Norwegian Getaway Review: Part 1 – Chicago to Londonfeatured

So here we are. Another adventure.

I’ll save you from the this-one-just-snuck-up-on-us stuff. This one didn’t sneak up on me. It came up fast, don’t get me wrong, but I knew it was coming every step of the way. It excited me and terrified me all at the same time. Six new countries. That’s terrifying, and entirely exhilarating, all at the same time.

New places. New experiences. New cultures. Even new currencies (don’t ask me to tell you the difference between a Danish Krone and a Swedish Krona – I literally could not tell you, nor can I tell you the exchange rate of any of these currencies of the countries that we visited unless they’re on the Euro. I’m building an altar to the XE app for saving my wallet as we speak).

We booked this trip to the Baltics sometime around Thanksgiving. Why the Baltics? Why not. We’ve done the Mediterranean for the past two years (and will again next year, when the Horizon launches) and we wanted something a little different. The ports of call were very different. So was the cruise ship. And the cruise line. We’d never cruised with Norwegian before. This was a whole new world for us in so many ways.

Oh, and it was pretty inexpensive. About half the price of our first Mediterranean cruise, less expensive than our Vista trip, too. And as I was playing around with Google Flights one day at work, I found airfare on American from Chicago to Copenhagen and home from Paris to Chicago (stopping over in London both ways) for $500. It was almost like a good omen that this was the trip for us this year.

But I was still terrified. I was terrified that this experience wouldn’t live up to the last two Europe cruises we’ve done and terrified I wouldn’t be able to keep up with all of these new things we were going to experience. Oh, and also terrified because I suck at math and there was a very real chance I was going to screw myself with all of these currencies (because I had to pick up cash in five different currencies before I left).

This trip intimidated me more than it excited me. It was a lot. It was so different. But even that fear was so…exciting.

It started the same way they all do – I packed until the last minute, I threw out my trash and cleaned my apartment (because nothing feels better after coming home from a long trip than walking into a clean home), went to work and caught a train back to the suburbs so I could go to the airport with Mom and Stephanie in the morning. Our flight wasn’t super early, but Mom lives closer to the airport than I do, and I can squeeze an extra hour of sleep in if I go to O’Hare from her house instead of coming in from the city.

There was one thing, though: Mom was convinced we had to be at the airport super early. Like 3+ hours early. And called a cab for 5:00 am…for our 9:00 am flight. She lives 20 minutes from the airport. We compromised to a 5:30 am pickup and I got in exactly two hours of sleep after showering and repacking my suitcase with warmer weather clothes (because the forecast kept changing literally up until we left – warm, cold, warm, dry, cold, wet). But that was okay — I had a long flight to catch up on my sleep.

We breezed through check in at O’Hare on a busy travel day, thanks in large part to my oneworld Sapphire status and TSA Pre-Check. All our bags weighed no more than 48.5 lbs each (a feat for this family!) and we walked straight through security, with three hours to spare before boarding time.

Because we were traveling on an international flight, my status on American also granted me access into the Admirals Club. I could only bring one person in with me, so Mom caught up on her emails while Stephanie and I checked out the Admiral’s Club in O’Hare’s T3.

We were handed drink vouchers (good for a premium cocktail or a bottle of water) and the wifi password and sent in the direction of the elevator. There are two different lounges on two different floors: the Flagship lounge on the second floor and the regular Admiral’s Club lounge on the third, which is where we ended up. The lounge looks out onto the tarmac, with Chicago’s distinctive skyline in the far distance. It was busy for the early Friday morning, and the food offerings were sparse compared to what we had available to us in Paris’ Admiral’s Club lounge last year – an oatmeal bar, fruit, yogurt, bagels and breads and some hard boiled eggs. There was a tea chest, some orange juice, a Coke Freestyle machine and a few espresso machines, and the bar where the vouchers could be redeemed off in the corner. There were loungers and chairs, some couches. It was comfortable and well worn. It was a nice perk to have available to us, but probably not a membership I’d pay for.

Not wanting to leave Mom alone for long, we stayed long enough to have a cup of coffee and a snack and headed back downstairs to Mom so we could head off to find our gate.

I’m not sure why I was anxious before the flight. I’ve come a long way in conquering my fear of flying, but flying over the ocean always gives me a little extra smidge of nervous energy. And when I’m anxious about flying, the best thing I know how to do is walk off the extra energy, so Stephanie and I walked around T3, stopping to get popcorn at Garrett’s and some chocolate at Vosges to enjoy on our long flight (and sidenote: O’Hare has done amazing things in bringing local favorites into the airport instead of just chain staples like McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts).

