Waking up for the last time in London on this trip was sad. We had so much fun and had done so much of our list, despite my dad being under the weather for a few of those days. We were thinking of trying to do something in the morning before we checked out, but realized the London Marathon was going on and traffic and crowds would make getting around very difficult.

While we were packing, I headed out to the nearby tube station to see if I actually could get a refund on the unused money on our Oyster cards since we knew we weren’t going to be using them anymore. We would be using a taxi to get to the train station and we already had our Gatwick Express tickets. I went to the automated machines and scanned one of the cards. It gave me the option to get the refund so I took it. It spit out counts equivalent to what I had left for a balance as well as the 5 pound deposit I had put on it initially. I repeated the process for the other cards as well.

Watching the Marathon

Instead of fighting the crowds, we decided to watch the marathon on TV while we packed. Since we had an afternoon flight we had requested a late checkout from the suite which we were granted due to our status. Since we didn’t need both rooms we checked my dad out of his room and he stayed with us.

Back before the kids were born had run a few marathons and the Boston Marathon is a huge event in the Boston area. The London marathon is the Saturday following the Boston Marathon (which we had missed because we were in London) so it was a treat to watch the local coverage live. The course didn’t go by the hotel, but it was pretty close to where we were and went past many of the sites we had been to.

The kids really got into it. Marathons are a lot more interesting to watch than they sound! It just amazing they can run they 26th mile faster than I’ve ever run a single mile!

Our checkout time worked out to be just after the men’s winner finished so we got to see that exciting finish. Once that was over we gathered our stuff and double checked we had everything before heading down to check out.

Checking Out

When we had booked the room, we had booked both rooms on points and arranged to upgrade our room to a suite using points. We didn’t have the points at the time, but they were going to process them during our stay.

I got an email from Perpetua towards the end of our stay saying that they weren’t able to process the suite points upgrade due to insufficient points in my dad’s. I thought we had enough. I went back into the original email with Perpetua and realized I had misread two very important words. The points upgrade was “per night” so it was 5x more than I had thought. That was super embarrassing on my part. We definitely didn’t have enough points for that. I emailed Perpetua back and apologized for my stupidity. In the end we’d have to pay the cash rate for our upgrade.

Perpetua couldn’t have been more understanding and she forwarded me the rate for the upgrade rate. She also put in the request to refund the points she had been successfully able to successfully deduct from my dad’s account.

While it would have been great to get the room on points, in hindsight the cash upgrade rate was well worth it. It was an unexpected charge but it wasn’t so large that we couldn’t afford it. The suite was absolutely fantastic and having the extra room made for a much more relaxing stay. My dad got to take advantage of the space with us and he was extremely happy with his own room, so it all worked out. If I had it to do over again I would definitely pay for that suite upgrade without question.

On checkout I finally got to meet Perpetua in person as she finalized all the paperwork. I apologized again for my mistake and she couldn’t have been nicer. While the points weren’t yet showing in my dad’s account, she noted they should show up within a week. She also put in a request to have the suite upgrade and our room show up under my wife’s account so she could get extra bonus points (due to her Platinum status compared to my dad’s Gold status) as well as counting the nights towards her status. Ultimately that request didn’t go through and in hindsight I should have booked one of the rooms under my wife’s name (using my dad’s points), but we’ll learn that lesson for next time!

Return to Gatwick

After settling the bill the doorman found us a black cab to take us to the train station to catch the Gatwick Express. We had a late afternoon flight but were leaving plenty of time because we weren’t sure what the traffic was going to be like due to the marathon. As it turns out we didn’t run into any.

At the train station, after a brief panic I found the return tickets. I hadn’t put them where I thought I had but I eventually found them. We made our way to the platform to catch the next train to Gatwick and found it waiting. After finding a seat and waiting just a couple minutes the train departed right on time. There were many fewer people this time so we all had a place to sit and put our luggage.

At Gatwick we quickly found the Norwegian ticket counter. There was a long line but it moved quickly. I confirmed we had prepaid for two checked backs on the return flight and we got those weighed and tagged quickly.

