It was bad enough that the total flying time from Honolulu to London was 15 hours, plus a 2-1/2 hour layover in San Francisco. On Thursday morning, I got up at 5:00 am to be ready for a morning flight to SFO, and arrived the next day about 1:00 pm London time—watching two movies and a three-part documentary on the plane and sleeping NOT ONE WINK the entire time. By the time I got to the hotel, I took a shower and tried to sleep a little. Not a chance! I tossed and turned for hours, and my final glance at the clock was 12:43 a.m.! My head can’t do the math on this, but it means it was an extremely long day! (I think I was awake for more than 32 hours!)
My phone says that I was “In Bed” for five hours, six minutes. YIKES!
Joan Ishibashi met me at the airport and the two of us took a bus to my airport hotel. The next morning, she and husband Kan Vaghela picked me up at 9:30 am and we took off for the M4 on our way to Port Isaac, home to the fictitious village of Portwenn in TV’s “Doc Martin.” Along the way, we stopped in Exeter at a pub called Travellers Rest and had THE BEST fish and chips I’ve ever had, the fish was fresh and flaky, the batter light and crispy, crunch with no oiliness.
Altogether it took us less than five hours to get to Port Isaac, and comparing it to the trip we took in 2019 when the journey took seven hours because of a terrible accident on the M4, today’s trip was a breeze. We quickly found our cottage, “Gull Lodge” on the grounds of Trewetha Farm. The photos below show that this is a real farm!
After unloading our luggage, we programmed “Port Isaac Car Park” into Joan’s phone, and to our surprise, arrived just a minute later. It was so close to our cottage that we decided to take the car back and walk to the village, saving on parking fees.
We pointed out several Doc Martin landmarks to Kan, Joan’s husband, who has started to watch the show. Later Joan and I climbed Roscarrock Hill to take in the spectacular view.
On the way back, and near Doc’s surgery, I met Anneke Laoh, my Doc Martin friend from the Netherlands, who found me first. “Are you Katherine Crosier?” Anneke appeared in the same BBC broadcast as I did which featured Doc Martin stars, Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz. (You can view the BBC clip here.)
What fun we’re having! Tomorrow we look forward to meeting more Doc Martin friends.
Just fabulous! I hate getting over jet-lag on these long flights, but adding the trip from Hawaii (as opposed to Seattle!) has got to be painful. But . . . it seems like you’re having a wonderful time! Looking forward to the rest of your posts.
Have a wonderful time! enjoyed the read, but felt sorry for your lack of sleep! jb