12-8-05 Car Returned to Gatwick
Last night we had a lovely dinner at the home of Mark and Jill, two friends we met through Pete and Rachel’s Blog. Jill had made my favorite, Sheppard’s Pie. The hospitality and conversation was excellent, and they have a lovely home. We shot back up to London in torrential rain. Several police cars passed as doing 100 mph +, I don’t know how they can drive in such conditions so fast, but they do. Something bad must have happened. Got slightly lost on the way back, and as usual, our reserved parking space at the Holiday Inn Express was not available, so, a brief walk in the rain from overflow parking back to the room.
American Express - You’re The Worst
We had to get cash today for remainder of trip and went to the local American Express office. When Stephani tried to draw 200 from her Amex, they looked on the back of her card and noted she had written “Ask for ID” as customarily done in the USA. Well, as we are finding, the British are quite backward in some areas, particularly when something doesn’t meet regulations. Apparently the credit cards must all be signed on the back to be valid. So, we were turned away. We later went across the street to a Natwest bank where a really nice Lady helped us operate the ATM, where we got the necessary funds. American Express will hear from us on this.
We’ve had a lot of frustrations and challenges as a couple by driving (or attempting to drive) in the U.K. and so, today I was very excited we got to return the little red car to Gatwick having done mostly all of the road trips we wanted to do. Before we could return it, we had to make sure the water from the other night was all gone. We did this by stuffing 6 bounty rolls behind the seats for 2 hours to sop up about 4 quarts of water from the Thames. They never caught on. They even ran us up to Gatwick where we got the train home.
We stopped in town for some Fish & Chips in a great little pub nearby. Super cheap, we had two meals with drinks for 9.70. A bit smoky, but we will definitely use it again.
Tonight we will be joining Mark and Jill for The Vibrants in Camden, North London. It should be a great evening out.
Tomorrow, we are going back to Central London for more attractions. We’re in full speed.
Hope you are all well.
American Express - You’re The Worst
We had to get cash today for remainder of trip and went to the local American Express office. When Stephani tried to draw 200 from her Amex, they looked on the back of her card and noted she had written “Ask for ID” as customarily done in the USA. Well, as we are finding, the British are quite backward in some areas, particularly when something doesn’t meet regulations. Apparently the credit cards must all be signed on the back to be valid. So, we were turned away. We later went across the street to a Natwest bank where a really nice Lady helped us operate the ATM, where we got the necessary funds. American Express will hear from us on this.
We’ve had a lot of frustrations and challenges as a couple by driving (or attempting to drive) in the U.K. and so, today I was very excited we got to return the little red car to Gatwick having done mostly all of the road trips we wanted to do. Before we could return it, we had to make sure the water from the other night was all gone. We did this by stuffing 6 bounty rolls behind the seats for 2 hours to sop up about 4 quarts of water from the Thames. They never caught on. They even ran us up to Gatwick where we got the train home.
We stopped in town for some Fish & Chips in a great little pub nearby. Super cheap, we had two meals with drinks for 9.70. A bit smoky, but we will definitely use it again.
Tonight we will be joining Mark and Jill for The Vibrants in Camden, North London. It should be a great evening out.
Tomorrow, we are going back to Central London for more attractions. We’re in full speed.
Hope you are all well.
Comments
Take care
Paul B
Sure makes me want to visit the land of England.
Great, great blog post, Gary!
--Dan L.
I enjoy your postings of your trip. The pictures are really nice. I like the ones that are foggy. They are beautiful.
I saw your old house. Cool that you found it! Still look the way you remember it? Did memories come flooding back?