We were scheduled to fly at around 6:30 pm on August 25, 1994 from Dulles International to London Heathrow. We met at “Edward Ave” for goodbyes with Mom and others.
My wife and Ann Marie, our oldest sister, accompanied us to the airport and they went to the gate with us since this was all prior to 9/11.
We met and checked in at the counter and it seemed that our coach seats would not be together. Great! We are taking my Dad back to Europe for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day and they have changed our seats so that we do not even sit together. After some initial mild complaining, we sort of resigned ourselves to accept it.
My wife’s father worked for Pan Am for many years and she was not taking it sitting down and kept telling the clerk about the WWII vet being taken back for a reunion by his family and you are going to separate them. Well because of Sandy and my Dad’s situation we ended up with Business class seat upgrades. Nice!
This was a great turn of events we had drinks, good food, we had room to spread the maps and go over some of our itinerary plans since we had very little time to talk about it earlier. The early itinerary plan went roughly went like this.
Notice there were significant holes in our plan for the second week! There was no Travelocity for us in those days and were sort of traveling with the notion that we would “wing it” for a good part of the trip.
Aug 25:
Arrive London: hotel (reserved)
- Rent car
- Rest for few hours and then sightsee. Have dinner at a pub.
Aug 26:
Drive and arrive in Portsmouth late afternoon: Queens hotel (reserved)
Aug 27:
Tour D-Day musuem, head to Warwick and Project Overlord headquarters at Southwick house. Check on ferry tickets.
Aug 28:
Visit Portland and Exmouth if time allows (we did not about the Tank Museum yet)
Get to a church mass in Portsmouth.
Aug 29:
Take ferry to Cherbourg, France (no tickets yet)
But times are 8 am for about 4-5 hour trip arriving at 1:45 pm.
Aug 29:
Arrive Normandy:
Rent Car for 7 days for return in Paris
Get to Hotel de la Marine in Port en Bessin (booked)
Aug 31:
Drive to Caen/Amiens area
Stay somewhere on the road. No reservations!
Sep 1: Drive to Belgium/Luxembourg area.
Stay somewhere around Bastogne. No reservations!
Sep 2: Visit Aachen area
Stay somewhere on the road. No reservations.
Sep 3: Drive along Rhine/Mosel?
Overnight in Luxembourg possibly. No reservations!
Sep 4: Early start Drive to Paris
Return Car and hotel for 3 nights
Hotel Modern St Germain
Sep 5:
Tour Paris by Metro . No plans!
Sep 6:
Some other Paris stuff. No Plans!
Sep 7:
Get to DeGaulle by 10 for 11:45 departure.
Next: London
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