Up at 5:15
this morning for our 6:45 scheduled taxi from Hilton to Stockholm airport. The Hilton made up some breakfast sacks for
us to take with us as restaurants were not open that early. Taxi was right on time. There were heavy thunderstorms this morning
in Stockholm. We arrived at the airport
at 7:30. There were carts for us to use (no charge) where the taxi dropped us off. We needed
four carts so positioned the girls both outside and inside at the ticket counter while
I wheeled them all in. We were flying business
class so there was no line and were immediately checked in. Another benefit of business class is “fast
track” line through security check. We
were all comfortably relaxing in the SAS business class lounge by 8:15. Our flight was to depart at 10:20 but board
said to head to the gate just before 9:00.
Now I know why! It was a long
walk plus we had to do passport control check.
We made in it in plenty of time for boarding the plane which started
late, due to crew arriving late. Once
situated in our seats with carry on stowed they served us a glass of
champagne. The flight departed the gate
at 10:24 and took off at 10:38 for our 8 hour and 20 minute flight to Chicago
Ohare airport.
When at
cruising altitude we were offered drinks and a nice lunch. I watched a movie while everyone else
rested. The seats were not fully recline
but close. Later I tried to sleep but
couldn’t. Our ETA for Ohare was 12:00 (noon) and that is when we landed. We were on an Airbus 330-300
which head 264 passengers. I’m not sure
if it was full as did not look back in coach.
I do know there were LOTS of small kids back there. Another reason we fly business. An interesting thing about our A330, it had foward looking camera so we could watch takeoff and landing. When on approaches a camera was pointed down so you could see below us. It switched to forward looking when the landing gear came down. Our (AA's DC-10's used to have cockpit cameras until the crash of one at Ohare). Our plane arrived at the gate at 12:06 and headed for
immigration. Rebecca and I used our
Global Entry which took seconds. They
now also have kiosks for self checking of passports for US citizens only which Charlotte and Jane
used and was super fast also. Next we
were in baggage claim and I got a porter to help us with all our luggage. We had to collect it before passing through
Customs. Basically Rebecca, Jane, and I
walked through it but the agent asked Charlotte a lot of questions about where
she had been and what she had bought.
The porter took us to where United re-checked our luggage on to DFW and
we got boarding passes for our United Express (Regional Jet). Then we had to change terminals so hopped on the
train to go to Terminal 1. There we
again had to go through security but we were all TSA Pre-check stamped so went
to special lane where we did not have to take anything out of our bags, even my
computer. Just put bags on conveyor and
walk through. Piece of cake!
Our United Express plane was an EMB-170 and was very comfortable for an RJ. The seats were more comfortable than a Super 80. We departed a little late due to weather reroute and arrived at DFW at 6:00pm. We were to have two limos again to go home because luggage would not fit into just one. One driver showed up but the other didn't. Had to wait 45 minutes for the other one to return. I was NOT a happy camper!
All was well back at the house. I ordered a pizza and on way pick it up stopped to get milk and eggs. Rebecca watched some of the Cowboy's pre-season game but I hit the hay at 10:00 pm. Not a easy night's sleep despite being so tired. Woke up at 1:30am as that was get-up time in Northern Europe. It's going to take a couple days to get body use to Dallas time again. One problem was our mail man did not stop delivering mail but our good neighbor got it.
There will be one more posting. I have a lot of photos you have not seen yet and I want to sum up our wonderful cruise adventure. In the mean time the dreaded "weigh in" will occur this morning after we work out. How much weight did we gain???? I'm afraid it won't be pretty!
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