British Isles Explorer Ocean Cruise

Day 1: Tuesday, April 07, 2026 - Travel from home, to international airspace

The day's statistics:
⛅ Weather: mid to upper 60s, sunny
👟 Steps: Linda 3,629; Steve 7,412
🚌 Miles traveled (approximately): 1,178

This really isn't the first day of our cruise, but rather it is the first day of travel on our vacation. This has been the norm for all our Viking Cruises - River and Ocean - including this time.

The first leg of our travel was to get from PHL (Philadelphia) to Heathrow airport, in England.
We left home, pulling out of the driveway at 3:18.
Our first stop was at La Matesina to pick up an Italian sub. We had packed the end of the party mix in a Zip Lock® to enjoy with our sandwich - and finish the sub because it certainly would have been stale by the time we got home. Since our flight wasn't until 6:40, we figured we'd be lucky if we were eating by 7:00 and that was just a little too late for us considering it would be a matter of "eat this, now sit for a couple hours, then try to get to sleep."
In exactly one hour, we were at the ExpressPark South lot, and were shuttled to the terminal within fifteen minutes.
We made our way to the agent and checked our bags: Linda's was 14.2 kg (31.3 pounds), and mine was 16.8 kg (37.0 pounds).
After we began to make our way to security, I noticed that we did NOT have the TSA PreCheck® on our tickets. Fortunately, no one else queued up after us and I was able to get the same agent and asked her to add it - though I had to provide the TSA numbers I had.
We breezed through security in less than five minutes and by 4:56, we were at gate A116.
Then our 6:40 flight was delayed a half-hour to 7:09.

Our plan to eat before boarding was working out splendidly and at 5:30, we did so.

Boarding finally started at 6:40 - the original time of the flight.
By 7:04, we were at our seats - which were in the middle section, in the aisle and middle seats. We had in the past sat on the side, at the window if possible. But considering what we went through with the sick guy on the return flight from Madrid last December, we decided that the middle section was actually a little better. And it was a night flight anyway, so there really wasn't too much sightseeing either.
The plane finally moved at 7:40, and we took to the air at 8:05.
While we weren't up to having a full meal, less than an hour later we certainly wouldn't pass on a snack, especially when it is paired with wine.

We passed some of our time watching the TV show Tony & Ziva, the NCIS spin-off.
We tried to get a little shut eye and before long, it was midnight and a new day.

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