We have arrived in one piece and with all our belongings intact. In all it was a very good day without any serious problems. There was, however, a huge debacle with the seating allocations on the flight, but more of that in a moment.
Saturday 30th July:
The coach departed Harwich, Essex at 8am then headed to Wix for the second pick up at 8.30am. Amazingly for Harwich band everyone arrived at the requested time (even one couple who found their car clamped outside their own home that morning!). With the coach fully loaded off it goes to Heathrow.
8.15am Portsmouth band members started getting the knock on their front doors as the minibus which would transport them and the van that would carry their luggage and instruments made the rounds. By 9am they were heading up the M3 to Heathrow where they met Harwich band in zone "F".
We all proceeded into the terminal to be checked in. This was straight forward enough with our instruments being loaded onto the plane separate from our cases. Nearly all travellers managed to keep their cases within the regulated 23kg allowance, all bar one, but after he "chatted up" the desk clerk the bag was loaded on without any further difficulties. We then headed through security without problems. After a short stay inside the terminal we made our way to the gate and then onto the plane. This is where we noticed the only real annoyance of the whole journey. You would have thought that when you made a joint booking for 51 people you would get a group of seats all together; apparently, however, not when you travel with Virgin Atlantic. We had people scattered all about the plane from row 35 at the front of the “economy” section, back to 65, the last row on the plance. It was a joke and not a very funny one, especially when some of us were sat seats from anyone else they knew. A complaint will be made. But let’s not let that ruin our day. The flight was smooth with next to no turbulence and at 5.40pm (10.40pm GMT) we touched down on American soil. We had a long wait to get though passport control, but spent very little time in comparison when we collected our baggage. So, once reunited with all our luggage, we head out of the airport to be greeted by our main contact in the USA and by our coach. The coach is loaded up with suitcases and our van loaded with instruments. A quick head count made on the coach. We’d made it, every last man, woman and child!
The 2 hour coach trip from the airport to our present location, the Ambassador Hotel, South Yarmouth, MA, was I can only assume a pretty ordinary journey as most of the people on the coach were asleep.
We arrived at the hotel at 9pm local time, eighteen hours after leaving our homes, and were greeted by the Harwich Town Tour Commitee's welcoming party who gave us our room keys. From there we went our own separate ways. Some went to find food and others straight to their rooms to sleep. It had been a long day!
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