We departed the ship in Civitavecchia at 8:15. We found disembarking to be very easy — it’s one of the benefits of passengers rolling on and off the manifest at most of the ports-of-call. You simply don’t have the mad crush of an entire ship disgorging itself all at once.

We met our driver at 8:25 for the trip to the airport (€150), which took about an hour.

Check-in had a little bit of a queue at British Airways, but it wasn’t too annoying despite my lack of status with the airline. All told, we had to waste about two hours before our scheduled boarding time.

Unfortunately, once we’d boarded the plane, we sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour while they struggled to load and unload the luggage. It seemed they were mysteriously short-handed in the baggage handling department?

The flight was otherwise uneventful, and I managed (finally — they’ve been out on other BA flights) to enjoy one of BrewDog’s Speedbird 100 Transatlantic IPAs (brewed to commemorate the centennial of BA and named, of course, for Concorde).

We were about 45 minutes late into London as a result of the baggage snafu, which further delayed our arrival at our hotel due to increased traffic during rush hour. Nonetheless, we made it to our (very small, otherwise fine) rooms at the Hotel Xenia by around 5:45.

After dropping off our baggage, we left for dinner at The Bolton, a nearby pub with excellent food and beer.

Mom and Emerson had burgers (British beef/cheddar and wild boar/chorizo, respectively). Libby enjoyed the bangers and mash, and I went for a traditional steak and cheese pie:

All in all, this made for a nice “welcome to London” end to our day.

We checked out of the hotel just before noon, checked our luggage, and made arrangements for a car to take us to the airport. Having sorted the logistics out, we grabbed Emerson a quick lunch, and then we headed to the waterfront to visit Elizabeth Castle.

As I believe that I’ve mentioned previously, Elizabeth Castle is located on an island in the bay. However, it’s not always an island, as the tidal change is fairly extreme here (18-22 ft.). As such, our amphibious ferry was in only in “bus mode” for our journey out, and we were able to walk back via a sometimes submerged sidewalk on our return.

The island, grounds, castle, and breakwater all made for an interesting visit. It was especially interesting to see how the islet had changed over time–from battlements dating to the 1590s and gracious Georgian buildings to German fortifications from the occupation of Jersey during World War II. If we’d had more time, I know we could have used it profitably (this seems to be a theme of our Channel Islands visit).

We departed for the airport around 3pm. Check-in and security was a breeze, as small airports usually are more relaxing. Our flight to London-Gatwick departed on time and was brief but pleasant. The transit at Gatwick was a bit of a nose bleed, as we arrived at an international gate and were bused around immigration and customs. This was great for folks terminating in London, but it meant we had to pass back through airport security and all that entails.

We arrived on time in Edinburgh (that is to say late-ish) and took a taxi to our “swank” (read: more expensive yet less functional) hotel, The Glasshouse.

Today’s box score: +1 “country” Scotland

Jersey is the blue dot:

This may have been the briefest commercial flight that I’ve ever taken. Cruising altitude was a mere 16,000 feet, and I think we were in the air only about 35 minutes. Unsurprisingly, the airport in Jersey is fairly modest in size… though not as small as I might have expected.

We took a taxi into St. Helier and arrived at the Radisson Blu by 10am. Being so early, we were unable to check into our room, but we dropped off our luggage and went out to explore the town.

Aside from booking flights/hotels and knowing that we also needed to get to Guernsey, I’d done absolutely no other preparation for Jersey. Indeed, we arrived with a complete lack of expectations… much like our visit to Malta a few years ago. As it happens, tourism isn’t all that big in Jersey (as cheap flights to Spain and Portugal have made it less popular with the Brits looking for sun and we’ve not encountered any other Americans yet). In fact, Jersey is most known and used as a center of offshore banking, as well as a tax haven. Yet, St. Helier is charming, relatively affordable, and feels more “authentic” than “touristy.”

We happily passed a few hours strolling through the downtown and shops. We ate lunch out and bought Emerson some local ice cream (made from Jersey cow milk). We also booked a day trip for tomorrow to Sark, which is a small island that’s part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It came highly recommended by the travel agent, who touted its beauty and remoteness (as well as its lack of automobiles).

After picking up some foodstuffs for tomorrow’s journey, we returned to our hotel to give Emerson a late afternoon nap. We then played for a while before going out to dinner at the Seafish Cafe, which we’d spotted earlier in the day. It turned out to be an excellent choice as an “upscale” fish and chips shop. Libby had a delectable fish sandwich. I ate the scampi (shrimp) platter, and Emerson had chicken and chips. We also enjoyed a dish of the most delectable garden peas, as well as some onion rings.

After dinner, we walked across to the marina and looked at the boats while strolling out toward Elizabeth Castle, which is found on an island (reminiscent of Mt St. Michel on a more petit scale).

This was a good day; so far, we’re very happy to have traveled to the Channel Islands. But, tomorrow Sark could be a total bust…

Today’s box score: +1 “country” (Jersey, Channel Islands)