...A Sconnie Tale

Welcome to my journey from Madison, WI to Bristol, England. My name is Amanda. Feel free to address me as that. I am studying at the University of Bristol. Check out the FAQ for updates on what tags to look out for as well as general information for how this blog will be run. So sit back and enjoy this crazy ride!

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That’s all folks!

The brothers are here to pick us up from the airport, and we are going to be on our way to Wisconsin and from there, home. Well, and Madison beyond that.

It’s been a wild ride filled with some great experiences and some silly decisions. I don’t regret making the decision to go abroad. I’ve met some wonderful friends who I hope I will get to see in the future. I’ve learned things about the world and, more importantly, myself.

Thank you for joining me on my trip, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed the ride.

It’s time for this adventurer to lean her walking stick against the wall, hang her coat on the rack, and stow the luggage in the closet.

That is, until the next adventure.

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Airlines at a Glance

British Airways (10/10) [Chicago-London; Edinburgh-London]

Pros: 

Friendly staff

Great service

Good food

Decent leg room

Smooth take-off/flight/landing

Good entertainment options

Comfortable seats

Cons:

Literally none

Fly again?: Absolutely, in a heart beat, would definitely recommend.

Aer Lingus (9/10) [Cardiff-Dublin]

Pros:

Friendly

Smooth take-off/landing

Little turbulence despite it raining/storming

Comfortable seats

Cons:

Have to pay for food and drinks

Pushing for sale of over-priced merchandise

Fly again?: Yes, it was a pleasant enough flight.

American Airlines (9/10) [London-Chicago]

Pros:

Friendly staff

Great service

Good food

Decent leg room

Good entertainment options

Comfortable seats

Accommodating with cancelled flights/seat reassignment

Cons:

Not enough space in the overhead carriage even when luggage within regulation

Staffing troubles/overworking staff leading to cancelled flights

Fly again?: I enjoyed the flight, but I would be worried about another cancellation, but looking into earlier flights that same day and planning accordingly could account for those issues.

Ryanair (8/10) [Dublin-Edinburgh]

Pros:

Friendly staff

Comfortable seats

Cons:

God-awful music before take-off

Pushing for sale of over-priced merchandise

Have to pay for food/drinks

Legroom issues for taller individuals

Fly again?: Yes, it was a decent flight.

Iberia (5/10) [Naples-Madrid; Madrid-London]

Pros:

Friendly/helpful staff

Cons:

A lot of seating confusion

Having to pay for food/drinks

High level of turbulence, though could have been from the rainstorm

Leg room individuals for taller individuals

Fly again?: In a pinch. 

Vueling (2/10) [London-Rome]

Pros:

Friendly staff

Comfortable chairs

Cons:

Not a lot of leg room

High levels of turbulence

Motion sickness inducing flight, and I don’t struggle with that

Ears constantly popping, and I don’t struggle with that

Having to pay for food/drinks

Fly again?: Absolutely not. I’ve never been so miserable in my life. I almost needed to make use of the vomit bags.

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O’Hare, what are you doing?

Apparently, someone had the super intelligent idea to make the border patrol have an automated section for US and Canadian citizens. I think they meant for it to speed up the process, but all it did was make a headache since you STILL have to get in a line and wait to talk to a border patrol officer, who are not as friendly as the Heathrow officers are. Then you get your luggage and wait in another line to give them the slip of paper that the machine printed out. It took us longer to get through border patrol in O’Hare than it did for any of the other border patrols that we had to do even though we are US citizens. What a joke.

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I’m getting some mixed signals here...

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Listen to the voice in the back of your mind and go to the airport early!

We were going to get the 8:00 bus for our 11:50 flight, thinking that it would give us plenty of time.

However, something told me that we should get there an hour earlier than that in case there was an issue with our luggage being overweight. 

Thank god we did. When we arrived, we found out that our flight had been cancelled due to a logistical issue with the crew. But, because we arrived early, we were able to make an 8:40 flight. Luckily, our luggage was within regulation and the people in the queue for TSA were generous enough to let us skip in front of them so that we could make our flight. We still had to run through the duty-free shopping center to the gate, but we made it and had enough time to call our parents to warn them about our 3-hour-earlier arrival.

Moral of the story: get to the airport early. The worst that will happen is you wait for your flight.

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Hilton Garden Inn

We stayed at this 4-star hotel, again getting a great deal on it through booking.com, for the night. It was super nice.

It is located in close proximity to the Hatton Cross tube station, so when our bus arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 from Southampton, we were able to pop right on the Tube and go over to the hotel. 

They were really great about us dropping off our luggage, thankfully. I don’t know what we would have done if we would have needed to drag our luggage all around London. 

They also have the option to check in early if you need to, we had arrived a bit before our room was ready, so we just dropped our luggage and headed into the main part of London.

The rooms were clean and well laid-out. The staff were friendly and helpful. And, there is a bus that will pick you up right from the front door and take you to whichever Heathrow terminal you need for £4.50, which you can purchase in the lobby. The price is good as it is cheaper than a one-way to Heathrow on the tube and certainly cheaper than a taxi. You do need to do a little planning with it, though, since it only runs once an hour.

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We also made a trip out to Paddington Station so that I could get myself a Paddington bear, a cartoon character that I have loved since I was a child. 

Yodel also got an introduction to his new pal. They seemed to hit it off rather well.

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We had to get one last visit to King’s Cross in. Sadly, this was after the death of Alan Rickman (d. 14 January 2016), but we were able to go to his memorial at platform 9 3/4 and pay our respects. I’m still not over his passing to be honest; we certainly lost an amazing actor and mentor.

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The Science Museum. And of course, I had to get the obligatory picture with the DNA model. I’m a geneticist. It’s what we do.

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Our visit to the Natural History Museum was amazeballs. Seriously, one of my favourite museums that I’ve been to. But, then again, I’m a total science nerd, so it would appeal to me.

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London-bound once more

We’re heading to London a day early in order to see the museums and other places that we missed the last time. I’m rather excited. 

I’m more excited to go home.

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They're just waiting to go. Hopefully everything is within the regulations. It should be, but you never know.

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Packing skills: Level Olympic

We were so sure we would need an extra piece of luggage, which would have introduced a whole host of extra charges and logistical issues. But we don’t, and it’s wonderful.

Thankfully, Amelia’s flatmate, Brandon, had a scale for us to use so we were able to make sure that all of our bags were within both size and weight regulation.

We’re off to London tomorrow. And then home from there.

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I have done the impossible. I have neatly and efficiently folded a fitted sheet. This is my greatest accomplishment. I finally feel like I have achieved a sufficient level of adulting.

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We are once again packing. We want tot try and squeeze all of our old stuff and new stuff into our free amount of luggage. There were some bumps and bruises on Amelia’s end courtesy of the window sill, and I almost strained a couple leg muscles with that maneuver there. 

Packing is enough to make anyone a little loopy.

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Amelia wasn’t very keen on getting up so that we could explore Southampton, but we eventually made it out. There are a lot of gardens and forested areas very close to campus that we walked through. I rather enjoyed it.