Suck it Heathrow

Our view from the Holiday Inn in Gatwick.

Well, we have made it as far as England.

Since leaving on Tuesday evening, everything was going quite to plan, even better in many respects. I had used miles to book my flight from Seattle to Heathrow and because of this I had to sit in Economy Plus due to availability. What I thought was just the bonus of a few extra inches of leg room actually while still in economy ended up being a super posh section with great seats and by coincidence, a bulkhead with no one next to me except for some guy on the end. The only problem was that Amy was back in economy and I had a guilty conscience. Thankfully, I have realized as of lately that I can be very persuasive and about 2 hours in to the flight, I got approval from the cabin crew to move Amy up by me. So far that flight has been the best part of our trip.*

After killing time in Heathrow yesterday, we decided to check in to the Sofitel attached to Heathrow instead of spending 18 hours camped out in the arrivals section of terminal 5, guarding our bags and sleeping in shifts -- not appealing at that point. All well and good except that this morning it turned out our flight to Spain actually departed from terminal 3, a train ride and miles of moving walkway and tunnels away. After literally running (yes, running) with our packs through Heathrow, we missed our flight. We were crushed. Yes, it was all avoidable looking back, but nothing we could do now but buck up and problem solve.

All airlines from Heathrow to any airport in Spain were booked, seeing that it's Easter weekend in one of the most pious countries in the world or the available seats cost anywhere from 600 to 800 pounds -- not possible on our sad budget. Faced with either skipping Spain all together or trying to fly out of london next week, we pulled one last move of buying some internet and seeing what other airports had to offer. Thankfully, we found a flight to Malaga on easy jet leaving tomorrow (4/10), therefore not disrupting our itinerary by more than a 24-hour delay, a 20 GBP bus ride to Gatwick airport and a cheap (110 GBP) stay at the Holiday Inn. What a difference 24-hours makes in our luck and lifestyle.

So tomorrow we try it again. We have a hostel booked in Grenada for tomorrow night but can't find anything for Saturday as of yet. At that point we'll either hope for a cancellation on easter eve or try a different city. Or see if someone takes pity on us and offers their couch (sorry mom).

More to come, just send good thoughts that we get the hell out of london airports. We're ready for some better food (nachos with cool ranch doritos? sausage sandwiches? mean) and some culture. Now please.

*A tip we discovered: Either be very persuasive (bordering on manipulation) like I was, or use miles to buy an economy ticket on British and then upgrade to economy plus for $300 dollars. So very worth it, it's the most fun we've had so far...