Our flight boarded right on time and we were quick to board with group 3. On our previous flights to Europe, we’d flown on some of American’s older aircrafts. This time, we were flying on the Dreamliner, one of the newest. I’ve flown the Dreamliner, once, in business class from Dallas to Chicago. And it’s an amazing and spacious experience in business class. In coach, though, the Dreamliner has a reputation for being a bit cramped, with thinner, more narrow seats and less pitch. We had seats in Main Cabin Extra, which boasts an extra five inches of legroom, but I’m only 5’3 and it wasn’t as much as I even thought it would be. No one would be passing in front of me without me getting up, and that’s my barometer for extra legroom. The woman sitting in front of me turned around to ask if I’d be okay with her reclining a bit and to let her know if it was making me uncomfortable in any way. It’s been awhile since the person in front of me had asked if I’d be okay with them reclining (I don’t recline, myself, because I find the position uncomfortable) and I thought it was refreshing in this day and age where people come to blows over space entitlement to see someone still exercising that courtesy.

The pilot came through the aisle to greet everyone before settling into the cockpit and the entire crew was fantastic throughout the entire flight. After a few bumps in the air as we ascended to our cruising altitude of 39,000 feet, we faced nothing but smooth skies on our ride to London.

Once we leveled off at our cruising altitude, in flight wifi was available — $12 for 2 hours, $17 for 4 hours or $19 for the entire flight. This flight offered Panasonic wifi instead of the traditional Gogo, and the signal would persist even when we were over the water. Wifi was a no brainer for me – keeping connected helps ease any anxiety I get when I’m flying.

Breakfast was served shortly thereafter – a choice of a cheese blintz with scrambled eggs or a vegetarian cheese omelet. Both came with a croissant, a small fruit cup and a snack pack of dried fruit, cheese and crackers and shortbread cookies. Two rounds of drink service were made with the meal and the flight attendants made frequent rounds through the cabin to ensure everyone was taken care of.

It’s always so interesting to me how stepping onto an airplane can put you in some weird suspended animation where time moves at this weird speed around you. Our flight crept by and then felt like it went all too fast. We passed the time watching movies in our seats, planning our time in Copenhagen, trying (and failing) to get some sleep and, in my case, doing a sheet mask to keep my skin hydrated. A sheet mask that may or may not have had a panda face printed on it. Vacation is supposed to be fun, right?

The day moved in some sort of warp speed where it felt slow but the day moved so quick, mostly because it was a long flight where we lost an entire day: the seven and a half hour flight had us leaving Chicago at 9:00 am and landing in London at 10:30 pm. It was still the late afternoon when we descended through the dark skies of the UK.

Though Heathrow is amongst the busiest airports in the world, it was surprising to us that it does actually close down in the evening. Right around the time we landed, actually. Most of our fellow travelers were ending their journeys in London, but we had a connecting flight to Copenhagen that was departing at 6:30 am the next morning. We contemplated getting a hotel, but we’d really only be there for a few hours, not at all if our flight ended up getting delayed. So our plan was to sit it out in the airport.

We followed the signs to connecting flights, went through a lite security check and then headed to the Rest and Relaxation room – an unused gate where people with early connecting flights wait the night out. The room was small and felt like that room they keep you in when you wait to find out if you’re chosen for jury duty. It wasn’t entirely comfortable. Sensing that, some of the staff offered to take us through customs to the arrivals area, which has more comfortable spaces to lounge and a 24 hour coffee shop.

Customs stamped our passports with a 48 hour visa and we made our way through Heathrow’s T3, hoping to catch the last express train to T5, where our flight would depart from in the morning, but as our luck would have it, we just missed the last train. Not a big deal, though, all of the arrivals areas are just about the same and we could catch the first train early the next morning.

So we settled in. There were restrooms that were spacious and clean for us to freshen up in, easy access to the outdoors and some fresh air and Caffe Nero was open through the night with sandwiches, scones and plenty of coffee. And Heathrow has some primo free wifi. Super fast connections that would keep me entertained for hours. The police came through to do safety checks every hour or so and we felt entirely safe – there were plenty of other travelers around us waiting out their layovers, too.

Oh, and side note, T3 at Heathrow is where Love Actually was filmed. There are signs up. Many pictures were taken. I love that movie.

Mom and Stephanie tried to catch some sleep, but it’s so hard to sleep in public spaces, and I just wasn’t tired (knowing full well that the jet lag would bite me in the ass the next day).

Around 3:30 am, we packed up our little mini camp and headed into Caffe Nero for a “dinner” of sandwiches and coffee, waiting out the rest of our layover until we could catch the first express train to our terminal and hoping that a couple of extra shots of espresso could give us the jolt we’d need to get through the next day.