Day 12 Of Our Baltic Capitals Cruise- Heading Back To Heathrow For Our Return Flight Home

We spent a couple of hours last night packing up all of our suitcases. We put the suitcases out in the hallway, outside of our cabin so they could be picked by NCL personnel.

This morning we arrived in Dover a little behind schedule. It might have been because of the weather.

The seas were a little rough and it might have slowed us down bit. We were not worried about our arrival time into Dover because our overseas flight was not until 4PM.

After getting some breakfast, Veronica and I gathered our carry on items and we headed off of the ship.

We gathered up our luggage and proceeded to a bus that would take us to Heathrow.

The bus ride to Heathrow lasted approximately 2 1/2 hours..the traffic was pretty bad.

After arriving at Heathrow, we checked our baggage in and went walking around the airport for a while.

They had a Harrods store in the Airport so we decided to walk around in it.

By 4PM we were on board the plane and preparing for take off.

They served us dinner, we watched some movies and then I went to sleep. Other than those things, our flight was uneventful. We arrived in Newark Airport at which time we went through customs, then picked up luggage and had to go through a secondary security check point that was mainly focused on our luggage. After completing all security checks, we contacted the local Country Inn and Suites (our favorite hotel chain), so that we could get a ride to the hotel on their complimentary shuttle.

I had not been feeling too well during a couple of days on our vacation and the last 2 days plus the travel day, it all caught up with me. 

I was definitely under the weather and Veronica  started to not feel well.

After we got to the hotel, we just took it easy. We had to get up early the next morning because of an early flight out of the Newark Airport enroute to the Norfolk Airport.

Here are some videos of our take off on our Virgin Atlantic flight

Here are some photos of a flight information channel that you could watch on the small flat screen tv that was embedded into the back of the seat in front of each passenger.  

The Journey And Adventures Begin

The white caps rose to briefly show their power and fury.
They then receded into the swells of the waves, from which they came.
This is how it started and this is how it ended.
Sandwiched between those two etched snapshots in my memory, Veronica and I visited far off countries, met new people and was introduced to new cultures, saw amazing sights and architecture, tried new foods and for a brief period got lost in the myriad of time changes.
What follows is a rather condensed version of what Veronica and I experienced during our 2010 Baltic Capitals Cruise on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship...the NCL SUN.
Actually our journey started on Monday afternoon, the 6th of September.
After Veronica got off of work, we headed to Norfolk to spend the night at a hotel that we had made reservations with several weeks ago.
Upon arriving at this hotel and in our assigned room, which had been pre-paid...our BIG mistake, we found the room to be disgustingly dirty, had a very bad odor to it, bugs in the bathroom and on the toilet seat along with a few flies thrown in for good measure.
We spent a total of maybe 2 minutes in the room, at which time we decided it would be much better for us to stay elsewhere.
Veronica returned the room key and explained why we were leaving to the attendant on duty...most likely the hotel owner also.
He told Veronica that he would be more than willing to give us a different room.
Hey...if he wanted us to have a decent room, then why didn't he give us one to begin with.
Rooms in that condition don't get that way overnight and are really hard to be overlooked by the owner and cleaning staff.
We decided to go to one of our favorite hotel chains...Country Inns and Suites.
We have never had a bad room nor a problem at any of the many that we have stayed at.
This time was no exception.
Yes it cost us a little more but well worth it.
I am still in the process writing a complaint to the powers that be of America's Best Value Inn.
I will let you know if I get a response and if so, what the response was.
With all of the choices that the traveller has available these days, I can't believe that a company would allow someone to use their brand name and offer the public such a poor and substandard product. It sure doesn't represent that brand name in a very positive light.
Upon dropping off our bags in our comfy room, we went and got something quick to eat.
We ended up going to bed early that night because we had an early flight to catch at the Norfolk Airport first thing the next morning.
Our flight from the Norfolk Airport to Newark was a short one and uneventful...which is the way I like my flights to be.
Upon arriving at the Newark Airport, we ended up getting one of those carts that you can pile your luggage on and push it around.
I'll tell you what, $5 to be able to pile 3 suitcases and a couple of carry ons is a real bargain.
Especially after we found out that Virgin Atlantic wouldn't be opening their check in area until 5:30 that afternoon.
It seems that Virgin Atlantic has no permanent location in the Newark Airport and they don't even have any signs showing that any specific area is their location.
It came across to me that they were rather mobile within the airport...wherever they could rent the least expensive counters is where they would set up shop.
This first day of our vacation would turn out to be just one in a line of long days that we would experience.