Off to LHR (London Heathrow Airport)

Ready to Roll
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Out of the door at last.   Of course as seasoned travellers we don't make the obvious mistakes that others make such as too much luggage.   Certainly not.   Just take a look at the photo of the svelte like jumble of luggage outside our apartment door as we leave.  In the old days we used to take 4 cases in the hold, all weighing 32 kilos or more, plus 4 more weighty cases in the cabin.  Today we takes only 3 cases in the hold, two weighing 20 kilos (the limit is now 23) and one weighing 14 kilos.  Then two carry-ons weighing 14 and 10 kilos respectively, then comes Pauline's handbag weighing a mere 3 kilos (yes that figure is right) and finally my PC bag at 8 kilos.    Well, that is only a total of 90 kilos which of course is down by over 50% from the previous level which frequently ran at around 190 kilos.  Who says we have not become environmentally aware?!       Now you might think that our travel cases are still outrageous but you ought to see what the average American takes on board as hand luggage; let alone those huge bags which end up in the hold.   American baggage is the same as their food portions.  What we call extra large they call regular and what they call large we call overwhelming.   Of course all of this stems from the sheer physical size of the USA.    The State of Texas -where we are headed today- has a land mass of 266,853 sq miles whereas the entire United Kingdom is only 244,820 sq miles.   The coldest place in the USA is Prospect Creek in Alaska at -62C whereas the hottest is Death Valley at 56.7C.  The greatest wind speed ever was 301 MPH in Oklahoma City in 1999, the largest hail stone ever, 7" in diameter, in Aurora Nebraska.   You don't need to look too hard to see that the USA is full of records denoting the biggest, highest, coldest, longest, smallest, fastest, richest and poorest people or thing in the world.    It is just impossible to ignore the statistics and achievements or even the balls-ups of the USA.    I do really think that most Americans do believe that the USA is the "home of the brave and land of the free" and I certainly believe that it is the most exciting and rewarding country in the world.   Whatever you might think of America as an individual you can not deny its place in the record books or its place in history.  Anyway that is the homage over, at least for today, and Texas USA is where we and hopefully our luggage will finally arrive later today.

Pauline in charge and off to the AA desk
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We leave the apartment block door at 7.00 am and immediately pick up a cab.  The cabby is great.  He is courteous, picks up all the luggage and we are off.  Less than 45 minutes later we are at terminal 3, home of American Airlines (AA) and once again the cabby deals with all the luggage finding a luggage cart and stacking it.   Now its a simple journey of a few hundred yards to the new American Airlines premium passenger facility conveniently located just to the right of the main entrance.   God we have never been this early or so well prepared in all of our travels before.   Neither have we ever met such an AA employee behind the check-in desk.   We have been travelling with AA since 1993, we have accumulated hundreds of thousands miles and never has there been such a pleasant and friendly welcome at the AA check-in desk.  With AA we have come to expect disinterested as the norm.  We then move through security so fast that it is difficult to believe it.  No taking the laptop out of the bag, no taking off the shoes and no body search.   It can't be like this all day can it?

It can't be like this all day can it?