Jan Alaska

Whew !!!!!!!! just arrived back from England, and well what can I say ? firstly no one seemed to have a problem with my passport not having my correct surname, I took my marriage certificate as proof and was only asked for it once. Dear old British Airways was late leaving Detroit, this $100 deal is all very well but I'd swear they squeezed another row of seats in as my knees were jammed against the seat in front and I'm only 5 foot 4.
Anyways arrived in Heathrow, ran around like a headless chicken trying to find where to catch the coach to Oxford, eventually got to the coach station at 8.45 waited for the 9am coach ... no show .. waited for the 9.30 coach .. no show .. hmmm coach arrives at 10.15 says hes the 10am ... 2mins later another coach arrives saying hes also the 10am (have a feeling someones not being quite truthful here) eventually got going at around 10.30. So no change with public transport then !
Had a great week with mum and ooor James, was too scared to go shopping in Oxford town centre due to horror stories of pickpockets etc but managed some retail therapy in local outlet village.
Local radio was carrying a story about an experiment that had been carried out throughout the country. They'd placed Christmas trees in cities and put a spy camera on them. The tree in Oxford lasted a measly 20 minutes what is it with theiving over there its so depressing. I was telling my mother that we leave our cars running here when we run into the local store for a pint of milk or such and she says "ohh well if you leave your car locked here it still doesnt guarantee its going to be there when you get back" apparently the park and ride carparks are like a theives paradise and then they wonder why no one shops in the city centres .. ohh myyy
So here I am back in Michigan feeling happy to live in a place where we dont have to watch our backs, shred our mail before disposing of it and can happily leave our cars unlocked and still sleep at night.

Thought I'd just check in and share .....


Merry Christmas all !!!

Jan

Pimpbot

Welcome back

So what Brit goodies did you bring back to Michigan?

Jan Alaska

Half a caseful, I had to go talk to the man in customs about my Christmas cake and pud coz of some confusion as to the actual contents (woulda been over my spirits limit if they'd found out how much brandy mum puts in her cake!)
They didnt mind the 6 packs of digestive biscuits and rich tea fingers, or the packet mixes for bombay taters n the like. They carefully examined my loverly bottle of Lagavuilin, dont think they'd seen much whiskey past the usual teachers and Johnnie Walker that are available in duty free. Oh hmm 2 pots colemans mustard, 4 bisto and oxo cubes ohhhhhhh and a huge amount of choccy ! and and and tea bags YAY

Sainsburys is so much fun a week before Christmas

Jan

Manc

Jan, are British Airways using that crappy old Terminal at Detroit still?
I flew Northwest out of there 2 weeks ago, weren't THAT bad, better than my last flight with them

BrigieDarling

Welcome home Jan! Glad you had a safe and happy trip!

Jan Alaska

Thanks folks

Yes Manc theyre still at Berry big GRRrrr .. apparently there is some litigation about the fact they havent moved. The only thing in favour of them being there is that at least the baggage doesnt have far to go which lessens the chances of it getting lost.

Jan

Pimpbot

Detroit airport is the worst in America imo. I'd rather swim home than fly out of there again.

Rockgurl

Oh phew! I nearly booked a flight to Connecticut that had a stopover in Detroit...but I decided to go through Fort Worth instead, in case it snowed again and there were delays. I'm so glad!

NC Penguin

Me and my spouse will be visiting our old Sainsburys, the biggest one in London (the one on Finchley Rd, in the O2 Centre), when we're in London next week. We shall be stocking up on lots of stuff as well as collecting research on our price comparison for foodstuffs.




NC Penguin

Manc

The new terminal gave a lot more 21st Century feel to it.

Jan Alaska

........... as opposed to the Berry terminal which has decor chosen by the Wright brothers themselves

Jan

Rockgurl

LOL. While we're on the subject, what do you all believe is the worst airport in America? For me it's got to be JFK. The American Airlines terminal has to be the worst I've ever visited. No signs, no monitors to tell you where to check in, one long line for everything instead of splitting things up by airline or destination, old fashioned terminal building and complete lack of shopping. Horrid. So glad I don't have to go there anymore!

Ash UK/US

DETROIT!!! only because the INS officer gave me a real grilling and made me think I was gonna be deported (all because he didn't know how to read properly). The only US airport i have ever had a problem with.

Ash UK/US

I did the same thing in Sept (and just about had a panic attack before going though immigration when I got back to the US). My married name is hyphenated with my maiden name... I had my ticket & passport in my maiden name and my green card in my married name. The INS guy never even questioned it which was totally unexpected given the grilling I was given when I arrived in the US last year just before I was married.

Ash

dgsyd1

Looks like I'm the only person who doesn't mind flying out of the Berry terminal at Detroit. It's nice to be the only flight going out, and not having thousands of other people rushing to reach their gates too. My only real gripe is that there's sod all to do in the 2 hours between check-in and boarding the plane.
As far as the crime rates go, I've never noticed that much of a difference to be honest. We certainly keep the car locked most of the time, reagardless of wheather we're in the US or UK.