London and 14-Day Arctic Circle Crossing: Edinburgh Evening Stay Holland America Cruise: Day 20 Arrival Dover, Transfer to London Heathrow, Flight to Orlando May 31, 2025

Since it was the night before a trip, I slept poorly and got up a lot.

For some reason, my husband K's alarm went off at 4:35 am, which would have been correct for Oslo. Mine was correct at 5:30.

Just before 6, we looked out and recognized the sea wall for Dover. The sun was barely up behind the ship and it was a bit foggy.

  

Our daughter J arrived at 6:15 to go to breakfast. It wasn't overly crowded, because most people would be disembarking in Rotterdam, where they boarded.

At 6:50, we went back to the cabins to wash up and gather our outerwear and carry-on luggage.
 

At 7:32, we were off the ship having been waved off by a couple of the crew. We went down to a cavernous luggage area and had little trouble finding ours. Even though Holland America had made such a fuss that they couldn't transport us today and then found a way to do it, there were at least 4 busses out there, when we went out. We had to figure out which one was going to Terminal 3. Once was taking people on an excursion and then to Heathrow, and one to Gatwick, but the others were all going to Heathrow. A woman asked us our terminal and directed us to bus 3, because it had room. The area underneath was pretty full.

At 7:47, we were on the bus and at 8:03, we were on the road. It was a quiet, uneventful ride. 

At 9:35, we saw the sign for Heathrow and 21 minutes later, we were let off at Terminal 3 and it was hazy.

We dropped our bags after checking in at a kiosk for Virgin Atlantic. K's suitcase was a little underweight and mine was a little over. So, she gave us a break and didn't charge us.

Just before getting to security, the three of us were delighted to see a Mr. Men character on the security sign. The girls had loved the British series about Mr. Men and Little Miss, when they were young.

We got through security at 10:50, which then dumped us into Duty Free. We browsed and I got a Lego set that J wanted as a future gift.

At 11:20, after 19 days of being together, we said good-bye to J, who had to fly home to DC. It was a great trip with her, as usual, but, as usual, difficult to say good-bye.

Just after that, we saw this massive Highland Coo (cow) and sent her a copy. She hadn't gotten to see a real one on this trip.

K and I realized that we needed to eat lunch, since we didn't know when we'd get fed. We went into The Evergreen Bar & Kitchen, where we experienced the slowest service imaginable. They even brought out the wrong main course for me. We did like the Coke Zero bottles, even if they were small.  K ordered Sausages & Mash (better known here as Bangers & Mash) for Ł17 and I ordered the Ploughman's Board for Ł19.50. We split them, of course. At least they tasted good.

 

We had to flag the waitress to be able to pay and then we headed in the wrong direction for restrooms out in the terminal. We had to hustle to the gate.

At 1:15, we were seated in 67 B and C on Virgin Atlantic for DL5973 to  Orlando. The plane was named "Miss Emily". By 1:50, we were all loaded but held by an air traffic delay.

Finally, at 2:06, we pushed back from the gate. I started watching The Wild Robot.

Soon, we were given a snack and I also got a Coke Zero. 

I left my watch on London time and the phone was in airplane mode. So, all times here reflect that until I say otherwise.

At 3:45, they brought around a hot meal. K got the mac and cheese. I got the chicken. It was a lot of food and tasted good. (The line over my food is my power cord.)

 

When my movie ended, I moved on to Paddington in Peru, which I enjoyed. Since I'd seen the original, my next movie was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. They fell right back into those characters.

At 6:10, they brought around the delicious Magnum Mini ice cream on a stick.  My next film was You're Cordially Invited.  I worked on the travel journal until we hit turbulence.

At 7:45, we were served tea, our last of the trip.. Appropriately, I was watching a show J suggested, Monty Don's British Gardens. 

  

At 6:18 EDT, I was watching the tail cam and belly cam as we landed. It was 6:29, before we parked and 6:40, before we were in the terminal.

We didn't see the Global Entry sign, but we did see one saying to download its app, even though we have the card. When we did download it and finished answering the questions on it, we went to find a guard and ask where the Global Entry line was. It turned out to be right in front of him in the center of the room, not the side, as we are used to, and the line was short. We finished immigration at 6:56.

We didn't have to wait long for our luggage, happily. We went over to the main terminal and K let his friend K know where we were at 7:22. He was soon there.

At 8:08 pm, we were home!

The phone recorded 6,068 steps and 2.2 miles.

P.S. The promised refund from HAL was not on our statement today. They had told K and J that it could take 30 days. On June 1, I wrote to our AAA travel agent D and told her about the trip and the number of buses there on the 31st. On July 2, I wrote to her to tell her we did not have the refunds. She wrote back that she would call them. On 7/3, she said that they said their system was down and they had no record of the promised refund. She asked if I had any proof. Of course, I did- I saved every piece of paper. J didn't, but that should be no issue, since we were traveling together, if not on the same reference number. I sent her a scan of the original note canceling the return transfer and screenshots of my statement.

On 7/16, I wrote her that there was no sign of a refund. On 7/17, she wrote back that they were still investigating. She wrote me again asking if J had any proof. I got her to send me screenshots of her statement and I forwarded them on 7/17.

On 7/25, I wrote to ask of the status. She wrote back that they were waiting to hear from Guest Services on the ship and that we did have a case number, which she included.

On 8/5, I got an email from a Special Advisor, Guest Relations, that the $128 that K and I had paid in total on the ship for the return transfer would be hitting my bank in days. We were on a Disney cruise, when that email came and I did not see it until our return. Since he had said to contact him if there were further questions, I sent this:

On 8/21, I sent it again, noting that I had heard nothing back and that it must have gotten lost in transmission.

On 8/26, I wrote to D and asked her for the case number for J. She sent it and said they'd escalated her case to one of the managers and she was positive J would get a refund. I should just give them time.

By 9/5, I was more than fed up. I used Christopher Elliott's travel site to get the name and email of the head of Guest Relations for HAL. I forwarded to him previous correspondence and other attachments I'd been sending, along with this:

 Crickets. 

I was about to write again on 9/17, when I decided to have J check.  In her email that day, she got an email from the previous day with a form to fill out for the refund. On 9/18, I wrote to D that the refund had transferred to her bank and was now processing. 

FINALLY!