Our flight leaves from Gatwick Airport at 9:50 AM. Since it is at least an hour away and not knowing what traffic might be like or what check-in at Gatwick would be I figured we should leave the hotel around 6AM. The concierge suggested we simply go next door to Victoria Station and take the Gatwick Express train which makes the journey in 30 minutes. But I knew better than to suggest to my wife we would have to haul our luggage and carry-ons to/through the train station, on/off the train, then into the Gatwick terminal. Side note: with age comes wisdom. The famous  London black cabs would be pretty costly so I decided to see if Uber was an option. Sure enough it was,  and it was about half the cost of a regular cab. In addition we got to meet a lovely gentleman named Nick who drove a Prius and got us to the airport safe and sound by about 7:45AM. Gatwick is indeed not as chaotic as Heathrow and the whole check-in/security process went quickly and smoothly. You do not even go through immigration anymore. You do have to scan your boarding pass in an area that resembles what might be considered a border control so maybe it is all done electronically these days. Or… maybe they do not care if/when you leave.

The flight, on one of those bright, shiny new 787s, left 10 minutes late but we are expected to land about 15 minutes early in Seattle.  Flight trivia:  Our take off speed was 157 mph and we are cruising over the polar route at 38,00-40,000 feet at a speed of 570 mph. And yet it is still a 9 plus hour flight from London to Seattle. 

The flight was smooth and we landed 15 minutes early to dry skies and a 70 degree temperature. The journey to our home on Miller Bay was also smooth as we missed the rush hour ferry traffic. The big issue was fighting to stay awake until at least 9PM!

Thus another trip came to a successful conclusion.  When Yvonne clicks her ruby red shoes she always comes home to her happy place!