Thursday, November 5th
We are leaving tomorrow evening but we really have not yet done any packing. We got the bags down the other day after deciding we would use one big bag, one smaller bag (that can actually be used for carry on but we always check) and our two rucksacks. These are well within our limits with the airlines and we did not want to have too much luggage to take around with us given the amount of travel we will be doing. Even so we will probably have lots of room to spare.
Of course, there are always things that come up at the last minute and in this case I had ordered a book from a speciality bookshop that they told me would be ready yesterday but only when I called them today did they tell me it was ready. So, we had to make a last minute, hurried, trip over to the shop about a mile away leaving work only an hour before the shop was due to close…a fast walk particularly in the busy London streets around Leicester Square. Having acquired my tome we rewarded ourselves with a trip to “Five Guys” - A burger chain from North America that does amazing burgers and fries. This also meant we did not have to try to make up a meal from the already very much, thankfully, depleted fridge.
This did mean we got home a bit later than normal so we spent several hours first doing the on-line check-in then finally packing with the requisite “have you seen such-and-such” and “do you think we will need this”. When I said we hadn't packed, that is true, but I had put together a check-list that we have been reviewing for a few days with what needed to be packed and, to be fair, I had already started putting things into the bags.
I do have a bit of a science about packing. For example, it always seems to me to be a good idea to have the bags down so you can throw things into it while you think of them then just pack them properly before you leave. In this case we had not even done a lot of that…I also like to make sure the bag I carry on, the rucksack, would have all of the passports and paper documentation for the trip in it so we always knew where these are. The bag also has everything I will need for the flight including copious amounts of reading material as well as a Kindle, a night mask (from a Virgin flight likely long ago now given the wear it is showing), an iPod and noise-cancelling headphones. I do like to be prepared.
A rather late night but we should be able to get some sleep on the flight tomorrow afternoon.