Flying to Europe

What a blessing this trip was! My super smart hubby won an essay contest at work and his prize was to attend a graduate retreat for his company's parent company in the UK. The company paid for his ticket and some of our hotel nights. We had enough skymiles to cover my ticket. The puzzle pieces fell in just right and we were able to take our dream vacation to Europe.

We flew overnight which is definitely the way to go. We had very little trouble adjusting to the time change. 

We flew out of ATL's new international terminal. Very nice! We had a glass of wine and split a trio of tacos (very yummy--shrimp was the best) from Jekyll Island Seafood before boarding.

One of my student's mom is a flight attendant. She gave some very valuable advice that I will share with you. Thanks "Monica" ;)

1. Carry an empty water bottle through security. Fill it up at a water fountain (or ask a vendor) on the other side. Much cheaper than the $5 bottle of water. Hubby got us these Brita Water Bottles that automatically filter water. They proved useful throughout the trip.
2. DRINK A LOT OF WATER. This cannot be emphasized enough. I felt like I was drinking like a fish and I still ended up slightly dehydrated the next day.
3. There is pretty much no free way to get upgraded to first class. However, your best bet is with the gate agent. 
4. Flight attendants love free goodies.
5. Planes are full of cooties. 
6. Don't use the pillow or blanket they provide. Even if they're wrapped, you don't know the last time they were washed. 
7. Inflatable pillows are good, they take up less space and won't pick up germs as much. (Side note: we brought inflatable pillow but found them uncomfortable in the airline seats-- the plane we were on had head rests that you could partially "close" to cradle your head, it made the flight slight more comfortable)
8. Bring a toothbrush (or those little wispies), floss, and makeup remover wipes. Do a quick clean up after meal service. It really does make you feel better.
9. Apply lotion and chapstick constantly. 
10. Bring snacks from home. You never know what the meal service will be or if they'll run out of something. (I had no idea you could bring food through TSA--turns out you can)

 We had two meals on our flight. My expectations were VERY LOW for airplane food. The food was actually quite good. I had a cheese tortellini with spinach and black olives, salad, cheese, bread, and brownie. Hubby had some kid of chicken pesto dish. 

We didn't sleep on the flight as planned. I think it was a combination of uncomfortable airplane and too much excitement. 

Before we landed, we were given breakfast: Omelette sandwiches and fruit. Also, way better than I expected. 

We landed at Heathrow, made it through customs and collected our luggage. We were told our driver (hired in advance) would be waiting for us at arrivals with a sign with our name. (Cool, right?) We came out of the terminal to no less than 200 people with arrival signs. We FINALLY found our guy and began our journey...