Europe

We were up early this morning to meet Mike, one of our ex-business partners, for breakfast. Unfortunately, Mike was feeling poorly this morning and couldn’t make it in to meet us at the hotel for breakfast. So, we just enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on our own and pondered the day’s activities.

We got out of the hotel around 11:00 am and headed up Oxford Street to do a spot of shopping. We ended up at Selfridge’s (as we often do!) and ended up making a few purchases with no regard for how we were going to pack them into our suitcases. We got back to the hotel mid-afternoon and decided to try getting our cases packed and closed, which turned out to be far more difficult than we had anticipated. We eventually jammed everything in but we were pretty sure that both cases would be over the individual airline weight limit and we’d have to address this at the airport. Oh well, that was a problem that we’d deal with later tonight when we got to the airport.

Now somewhat exhausted after many iterations of packing and re-packing, plans to visit the Design Museum were shelved in favour of afternoon tea downstairs in the hotel. The Claridge’s afternoon tea was exceptionally good. Keith started with a glass of Laurent-Perrier champagne and Andrea enjoyed a glass of (non-alcoholic) Jus de raisin pe´tillant. The selection of food started with a very decadent selection of finger sandwiches. We were then served scones with jam and Cornish clotted cream, and we finished with a lovely selection of cakes. Of course, no afternoon tea would be complete without the tea! Andrea enjoyed a lovely spearmint tea while Keith went for something a little more traditional, a Cornish Earl Grey (grown at the first ever English tea garden on the Cornish Estate of Tregothnan, which was established in 1335).

It was nearly 6:00 pm by the time we finished afternoon tea. We checked out of the wonderful Claridge’s (where we could have easily stayed a lot longer!) and hopped into a waiting car for the trip to Heathrow.

Our predictions regarding the weight of our suitcases turned out to be correct. We had no shortage of baggage allowance but the airlines strictly enforce the 32kg weight limit per individual checked bag. Unfortunately, neither bag was under 32kg so some last minute arrangements had to be made. We eventually satisfied the airline requirements (with some leniency from the check-in agent!) and were able to check in and head to immigration (dealing with the very nice VAT refund people on the way through). After clearing immigration and security, we headed to the Emirates Lounge, where we are now waiting for our (already delayed!) flight to Dubai. The lounge is comfortable enough but not a patch on the Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, or Singapore Airlines lounges to which we’ve become accustomed. But we’ll cope!

We depart late tonight and get into Dubai early on Thursday morning. We have probably not quite adjusted yet from Finland time so we’re already a bit tired, which hopefully means that we’ll sleep well on the plane. The flight down to Dubai is under seven hours so we’ll be getting into our pyjamas before take-off and aiming to get to sleep pretty quickly. Well, perhaps there will be some champagne consumption first!