Many of you know me from the Italy board but this trips starts in Londra!! Since my "shtick" is disability travel I thought I'd post my UK experiences however brief on this board.


BACKGROUND

10 years ago I met a nice Irish guy named Oliver on america on line who had questions about visiting Arizona. I gave him answers, invited him to meet us for lunch, we lent him camping gear and since then we've been friends.

He's been to visit us several times and we went with him to Ireland for a week 6 years ago.

So of course he again threatened to shoot the plane down if I just flew over and didn't stop.

THIS TRIP

I landed in Heathrow via BA early in the afternoon. This is now my second BA Heathrow landing and it was even more catastrophic than the first. Once again in Phoenix BA insisted on removing me from my scooter and placing me in one of their wheelchairs. (Last trip they lost my wheelchair never to be seen again).


This trip we arrived 45 minutes early. Which gave the traffic controllers 2 options, 1) circle us til our gate came open or 2) land us in the hinterlands of Heathrow (I secretly think it was Dover) and drive us to the terminal. Which is fine if you are able bodied. Because they roll up a set of stairs. I can go down stairs (lots of stairs) if I don't mind a hit to my pride. I go down stairs by sitting on my butt and sliding. The other option was to wait until somebody bothered to bring around a lift for the 3 people in wheelchairs. Well us 3 grannies were able to somehow get down the stairs and onto the bus.

The bus drops us off at the disability assistance office. Great!!! NOT. There are exactly 2 (count them 2) people to help with wheelchairs at terminal 5. This is international arriving flights. The poor girls were running themselves ragged. Had BA honored my request to put my scooter in the undercabin storage I would have been merrily on my way. But NOOOOO I had to wait 45 minutes for the poor assistance people to push me the length of the terminal thru immigration then back the length of the terminal to claimed luggage.

So advice to the reader? If you have mobility issues don't fly BA to Heathrow. Actually don't fly into Heathrow period!! Gatwick is 100,000 times better.

I scooter out the front of the terminal and there he is waiting patiently although his two little ones were not quite so patient. However once I arrived on tortuga due (Italian turtle 2 - scooter's name) they were fascinated. I have a feeling we are going for lots of rides.

I'm staying at Oliver's (nice to have friends!!!) so after I unpack and freshen up I am informed of the itinerary. It is a bank holiday this weekend (May day). We decide to go to Brighton because I love Harry Ramstead (?) fish and chips, Arizona is a long way from the ocean and the Brighton arts festival is on.

I had very cleverly remembered my handicap parking sticker from the US. The scooter fit beautifully in the trunk (boot) of the car.

We arrive in Brighton to a traffic jam. Evidently the football (American soccer -I think- don't ask me about sports) team had won a big game. So everybody was running around cheering, tons of buses with fans. The radio said they broke an attendance record with 83,000 fans in the stadium.

We finally arrive oceanside find a great parking space (of course) pile out, and off we go. The ocean in Brighton makes a different noise. The beach is pebbles so there is this rattle of the pebbles as the waves come in and wash out as well as the sound of the waves. Very different than the california sand beachs or Oregon's rocks.

We went along the boardwalk and out onto the Pier. I was really surprised by the pier. A combination of carnival games, rides and slot machines. Literally cheek by jowl. In Vegas children under 21 aren't even allowed on the Casino floors. At the Luxor there are special pathways you have to follow with kids to get to rooms in the pyramid. So to see slots mixed in with kiddie rides was a little shocking.

G
The pier itself has orgeous victorian ironwork railings, onion domes and is a visual feast for the eyes.

We went over to Brighton Palace which by then had closed but I got some pictures.

Then off to dinner. The fish and chips were fabulous. I had the fish bites which were 3 different fillets. No fish McNuggets here - 6 inch long 3 inch wide pieces of lovely fish and a guiness.

After dinner I'm scootering along back to the car when all of a sudden, out of the blue, this young guy runs up from behind me says hello gorgeous, love your spunk and grabbed my cheeks and kissed me!!! Then ran off.

Oliver says "What was that?" I just shrugged my shoulders and said "that's me- making friends all over the world".

