Hunter and I are off on another adventure! We're trying to make November our usual vacation time and so far so good. Last year we went to Dubai and absolutely loved it, so we're considering the Middle East again, but in true airline employee fashion, we're just getting on the first empty plane East and seeing where we land!
My new job has been fantastic and pretty flexible. I was so happy to be able to take this trip since I just started I wasn't sure if get any vacation, but as long as I'm getting work completed and making sure all my projects are heading in the right direction, I'm able to take a small trip away. Plus I have my email accessible all the time to check in on various things when needed or attend any meetings I may have.
Hunter had been looking at flights for two weeks now trying to plan our best routes for a transatlantic flight. Once we landed somewhere overseas we would then use a zed-fare (agreement to fly standby on other airlines) to continue on our trip. Living in Atlanta is such a different experience than in St. George. There are so many direct flights and the European bank departs late in the evening so I can go to work for the whole day and then leave. After looking through all of our direct options on Delta, which were not looking so hot, we decided to actually take UA to IAD and then hop on a VS (Virgin Atlantic) flight to London. Delta owns 49% of VS and has an excellent agreement where we can fly in each other's business class.
We left after I finished work for the day and headed to the airport. We were going to try a Delta flight to Frankfurt, but it filled up last minute so that's when we made the choice to head to IAD on UA. After a quick stop in the E club, which is one of my projects I'm currently working on to renovate the entry and food/beverage service areas, we headed to our gate. The flight to IAD was a quick 1.5 hours.
When we landed we stopped at Chef Geoff's which is a restaurant on Priority Pass. We had a free snack before dinner on the plane and then went over to our gate for Flight VS22 IAD-LHR. We checked in with the agents, showed our ID, and were immediately given seats in 7G and 8G.
Shortly after we had our tickets, we started boarding. Hunter and I boarded in our zone and were welcomed onto the lovely 787-9 Dreamliner. Upon entry, the first thing you notice is the bar. They have a social bar with snacks and drinks you can visit at any time throughout the flight. You then turn the corner and there's the upper-class cabin. This configuration is seat count heavy and it was like you had your own little cubicle. Seats were arranged 1-1-1 so unlike usual Hunter and I were not next to each other but instead he was in front of me. It was a pretty empty flight so there wasn't anyone around us which was nice. It could be strange with a full plane I think.
After take-off, we were served dinner. Hunter picked the pork shoulder dish and I picked the speedy dinner of butternut squash soup. I was so tired as it was after midnight, I barely made it through dinner and had to decline dessert! After eating I transformed my seat into a bed and slept until I was woken up for breakfast. Hunter loved his dinner and finished it with a lovely looking slice of cheesecake, he said it might have been the best meal he had ever had on a plane.
For breakfast, Hunter had the eggs royale and I had peach crepes. Both were delicious! We landed shortly after breakfast on the plane at noon in London. Hunter and I headed to the hotel we booked which was a short bus ride away and checked in. We both took a quick shower before getting into fresh clothes. I then spent two hours working on an RFP (request for proposal) and we headed into the city which was about an hour away.
For dinner we went to Wagamama, one of our favorite places serving Japanese and Pan-Asian cuisine!
After dinner, I had a meeting to attend so I got a drink at Starbucks and joined in remotely. Hunter headed over to the Tate Modern and wandered around while I did that. He snagged some fun photos while over there.
After I was done with my meeting and Hunter was done at the Tate we grabbed a warm drink for our walk and headed to go see a play in the West End: The Book of Mormon. It's a Broadway Musical by the creators of South Park and was such a great play. Lots of humor and having spent ~5 years in Utah, was great to see such a fun view on Mormonism. Surprisingly the group behind us at the theater were Mormon and the whole thing was pretty fun and absurdist.
After the play, we headed across the street for a late-night snack at Five Guys. It was pretty tasty and actually reasonably priced. Also had unlimited refill soda which, while being a fast food staple in the US, is a rarity in Europe. We then took the tube and a night bus back to our hotel and finally went to sleep around 2am!
Date: November 2/3, 2022
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