperately trying to avoid. First flight was 1 hour late in leaving Albany. And the United lounges are still a mess. Nonetheless, we made it.

PARIS

May 2015

Monday, May 4

First flight ... off we go .... well sort of. This flight was delayed over an hour as the plane wasn't there yet. (Good thing) It was a bumpy ride on a crop duster from Albany to Newark.

The second flight was also over an hour late ... this time due to “technical difficulties” -- the entertainment system was not working. The flight to Charles DeGalle airport was an easy one. When we getting ready for landing, the area around Frank's seat was the scene of white fluff, which turned out to be the pillow he had decimated. The pillow was defective.  We all had a good laugh as we gathered up the stuffing.

 PROVENCE AND COTE D'AZUR 

May 18-June 8 2016

This journal was written by Gay with photos by Frank. See the photo galleries for the complete pictures that he took.

May 18--Travel day

We traveled to Provence with our good friend Werner Feibes, age 86. We had our plane and train tickets and one B and B and two apartments arranged.  Got to love VRBO!!! Our plan was to go from Albany to Newark and then on to the CDG Paris airport, and catch a TGV (high speed train) from the Paris airport to Avignon for three nights at Face Au Palais for three nights before renting a car,  on to Vence for 8 night followed by Nyons for another 8 nights before reversing the trip home.

October 7-November 13, 2013

Day 2, Tuesday, October 8

Chile and Argentina

February 2013

Day 1 Feb 19

Flew overnight to Santiago, Chile

Day 2 Feb 20

Arrived at Hotel Torremayor. Our main guide is Juan Zapata Oyarce. Met the wonderful and exhausted members of our group. We had a lecture on Chile thatmost folks slept through. Then off to the Church of San Francisco, one of the oldest in the city. Chile suffers from many earthquakes but this church has survived. There were some beautiful wooden sculptures.

Day 2 Feb 21

We had a tour of downtown Santiago and lunch at a pub in the more upscale and financial part of the city. The benches which dotted this area were all painted in unique ways, supposedly as a way to keep the graffiti artists (whose work is everywhere) at bay.

CHINA AND TIBET JOURNEY

October 13 through November 2, 2011

Thursday, October 13

The flight. Albany to Chicago, left late but arrived on time. Computer wouldn’t boot up the sound system, then some idiot decided to stand up and we couldn’t go.

Chicago to Beijing, left late again, had to replace computer unit. (Do you see a trend here?) Very looooooooong flight and no room. Knees up against the back of seat ahead.

Food: terrible. Gay to stewardess upon being asked if I wanted one of the offerings: “What is it?” Stewardess to Gay: “I don’t know. I never eat it.” In the end it was one of those mysterious unidentifiable foods, although it is probably on our new food pyramid.

Friday, October 14

Arrive Beijing. Qianmen Jianguo Hotel.