Our vacation started about 9.5 hours before our flight check in when British Airways cancelled our flight from Seattle to London. I should have guessed this would be an omen of what was to come (more on that later). I called the representative who is able to get us on a flight that left Seattle earlier and arrived in London earlier, but it would be on Virgin Atlantic instead of British Airways. We were still able to get business class which meant we weren’t out the money weed already spent. This turned out to be a really good thing because we enjoyed Virgin Atlantic, and we would look at flying them again in the future.
The food was really good and the service was spectacular. We did not feel the same when we flew British Airways on the way home. Also, I may be in love with business class. I know I can’t get my hopes up of being able to fly it in the future, but it was definitely nice. I don’t feel like I got any better sleep than I would’ve but it was just nice to be able to lay flat and lounge with more room to get comfortable.
We used our extra time making a practice run to the Victoria coach station so we were better prepared for cruise day. After, we made our way on the underground to Bridgit’s Bakery. I loved afternoon tea. We were starving so we wolfed our afternoon tea down in a matter of moments. I think our server was surprised. In hindsight, I wish we’d sat and enjoyed it longer, but perhaps on another trip.
We walked around the Covenant Gardens theater district before arriving at Arts Theater for Choir of Man. I purchased my token to be able to go on stage and get my beer not knowing the cast actually came out and joined those on stage as I had already returned my seat. The show is just as good as I remember it from our Alaska cruise. Although there was one song that I didn’t recognize.
We stayed our first night in London at the Hub Premier Inn by Kings Cross. It’s a budget hotel, but had nice accommodations. The seven dollar breakfast buffet was delicious. We would definitely stay there again. On our return, we stayed at the Staybridge near the airport and also really enjoyed that location.
We used the National Express Bus as our transfer to/from Southampton. The bus was delayed on embarkation day due to a traffic nightmare in the city of Southampton. After making our way on foot to the cruise port to drop our bags, we decided to forgo the Solent Sky Museum. It was definitely a bummer but a relief to be able to be on board the ship and relax.
I’ll fill you in on the all the cruise details and NCL Star in future posts.
Disembarkation was a breeze compared to cursing in the US and we caught the bus back to London, no surprise, we encountered delays. The traffic going into London was a mess. We checked our bags at a left luggage location near Kings Cross and made our way to the Royal Air Force Museum. Kenyon was like a kid in a candy store seeing all these planes we don’t get to see in U.S. museums.
Our time in London felt too short and we wished we had a couple extra days. We will have to continue to tackle it all on another trip.
More to come…
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