The Great Adventure

A good nights sleep in my Salt Lake City hotel room surrounded by fresh cotton sheets but I still awoke early - it's amazing how quickly your body adapts to a new regime and environment so hopefully it was not going to be long before it re-adjusted to 6am not being my normal wake up time.

Today Saturday was the day to head back to the UK and do you know what - I didn't want to return.  Having come so far I would have loved to have  spent more time in the US and explored further south.

Travelling on your own means that you need to be a bit of an individual and comfortable with your own company which I was, but there are also a number of drawbacks. For one I hated eating on my own and it would have been nice to have shared the holiday with a friend if only to have the opportunity to reminisce about the experience. But the thing I really hated was the need to constantly watch my backpack which had to be lugged around everywhere I went. If I went to the rest room it followed me, if I ate in a cafe it sat by me ready to trip the unwary. It will come as no surprise to learn that I checked it in at the first opportunity when flying.

My flight out of Salt Lake City was due to depart  at 09:56 MDT, arriving Newark New Jersey, at 16:35 EST (13:35 MDT) so although it was an internal flight (and thus not subject to the early check in requirements of international flights) I decided to play safe and ensure I was at the airport by 08:30 at the latest.

Breakfasted and checked out I was ready for the courtesy bus to take me back to the airport and by 7.45am we were heading out of the city north towards the airport.

On this occasion, perhaps because I was not distracted by chatting to the driver, I noticed as we headed out of the city that there were less salubrious properties and signs of social poverty. It was something I had first noticed in Jackson when walking the streets away from the main "tourist" areas and also in Driggs. Unlike my experience of the UK where affluent areas are in the main separate from deprived areas, it often seemed to be the case that a semi shanty shack was sited next to an upmarket property.

Arriving at the airport I attempted to check in using the self service check in kiosk but for some reason the computer would only offer me Manchester Airport in New Hampshire  as a destination. Directed to a Delta check in a most helpful lady clerk efficiently checked my luggage through and totally unprompted, in acknowledgement of my height, organised a seat with extra leg room - what a change from the normal fight.

Security was tight but the familiar scanner seemed to incorporate some form of explosive detector sending a sharp blast of air within the enclosure to capture an air sample. It was so strong the ladies were advised to hold their skirts down! 

Taking off on time the flight was uneventful and the five hours passed surprisingly quickly when your head is buried in a decent paperback and your legs remain un-cramped.

Arriving in Newark late afternoon, I transferred terminal and  joined a milling throng waiting to be checked through security. There appeared to be only one line for the entire terminal and it was absolute bedlam - most disagreeable being treated like cattle being herded to market.

Finally through security I headed off in search of food but the best I could find was a fast food outlet. My rumbling stomach appeased I headed off in search of my departure gate. There was however one final hurdle that I had not anticipated - exit clearance.

The old days of handing in the green counterpart to your entry visa waiver application still applied - nothing complicated here. However having settled comfortably down in my chair by the departure gate to await the flight, I then learned that I needed to attend a Homeland Security computer point to book myself out of the USA. Failure to do so would have catastrophic consequences as I would potentially be deemed to have overstayed my 90 day tourist waiver visa and highly unlikely to re-enter the US without a lot of aggravation on a future occasion.

Booking out took the form of scanning my passport, index fingerprints and a picture at which point it issued me with a little chit in confirmation. Who said it was only the UK that did big brother!

The Continental flight was packed - not a spare seat in sight. It was strange but there seemed to be a completely different atmosphere on the trans Atlantic flights, which appeared much more formal in some way, its hard to describe. I guess that on continental US flights the passengers treat them like trains and there seems to be a much higher incidence of families with young children and babies travelling which adds to the informality (and noise!).

We departed on time and I settled down into my "pen" for the seven hour flight. Amazingly I was accosted by a lady travelling back from New York whom I had first met on the outbound flight. She had complained that she hated the long flights from Manchester to New York, but recognised her good fortune when I told her I still had another five hour flight to Salt Lake City. Happily we were able to pass some time discussing our separate holidays although I had to advise her that I had seen no bears!

 We touched down on time at Manchester back in the UK and shortly thereafter I was pushing open my front door and climbing over a mound of mail. As I sat down in my chair it finally hit me that it was Sunday 10am and I was due back in work in less that 22 hours. Unfortunately my body clock still thought the time as 3am. 

I was swiftly to bed and so ended The Great Adventure.