With boarding passes in hand we went to the security line. We found signs for a special “family line” and we took advantage of that. The line was shorter and we didn’t have to take our shoes off which was nice.

Priority Pass Restaurant

On our outbound flight we had spent some time in the Air France lounge in Boston due to our Priority Pass membership which is complementary with several of our credit cards. There was another lounge in the terminal we were in that we also had access to, but I had read on some blogs that there was also a restaurant. At the time, we could get 20 pound bill credit for myself and each of my guests. We headed for that and inquired about /the program and they said it was exactly as we had read.

They set us up on a large quiet table in the back near the kitchen. There were several interesting options to choose from on the menu. We definitely filled up and the food was delicious. The bill even came in under 100 pounds so we only had to pay the gratuity which came mostly from the money I had gotten back from the Oyster cards I had gotten the refund on earlier that morning.

We then headed over to the only Priority Pass lounge in the terminal. There was a line to get in and once we reached the front they said they were full. I had read this was not uncommon for this particular lounge so we headed back out to the lobby. My wife and the kids did some last minute shopping and my dad went to try to change or spend his last remaining pounds while I watched the luggage.

Once everyone returned, we decided to go back to the restaurant and get some desert. We had used my priority pass membership the first time and my wife also had a membership. We can only use each card one time per day, but since we had two cards we could beat the system!

We were seated in the same table this time, though we had a different waiter. We ordered from the dessert menu which had a surprisingly large number of choices. We stuffed ourselves again because we knew we wouldn’t have any (free) options on the plane. When paying the bill we didn’t end up with a balance this time either and again only had to leave the gratuity.

Since this trip the Priority Pass policy has changed allowing you to only get a credit for yourself and one guest.

Finding our Gate

After dessert we went in search of our gate. It wasn’t on our boarding pass when it was printed and wasn’t yet on the screens in the TV. While we waited we ended up getting some snacks in the duty free store for the flight, just in case we got hungry again and we couldn’t find anything to buy on board.

The gate assignment eventually came up on the big board and we headed there. We had to go through a secondary passport and security check to get into a waiting room. After we went through that, of course one of the boys declared that they need to use the restroom. We asked the security agent and were told we’d need to leave the secure area, but if we left our passports we wouldn’t have to go through the line again to get back in. Sold!

When we returned, true to their word they let us skip the line and get back into the room. Once boarding started they didn’t board by rows but rather boarded everyone at once. It was a bit chaotic but we got in towards the front of the line. Though we didn’t have the original seats we had signed up for, this time we did have more equivalent seats with three seats on an outside row and the next two seats in the middle row. Tomatico sat between me and my dad and our youngest sat with my wife like on the first leg of the trip.

The Flight Home

The flight left on time and was fairly uneventful. We saw the sun setting most of the way home. Unlike on the first leg I used the seatback system to order myself a water. I swiped the card and about 5 minutes later a flight attendant arrived with the bottle.

We reached the limits of the options for movies. There wasn’t a huge selection and it was the same selection as our first leg. We managed to find things to watch but it wasn’t like there was a ton to choose from.

Once we landed in Boston I put my original SIM card in my phone so I could get connectivity. I opened the Mobile Passport app and checked us in to get a bar code to speed us through passport control and customs. Before we had left London I had gotten my dad’s passport loaded into my account so all five of us could go through together.

We were one of the first groups through to baggage claim. This free application is one of the best kept secrets because it’s easy and free for any US citizen to use if they are at an airport that supports it.

We gathered our bags which came through quickly and made our way to the arrivals hall. The boys were hungry so we got a quick snack at Dunkin Donuts before heading out to get our Lyft home. The boys fell asleep on the way and it was tough getting them up and out of the car. It had been a. Long day, for sure, but we were all happy to be home.

The next morning the kids were off to school and by mid morning I sent my data back to the airport in a Lyft to catch his flight back to South Carolina. He was safely back home by dinner time.