WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2014 - WE RETURN TO USA - EUROSTAR TO LONDON & FLIGHT HEATHROW TO DFW

During the few days that we have been in Paris, our apartment owner, Boyd, has sent me text messages periodically to make certain that we weren't experiencing any problems.  Initially he inquired about our transportation plans as we departed and I outlined those plans of both couples.  Tom & Virginia were flying home from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and Sylvia and I were traveling from Paris to London via Eurostar (train under the English Channel) and then flying home from London Heathrow airport.  I had initially thought both couples could travel together on to the Metro to the Paris train station, Gare Du Nord and then Tom & Virginia could continue on to the Charles de Gaulle airport using the RER.  However, once we had vowed to use taxis when we had to handle luggage, those plans were scrapped.  When I told Boyd of our flights, his immediate response was that we needed the services of his favorite Vietnamese cab driver, Jacky.  So, with our departure times noted, Boyd arranged for Jacky to pick us up, first Sylvia and Jim, then return and get Tom and Virginia.

As planned, at 5:45 a.m. Jacky was waiting for us when we arrived at the street.  What a gentleman he was; so very calm and helpful!  We arrived at Gare du Nord with plenty of time to complete the necessary paperwork required for our arrival in London and then pass through security prior to boarding the train.  Once on the train, we relaxed and enjoyed the 1.5 hour ride with about half of it inside the tunnel.  Our arrival station in England was St. Pancras International train station in London. When we left the train at St. Pancras we followed the signs to the Kings Cross Underground Station and boarded the London Tube (subway) using our Oyster cards for payment.  (These were the same cards we had used for payment when we traveled the Tube from London Heathrow to London City Airport at the beginning of this adventure).

The Oyster car was one of the two items I worried about after loosing my wallet.  When I expressed that to Sylvia she said she had BOTH of the Oyster cards, so I could relax about that.  The other item involved the phone number and location of the hotel parking lot where our car was parked near the Dallas Ft. Worth airport.  In my lost wallet was a business card for that establishment.  While in the Paris apartment that had wifi service, I located in a email folder the location and phone number of the car park.

Back to our journey.  We stayed on the Tube approximately 12 minutes, from Kings Cross station to Paddington station.  There we walked to the Paddington Rail Station (about 5 minutes) to board the Heathrow Express.   I had prepaid the 15 minute Heathrow Express ride to London Heathrow, Terminal 3 and printed out the pass so we just swiped our pass and located a seat.  At Heathrow,  we used the elevator to get to the level of the counters  for American Airlines, then proceeded to check in and pass off our luggage that we didn't have to handle again until we arrived in Texas.  What a relief!  But wait, there was security!  And security it was!  It was the most invasive security I had ever passed through.  At my yearly physical examination,  my doctor doesn't go over my body as much as was done for this flight.  But, I survived it and we were soon looking over the restaurants where we could have lunch and spend some extra time at the table.  We chose one where we had eaten on another occasion and then ordered our lunch according to the British money we were carrying, 50 British pounds.  Sylvia ordered a chicken sandwich with fries and I got a cheeseburger with fries.  We both had Coca Cola and then stayed so long we got a refill of the drinks, so we were charged for four drinks.  The check was about 40 pounds (about $65).  Nothing else of significance took place until we landed in Texas and decided to cancel our hotel reservation in Irving and drive home that night.  We arrived home in Gilmer at about 11 p.m.  When we drove into the carport, our cat immediately came out to greet us.  And, the next morning we departed from the house at about 8:00 a.m. to drive to the kennel in Tyler where Isabella (our cocker spaniel) waited for us.  Picking her up was complete joy!  She was a very happy dog!  And we were very happy humans!