Appalachian Anglophile

7/06/22 - Pittsburgh to London Day 1

Happy Birthday, Nic Cester! It's 8:36 pm EST. Husband and I are currently sitting at our flight terminal at Pittsburgh Airport.

We're flying on British Airways and our flight leaves at 9:50 pm EST. We're flying straight to Heathrow. My nerves were really starting to get to me today. I can't believe this is actually happening! I CAN'T BELIVE I'M GOING TO ENGLAND! I decided to keep a travel journal because there's going to be so much to see. I'm planning to type it up and post it on Wattpad in Appalachian Anglophile as soon as we get home. I'm going to try and write as much detail each day as I can.

            Today went a lot better than I expected with preparing to leave. We got the grass mowed which was one of the biggest concerns. I spent part of the morning watching clips from Pirate Radio/The Boat That Rocked on YouTube because I was sort of on a kick about Rhys Ifan's character, Gavin Kavanagh and his introductory scene. That scene got "Jumpin' Jack Flash" stuck in my head which I'm hoping will be stuck in my head again while standing in front of Pretty Green getting a picture taken wearing one of my Pretty Green shirts that I hope to buy.

            I'm currently wearing my off white Jet t-shirt in honor of Nic Cester's birthday along with my yellow Kent State hoodie. My hoodie is currently tied around my waist as it's a lot hotter inside the airport than I expected. I have a band t-shirt to wear pretty much every day on our trip plus other shirts for other days (like my Watership Down shirt for when we visit Watership Down.).

            I took a break from writing when it got close to being time to board.

It's now 11:02 pm EST. I'm not sure where we are right now but the interactive map on our in-flight screen showed a place called Utica. Before we left Pittsburgh and were still on the tarmac, the map showed Steubenville and East Liverpool. That reminds me: we had to pass through East Liverpool and Chester to get to Liverpool and Chester. Last weekend when we got to see LeslieFabianBaldwin and her husband, Leslie said East Liverpool would be more like West Liverpool to the people over Liverpool (aka Liverpudlians or Scousers).

            When we arrive at Heathrow, we have a layover until 6:15 pm BST then we'll get a connecting flight to Manchester. Originally, our flight to Manchester was supposed to be at 2:15 pm BST I think but it got cancelled. Oh, well. Hopefully this new flight will be on time. The only downside is we'll have to wait until Friday to go to Pretty Green as they're only open until 5:30 pm BST.

            So far, the only bummers on the trip will be the fact Sifters Records is temporarily closed and there won't be any chickens at The Great Yorkshire Show. The hope/plan at Sifters was supposed to be see if they had Get Born on vinyl and get a picture in front of the store. I guess I don't need the record because I'd never listen to it anyway. And as for The Great Yorkshire Show, I'm more excited about seeing Rough Fell Sheep.

            Our itinerary is as follows (minus a whole lot of details I'll write more about when the time comes): Manchester, Lake District, Liverpool, Chester, York, Birmingham, and London (with a day out in Watership Down, Oxford, and the Cotswolds).

            Back to our flight across the pond, my husband and I both got water to drink. I'm feeling really thirsty and have been since before we left Pittsburgh. It's probably from the pizza we had with Monica before we left. They also serve Sprite on the plane which surprised me because I didn't think they had Sprite in the UK. Jake got some and when I saw it was a British can I told him to keep it. We even have paper boarding passes maybe because we had to check bas. All these little things will make great souvenirs. They gave us Sour Cream and Chive pretzels on the plan too which are a brand called Peen State but it says they're distributed by a company in Ireland. Our in-flight meals should be coming soon which is a lot sooner than I expected. We have an in-flight TV and Husband and I both started watching Jurassic Park. It's honestly the best movie in the whole franchise in my opinion. Watching it makes me think of taking Hamster to the drive-in. We passed a sigh for the drive-in in Chester. I'm not sure if that one is dog friendly but I think it has come up when I've googled taking dogs to the drive-in. They also gave us pillows, blankets, and headphones to use on the plane. I wonder if we get to keep them? Oh, I almost forgot: I told Hamster maybe we'll go to the drive-in again after we get back. Maybe the new Minions movie will still be playing there. The lights have been on in the plane since they started serving drinks which is nice because it allows me to write in this journal. I'm trying to think of what to write. Websites I've found giving tips about writing travel journals say to describe things in as much detail as you can to keep the memories including smells and tastes. It's pretty quiet on the plane. I can hear people talking but can't hear what they're saying. The water tastes good. I think it came from a bottle. That makes me think about how Husband and I, Mom and Dad, and Mam and Pap all have spring water but it doesn't all taste the same (Leslie and Mom pointed that out). There's a little girl sleeping in the seat row across the aisle from us. She's all stretched out and looks really comfy. The seats are pretty comfy and they gave us a blanket and pillow too along with ear buds for the TV.

            I got my nails done for this vacation. I got an American Flag on my right ring finger and  Union Jack Flag on my left ring finger. All my other fingernails are red and blue. My toenails are too except my "ring" toenails are white.

            The in-flight meal was good. I got vegetarian pasta and Husband got chicken, carrots, and broccoli. They gave us a bottle of water that's from Harrogate. Maybe I'll write more about this tomorrow after we get to Heathrow as they turned the lights back off on the plane now everyone is done with their meals. I should probably try to sleep too even though I probably won't get much sleep. But before I go (or try to go anyway), I almost forgot I'm going to call the photo album on Facebook for this trip "This Is England '22" as well as the introductory post in Appalachian Anglophile on Wattpad. Oh, and I jammed out singing "Jailbird" by Primal Scream this morning while I was doing the push mowing because I was so excited. The time is now 12:27 am EST on 7/07/22. Happy Birthday, Ringo! I'll write more about him and his birthday at Heathrow. I'm using my phone screen for light while I write this.