" Travel "

Route 66 Retro Heaven

I’m currently sat in the 1950s! This is the first chance I’ve had to post since we landed as we were too busy in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois where we where yesterday didn’t have WiFi.

The Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven is a vintage Route 66 motel that has been in Springfield, Missouri since the 1930s and has been loving restored to a 1950s condition complete with neon signs and period automobiles.

We are about to head out on the road for Oklahoma City passing through Kansas (watch out Dorothy!) on the way. Tonight we are staying in the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton and we should be arriving earlier than previous nights so I hope to complete my blog I started in Chicago detailing the trip up until now!

Chocks away!

I’ve only ever flown out of heathrow twice before but my experience today has been the best one so far.

We started our day in the comfort of the Premier Inn on the edge of the airport which was probably a wise decision as it meant we didn’t have to get up at stupid o’clock and deal with any potential traffic problems caused by the royal wedding. We caught the airport hoppa service to Heathrow Terminal 1 and the one thing I realised, which I have realised on both my previous visit is just how rubbish looking our main international airport is when compared to places like Paris Charles de Gaulle and Dallas Fort Worth. Check in was generally quick although the automatic check in machine didn’t want to read Dianne’s passport so we ended up checking in the old-fashioned way! Security was again quick and before we knew it we were in the central departure lounge.

After a mexican breakfast (I wanted to try something different!) and half an hour of watching the royal wedding on the company iPad we headed down endless moving walkways until 10 minutes later we were at our departure gate, and onto a half full plane which is a first for me and gave us a chance to put our seats back and stretch our legs without bothering other people.

We are about half way across the Atlantic at the time of writing so I’m going to get back to watching Wall-E or some random movie with Jason Statham in it, and possibly post a little more when we get to our hotel this evening.

The journey begins…

Premier InnWe are now officially on-route to the USA, after a nice traffic free drive courtesy of Mr Marshall we have arrived at the Premier Inn at Heathrow airport.

The hotel is surprisingly huge and has a lobby the size of a small shopping centre complete with Costa Coffee (is there anywhere their not these days?!), restaurant and bar. Check-in was via a touch screen console and our room overlooks the lobby!

We are off to bed soon ready for our flight tomorrow at midday.

14 days till Route 66!

In 14 days time we will be settling into our hotel in Chicago and preparing for 2 and a half weeks of driving across the mid-west to the pacific coast!

So far we’ve booked a Segway tour of San Francisco on the last day of our trip (inspired by Phil’s stag weekend!), and a boat trip across to Alcatraz on the same day!

I’ll be keeping this blog updated as often as I can while on the trip and will also be posting photos and videos to my lifestream which you can find on this page also.