Writing this at Heathrow airport, two hours into our three hour spell in Jolly Olde England (TM).
Apparently King Charles the third is going to Belfast as well today, wonder if he’ll be on our flight? Haven’t seen him in the lounge so far. It must be odd for him that the IRA are going to be involved in memorial services for his Mum, considering what happened to his favourite Uncle Mountbatten back in 1979 (Eds note – fact check reqd).
Our trip today has been reasonably seamless so far. We left the palace at 9 and were seated on the Eurostar by 10, in spite of all the extra red tape caused by Brexit. We made the trip to the Gard de Nord on the metro which went pretty well even though it was quite busy and we had our luggage with us.
The Eurostar trip was OK. It took about 2 1/2 hours. The actual trip under the channel in the Chunnel is only 50 kms long and takes about half an hour. I paid extra to get a nice seat – worthwhile – and a continental breakfast – not worthwhile. Note to self – eat first or buy something at the station before boarding.
At St Pancras station in London it’s a direct trip to Heathrow on the Piccadilly underground Line, which was then our easiest option even though it took an hour. I always feel like a seasoned traveler when I can negotiate the public transport in a city, but I must say in these COVID (post COVID?) times, it makes me nervous to be squashed next to so many strangers for long periods of time. Oh well.
The Aer Lingus website had a note on it yesterday apologizing to all its customers for the terrible disruptions to travel on Saturday, so we were nervous that we might be faced with big queues at the terminal. Far from it! Terminal 2 was very quiet. The only hiccup was me forgetting to take my nail scissors out of my carry on, and getting them confiscated at security. Doh! I then went to the chemist at the airport and bought myself another pair of scissors, exactly the same sort that Simon had confiscated in Singapore.
A bit sad to have left France. I was getting very comfortable with the language, and I did enjoy having mastery over something that put Simon under my power. I might try to learn to speak with an Irish accent over the next few days, just for the fun of it.