Travel 2024 and 2025

Did I send that to my colleague who claims to be 5 feet tall?

Yes. Yes I did.

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It just begs to be sent along to somebody, and then there’s that queasy feeling about sending it along.

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They were in Glen Rose a couple of weekends ago.

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I hope they’re having a great tour.

Just a note about flying into Heathrow. The new Elizabeth line is great; it has fewer stops so moves at a decent clip and is almost a quarter of the price of the Paddington Express.

The only downside is that, in Terminal 5, you need to be Nick Cage with a treasure map to be able to find it. Everything funnels you towards the Express and “the Liz” is barely signposted.

One of the group on UA landed at Terminal 2 and ended up on the regular tube by mistake, so this seems to be a theme.

Overall, the BA experience at Heathrow was pretty dire, which is damning given that it has its own dedicated terminal. On the way back, the gate information was withheld - by design - until 15 mins prior to boarding. Then we were sent down to the bus depot for a 15 ride out to the plane and a walk up the steps like it was the 1970s.

Thank goodness it wasn’t raining. Otherwise we would’ve been subjected to a 10-flight with everyone smelling like a wet dog.

Also, my flight was half empty. Imagine all that bus bullshit with a full plane…

This was my biggest gripe flying there last year. You had no clue which gate you’d be at until a few minutes before departure time. Then a half hour bus ride to get there. On the bus I thought “well, looks like we’re flying out of Manchester”.

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I think it’s because the bus depot is easily overcrowded and/or they want you in the shopping area spending money.

Dang, I haven’t been to Vernon in longer than I thought. I didn’t realize Wilbarger County has an event center.

There are always big events in Vernon.

I hate Heathrow.

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Flying Houston to London has sucked balls ever since Continental switched from Gatwick.

I’ve flown into Gatwick twice and found it pleasant enough. Much less of a madhouse. Although trying to catch the right bus from there proved to be annoying, so I took the train instead.

We’ve been to London often enough that we have managed to fly out of all the airports there except for City at this point.

Hot tip: Frankfurt Hahn is not Frankfurt. The ultra-cheap airlines fly in and out of Hahn, and when you arrive, there’s one bus line that will take you to downtown Frankfurt. FlixBus, I believe. €20 one-way or summat for a two-hour ride. Hahn manages to be worse than Heathrow, in my opinion, even though it’s so much smaller. You know that cluster of boxes on the floor of your den that you can’t throw away because your cats play in them? That’s what Hahn looks like. Gray. Almost no seating. Barely any restrooms.

Gatwick was always more convenient for me because my family was in south London and my business was in the City. Trains from Gatwick stopped at East Croydon and terminated at London Bridge.

Heathrow is a ball ache for everyone. It’s too big, too disjointed and too far away. The Elizabeth Line really helps now, because the Heathrow train goes to Paddington (which is only useful to hookers) and the original tube connection took at least 1 1/2 hours to get to the City.

I’ll be Austin and San Antonio this week slinging wine:

Wednesday night (Austin) I’m pouring wine at Nixta Taqueria on E 12th Street from 5-9PM.

Thursday night (Austin) is still TBD

Friday evening (San Antonio) I’m pouring at Art of Cellaring on N Flores Street from 4:30-6:30PM.

Please come say hello if you can make it!! And if nothing materializes for Thursday night, perhaps we can organize our own get together.

Let the Raups know if you want to grab a beer post-pouring. With a little heads up I can be available in the evening both days.

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Excellent!! Let’s suss that out.

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I’m free Thursday evening, provided the Astros are on TV wherever we wind up.

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Thursday is a day game, so unlikely.

I wish I was in Texas for this.

Is a OWA meetup even a thing anymore? My agency has a Houston office worth visiting.

If the mighty das is in town, we’ll make it a thing!

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