Yes, the pier is somewhat tacky (and very much IMO to be avoided on bank holiday weekends), yet I used to very much enjoy it. On the whole I probably just enjoyed standing and looking out, whilst the sound of the water competed with the blaring of the music and the gaming machines.

Still, probably nothing in comparison to the 'spider' railway, whose photo's you occasionally encounter in Brighton and one's first impression is of some elaborate con-job.... surely no-one could have built a railway that went INTO the sea.

Did you head along the prom(enade)? Very wheelchair/scooter friendly, as well as being an interesting, yet historical people watching game.

Not surprised by the Heathrow experience - not a very pleasant airport (of the London airports IMO Gatwick comes out the best of a bad bunch).

Hope you have a great trip

regards

Ian

Brighton on a damp Bank Holiday Monday - talk about an authentic British experience!

Sorry to hear about Heathrow - it really can't be that difficult to get what must be a very frequent situation right. I had thought the Terminal 5 troubles were behind us.

The fish and chip restaurant chain is Harry Ramsden's - used to be a single, large famous outlet in Yorkshire then became a chain.

Yes we did "walk" down the boardwalk. I was blown away by the victorian architecture of all the cottages along the oceanside. Are they authentic? Or reproductions? They looked authentic but then again reproductions are getting darn good. I wouldn't want to own one - I don't like to paint that much - but they sure is purty.

I loved the pier. Truly a great experience. I was on sensual overload. The sound of the waves, the carny hucksters, the smell of the fried donuts, the ocean wind, and the wild colors!! Just a little blown away by the slots next to the dime toss.

Hi Mary, Good to hear from you. Love the details and all the descriptions. Glad they did not lose your motorized skooter this time. Also great story of the young guy who kissed and ran...Continue to drop by when time permits. Have a great trip.

Barb Cabot

Mary
Plenty that is real there, but without knowing exactly what you saw, I can't be sure. That said, with historically sky-high real estate there, the buildings have tended to be relatively well-cared for over the years.

... but as you say lots of paint, as even yacht paint tends to get attacked by the salty sea breezes.

Although donuts are a rare guilty pleasure, I tended to prefer the french crepes stall near the start of the pier - so one can kid oneself that savoury is slightly less unhealthy

Hope you're having fun.

regards

Ian

quote:

I was on sensual overload.

RomeAddict, I'm sure you meant "sensory" not "sensual", eh? The mind conjures up all sorts of things thinking about "sensual" overload.

I'm sorry! Once an English teacher, always an English teacher!

However, I did thoroughly enjoy your recounting of everything that led up to that kiss.

I love Brighton Pier! When were there in November 2007 it was a bright sunny day and we had a couple of pints outside the pub and Englembert Humperdink was playing "The last waltz" It was wonderful!

The beach is fantastic HUGE! Boy can you imagine if England had weather like the south of France...it would be heaven!

quote:

Originally posted by Earline:

quote:

I was on sensual overload.

RomeAddict, I'm sure you meant "sensory" not "sensual", eh? The mind conjures up all sorts of things thinking about "sensual" overload.

I'm sorry! Once an English teacher, always an English teacher!

However, I did thoroughly enjoy your recounting of everything that led up to that kiss.

Hey I was kissed!! Maybe sensual WAS the right word

Maybe we should start a new one called best kissing story on a travel! I have done Disney World in LA in a wheelchair and was suddenly kissed on the head by a 2 meter tall squirrel.

quote:

Originally posted by soljet:
Maybe we should start a new one called best kissing story on a travel! I have done Disney World in LA in a wheelchair and was suddenly kissed on the head by a 2 meter tall squirrel.

OK I can top that one. I was at the Como Park Zoo back in the days when they had Sparky the seal doing an act. I was by the gate watching the show when suddenly the trainer gallops over to me and says something like "Sparky likes you and wants to give you a kiss". So I got dragged into the center ring and kissed by a seal!! If I remember I was like 13 at the time and I guess Sparky qualified as my first kiss!!

It was cold, wet and very very fish breath.