Boston bound

And so begins Mark & Thibault's second road trip of the year to the States. After the long-planned West Coast trip, this was a shorter one, Thibault having kindly invited me along after an untimely break-up with his intended holiday partner - his girlfriend. So I nobly stepped into the breach. 

Indeed the way it started I might have been the only person to have made the trip. While I had taken the Friday off work and pootled down to Heathrow with plenty of time, Thibault came from work - and met with a non-working Piccadilly line. Only a bit of nifty work from an uber driver from Acton Town got Thibault to the plane in time. For me it was like a dull thriller, as I couldn't actually see the drama unfold, but just got the odd update from a panicking companion.  So I was able to look at our plane in the dark in what should have been a restful evening, but actually was in a state of high anxiety (although not as high as Thibault), without being able to do anything about it.

But eventually Thibault arrived just as boarding was about to start and so we could breathe a sigh of relief.

The journey was fine, and gave me the opportunity to catch up on some films. Basically we would get in about 10pm local time, about 4am our time, so we would be tired but not worth sleeping really. We (well Thibault) had booked up the Hilton Airport hotel, so we could just roll into that and go to bed.

Now the Hilton Boston airport is a perfect example of what happens in the market place where there is no competition. It is the one hotel which is actually attached to the airport so we could trundle in through a covered bridge and not face the teeming rain. Very convenient. And for that convenience, boy did we pay. Essentially we paid the sort of price you would expect for the very finest luxury hotel, and got the equivalent of a Premier Inn. Perfunctory rooms with a musty smell, and for American standards sullen service. They just don't need to bother, so they don't make any effort at all. Only part I liked was the atrium. On the way out to pick up our hire car.

And then we had to escape the airport complex. Round and round we went. Now I have seen the film Maze Runner, but even escaping that seemed easier that Logan Airport. But eventually we hit the long dull suburbia of Boston, and finally the open roads of New England. At last.