July 6 and 7 - The trip that almost wasn't ....... for me

Hi all,

First, a huge virtual love hug for my lovely wife, Terri Ann. Happy Anniversary!
So July 6 was ..... interesting. Most of the Lethbridge group met at Legacy around 2 pm to catch our shuttle to Calgary. As the dutiful self-anointed tour director, I made sure everyone had their gear and passports before we departed.
 On the trip up to Calgary, we encountered the edge of what turned out to be a severe hail storm,but made it through to the airport without incident.
On check-in, the ticket agent informed me that I had presented her with a passport that expired in 2006. I told her that was impossible, because my passport is up to date.
Well it turns out that I had taken my old passport, which I didn't even know I still possessed. Needless to say, the rest of the group boarded without incident and left me behind with my stupidity.

Today's lesson is that I learned that you can buy a one-way ticket, Calgary to London on the spot for about $1500. ouch....

Thankfully Scott Quan came to my rescue and drove to my home, picked up my current passport and set a new land-speed record in a1995? Saturn coupe, to bring it to me about 10 minutes before the gate closed.

Thank you Scott. 

I don't really want to talk about the "random" screening at security, as I did my sprint to the departure gate. Lets just say that my whole Adonis-like physique is now on permanent record at the Calgary terminal.

I did get bumped to a better class of seat, with a lovely meal and  extra leg room on the British Airways flight.

The rest of the troupe arrived (early) were greeted by our travel agent holding a Legacy TKD sign, and wisked them by special shuttle to the hotel.

I was about 2 hours behind, landed in Heathrow, which reminds me of a futuristic scene in the file Gattica, and promptly got lost looking for the underground rail system.

I did eventually find the correct track (by now it was 11 am, July 7th) and dragged my luggage onto the tube, crossed my fingers and held on. 

Forty five fun-filled minutes later I arrived at the nearest station and then carried my luggage about 8 blocks to the hotel. 

After most everyone took their good hearted jabs at my stupidity, we had a meal, then split up to explore the city.The first person I met was an Austin Powers impersonator coming out of the London Comic-con.

Dan and Julie Torscher, and Darren White and myself hopped back on the underground to the centre of town, where we snapped these photos.