Departure from NYC

Well the morning started out in a panic. The hotel telephone system went out during the night so our Wake-Up call never came at 3:00 AM! I woke at 3:40AM quite by chance and immediately knew that today could become somewhat interesting v ery quickly......I rallied Sally who was fast asleep. She responded immediately and we just powered through packing just throwing "stuff" into cases - a total mass panic...New Rule #1, always have a back-up alarm clock and don't rely on one source to get one's arse up in the morning...New Rule #2, pack the night before even if you are dog tired just in case you didn't comply with New Rule #1.......luckily I had a shower last night (Sally did not!) So I brushed my teeth, had a quick shave and we were both out of the hotel and in a cab by 5:15AM on our way to JFK...pretty amazing really - 35 minutes from a dead sleep to the cab considering what we had to accomplish. It was raining fairly heavily as we left the hotel and continued until we left New York. We have been really lucky with the weather so far. So nice to walk around New York under cold crisp sunny skies-a real pleasure. Wouldn't have been so pleasant if this weekend's weather was inclement. Some minor problems on check-in with Sally's ticket but that was resolved fairly quickly and we are now taxing out to the runway (wheels up from JFK at 6:25AM) for our scheduled 55 minute flight to Washington Dulles where we will change planes for London Heathrow. We landed at Washington Dulles at 7:18AM - good timing.
Arrived London on time and got the Hotel Hoppa to the Renaissance Hotel. Checked-in and went straight for the Boddington's on draft at the bar with a steak sandwich - Sally had the same. Oh boy- so great to sink a pint of real beer (well maybe 3 pints)....off to bed now - Berlin tomorrow....good night