England/Scotland 2024 Pilgrimage – Day 1

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Today is the long-awaited day our Pilgrimage begins! Our flight out of Dulles (Washington, DC) wasn’t until 10pm so we were able to go to our church, Trinity Episcopal, in Morgantown, WV. It was good to worship with them. Afterwards, we went home to charge the car, eat lunch, and do our final packing and were on the road by 2:30.

Less is More

Or in the words of our friend, Joyce Whitley, “Less is Best.” She and Tim leave for two weeks in Ireland on Wednesday and we’ve been challenging each other to only take carry-ons. So, for this three week trip Gregg and I each have a small carry-on 4-wheel roller bag and a backpack.

The Whitleys win the luggage challenge by a mile though, as they will take only ONE roller bag the same size as ours, and two backpacks – one the same size as ours and one smaller. WOW! Congrats, friends! I taught you, now I have much to learn from you!

Ice Cream Break

Since Katie’s Ice Cream was on the way to the airport AND since it was Sunday, our traditional day to visit Katie, we stopped for ice cream. I ate my usual, “Large twist cone, flipped,” and Gregg had a special of the day, Pumpkin Pie Flurry (like a DQ Blizzard.) Yum!

Charge and Eat

With time to spare, Gregg suggested we charge the car before parking it so we wouldn’t have to worry about it first thing when we returned. The charging station was by a Fridays, so we went in to eat while we waited.

The server came to take our order, wiping his nose with a napkin. When asked how he was, he hesitated and then said he’d be alright. Hum. We gave our order and while Gregg went to the men’s room, I started wondering if we were going to get sick if we ate here. When I mentioned it to Gregg, he said another server was wearing a mask. Yikes!

Acting out of character for us, we cancelled our order (he was just entering it into the computer) and left. Dinner was soup at the nearby Panera which gave us time enough to charge.

Next stop was the Embassy Suites where we will stay when we return. Their parking is cheaper than long-term airport parking (7 days are free with a “park, stay, fly” reservation and we paid $10/day for the additional days.) The hotel shuttle took us to the airport.

Where’s My Money Belt??

Since we had checked in online and didn’t have luggage to check, we went straight to TSA. With our Global Entry cards, we also get TSA Pre-Check which tends to be simpler. Keep your shoes on, don’t take liquids or eletronics out of bag…Just put everything into a big trays to go through the scanner.

I went through first and got my things. Then put Gregg’s trays away as he got his things out of them. As he was getting re-organized, he suddenly asked, “where’s my money belt?!” I don’t know…in your backpack? No, it was in the tray. I went and looked through he stack of trays. Nothing. Gregg went through backpack. Nothing. Gregg went through the now-higher stack of trays. Nothing. Lord, have mercy!

Trying not to panic, Gregg notified a TSA agent organizing trays . He asked if it was in his backpack or pocket. NO. So he went back behind the conveyer belt and began asking around. FINALLY, he came with a bag, asking if that was it. YES!!! Thanks be to God! Apparently, it had gotten stuck inside the x-ray machine. He had to run it though the scanner again, and then our hearts could begin to slow down.

Virgin Atlantic Airline

We booked our flights through Delta but flew their partner, Virgin Atlantic. I was prepared for no-frills, but the whole experience was great. In all of our travels, this may have been the smoothest boarding ever. Somehow, the lady in charge had all 500 plus passengers to stand at a reasonable distance away from the nice-length of roped off line. She would call a boarding group number, those folks would enter the line without the pushing and shoving and “excuse me, please” that typically happens.

Then we got onto the huge airplane, entering into an area that looked like a small lounge with leather bench seating and small drink trays. Never saw that before in an airplane! Walking down the aisle, the plane was obviously rather new and very nice. We had chosen seats on the very back row, selecting the window and aisle seat, knowing we’d ask to switch if someone sat between us.

I would not hesitate to fly Virgin Airlines again.