The cruise to Norway came off smoothly. The pre-cruise stay in the East End was wholly wonderful. Kinda Jack-the-Ripper territory. Now it's safe and foodie heaven. We did a walking food tour. Wonderful!
The cruise on Celebrity Silhouette was great as usual. No surprises. During our day excursions int Norway, I picked up a bug. I knew we'd be testing before flying back to the US, and other than a runny nose, I felt fine. Friday was the last day, andy cold was not abating, so I called the clinic onboard. After the usual 'where have you been and who have you been with', they sent a nurse to swab our noses. Results were back in an hour (negative!! YAY), and since it was, there was no charge!
We shared a car to Heathrow with another couple.
The BA flight to Phoenix is delayed 2 hours so far, and that will blow the final flight home for today.
Who says travel isn't still an adventure?
Jim
To add on to the original post:
The 2 hour delay from Heathrow to Phoenix meant missing our ongoing flight to Boise. So when I was rechecking bags after Customs, the American Rep there gave us paperwork showing we had a pre-paid hotel (but no voucher) and would have a Lyft back to the airport the next morning. The crummy hotel said they had no shuttle (they did but the driver had gone home) so we took a taxi. The hotel took my credit card for 'incidentals'. By morning, they BA had cancelled the hotel reservation and the Lyft to the airport. Our ongoing flight was now to be on Alaska.
The hotel said they were trying to get the room paid by somebody but us. At the airport with all our bags, Alaska said we were not in their system, and we had to go to another terminal to see American- who held the original reservation. Soooo, I got a luggage cart, Paula in a wheelchair, a first-day-on-the-job pusher, off to find a train to terminal 4. We got there, found an assistance desk at American, escalated the problem to managerial level and stood there for 3 hours. Our tickets were NOT sent to Alaska after we missed the American flight home. The best they could do was put us on Alaska on Monday. This fiasco had started Saturday afternoon! American put us in a Hilton Garden Inn where the flight crews stay. I got word that BA had eventually paid for the room in the crummy hotel and refunded the charge to me. We got vouchers for $24 for meals for 2 days, and 2 'no guaranteed' seats On Alaska's Monday afternoon flight. We were originally on First or Business class on American. But no more.
So with the original booking on American, we actually flew American First class to Heathrow. Then BA Business class Heathrow to Phoenix, and Alaska (regional Horizon) in the last row home. The beauty of these airline alliances is that they ALL have a reasonable deniability of blame. We are fully trip insured, with $250pp per day of trip delay. It isn't, though a check for missing a flight, you have to show receipts/vouchers to mitigate the claim, but at least we had the coverage, so didn't have to sweat the odd meal or taxi ride.
Now, I find myself having to weigh the benefit of travel against the possibility (probability, really) of difficulty, delay, risk of illness or worse.
At this stage of life, in our eighth decade, and having traveled extensively for six of them, there aren't a whole lot of 'golly, gee whiz' sights to see, and maybe it might be time to throttle back a bit and enjoy the ride.
OTOH, after we get rested up and whip the yard back into shape, we might just find something we just need to see one more time.
Jim