Big Bozo

     And so the journey "across the pond" began at the new international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson on its inaugural day. The new terminal is an ultra-modern building with a curvy glass facade and a capacious foyer. From the check-in you are able to see the planes at their gates, which I thought was a nice touch, because it reminded me of when I was little and we used to drop Dad off at the gate and stay until the plane left the terminal.

     Check-in and security were a breeze, and we were through and to our gate in record time. In the main lobby there was a fiber-optic chandelier thingy that looked really cool. After grabbing some dinner, checking out the shops, and enjoying my first beer on the trip... a Leffe Blonde - delicious, it was time to board. Oh yeah, in the process of eating and stuff we met a crazy little old lady form Perry, GA who was on our flight, and she was quite fond of Charlotte and I.
     The flight to London was about the same as any 7 hour flight in economy class - long and uncomfortable. Fortunately I was able to scrounge a couple hours of sleep. After a quick brekkie and a spot of coffee, Touchdown in London!! Just prior to the trip there had been several news articles describing accounts of customs at Heathrow International taking exorbitant amounts of time to pass through...on the order of 2+ hours. Since our time in London was already very limited, we devised a brilliant plan. The plan entailed getting off the plane and running real fast to try and beat as many people as possible to customs. When we arrived at customs, after flawlessly executing the masterful plan, there were only about ten to fifteen people in line, and we managed to breeze through in about ten minutes! Great success!!
     Down to baggage claim, and our bags were popping out shortly after arriving. We purchased a couple of day passes for the Tube, and, after "minding the gap" we were on the way to central/downtown London. We took the Piccadilly line to Green park and the Jubilee line to Westminster. It's amazing how familiar the Tube felt even though I have not been to London in quite a few years. When we were working our way to the "way out" I was telling Charlotte, that upon exiting she needed to look immediately to her right. I had remembered Big Ben being there, and I wanted it to be the first thing that she saw in London. Unfortunately, some creepy guys in a clown costume and a wolf costume were immediately to the right when we exited. Instead of her first sight being of Big Ben, it was of Big Bozo and of Big Bad Wolf. Failure. But at least the weather was nice, a perfect London day- high 60's and cloudy...really that's as good as it gets!

More to come later!