Day 1 15/7/19
We arrived in England today after the long flight. Sydney to Singapore and then Singapore to London.
We flew Premium Economy. First time for me but second for Paul.
Was it worth it?
Pros:
-More leg room and wider seats. Not that important to short people like me.
-got on and off more quickly which is good for the impatient among us.
-seats recline back further and have a leg rest. this was nice.
-glass of champagne eventually.
Cons:
-two rows away from business class leading to class envy
-the food and beverage was very average (no where near as good as it was on Qantas Prem Economy according to Paul)
-Very average selection of movies
-really poor service from staff
(We did but see then gliding by.. .... rather than offering much service).
Verdict: Maybe not for me.
And then we arrived in London with a plan to pick up a rental car at Heathrow .
This brought back traumatic memories of Florence and rental cars, (temperature of 35 degrees, tiny busy street, lines of people waiting and cars being shot out of the rental place like torpedoes and no GPS as we were near a police station.)
But here in England, it was much more civilized (of course). A shuttle bus to the big carpark and lots of room and no stress at all.
Except when we got in the car and could not work out how to start it, put it into park or release the hand brake. it is a brand new Mercedes and nothing like our cars. But the attendant was able to help and got us on our way. (column shift auto as we eventually found out.)
We headed to Stonehenge hitting a long line of traffic to get there. But there were lots of people, a really long way to walk to the actual henge and it cost a lot and we were tired. So we left and because the traffic was so slow around it, i was able to take some good photos as we drove past. Just ignore the razor wire. Thank goodness for the traffic.
Stonehenge- been there,done that.
And then off to find our hotel, The Barley corn Inn at Collingbourne Kingston. We got there early and thought we could have lunch and then sleep as we desperately needed sleep. The sign on the door said it did not open till 5pm on a Monday. This was surprising as we were meant to be able to check in from 3pm. Hmmm
We then went looking for somewhere to eat, get onto the internet so we could ring our pub. We had passed a nice looking pub called the Tipple Inn so went there.
A really lovely little English pub which was not at all busy so we had a nice chat to the owner and the only other couple there having lunch.
The discussion started with the latest sports news (der). Something about a cricket match and an unlikely and controversial win by England. Something about it being the best finish to a cricket match ever and we were on the plane so missed it. I was very disappointed. But so lucky that the nice owner put it on TV for us to watch.
For mine, New Zealand has Jacinda Adern, England doesn't even have a prime minister and they have Brexit. So let England have the Test match. They need it more.
And after lunch, still homeless and having left a couple of pointed messages on the answering machine, we headed to Marlborough looking for alternative accommodation or something.
(Marlborough supposedly has the widest main street in England or something. Yes it was wide and Rick Stein has a restaurant there. )
Both of us were nearly asleep. Somehow Paul drove us there and back to the Barleycorn without falling asleep. Thank god the owner had received our messages and was there to let us in. We were barely (barley) through the door before we fell asleep.
The end of an incredible day.
We arrived in England today after the long flight. Sydney to Singapore and then Singapore to London.
We flew Premium Economy. First time for me but second for Paul.
Was it worth it?
Pros:
-More leg room and wider seats. Not that important to short people like me.
-got on and off more quickly which is good for the impatient among us.
-seats recline back further and have a leg rest. this was nice.
-glass of champagne eventually.
Cons:
-two rows away from business class leading to class envy
-the food and beverage was very average (no where near as good as it was on Qantas Prem Economy according to Paul)
-Very average selection of movies
-really poor service from staff
(We did but see then gliding by.. .... rather than offering much service).
Verdict: Maybe not for me.
And then we arrived in London with a plan to pick up a rental car at Heathrow .
This brought back traumatic memories of Florence and rental cars, (temperature of 35 degrees, tiny busy street, lines of people waiting and cars being shot out of the rental place like torpedoes and no GPS as we were near a police station.)
But here in England, it was much more civilized (of course). A shuttle bus to the big carpark and lots of room and no stress at all.
Except when we got in the car and could not work out how to start it, put it into park or release the hand brake. it is a brand new Mercedes and nothing like our cars. But the attendant was able to help and got us on our way. (column shift auto as we eventually found out.)
We headed to Stonehenge hitting a long line of traffic to get there. But there were lots of people, a really long way to walk to the actual henge and it cost a lot and we were tired. So we left and because the traffic was so slow around it, i was able to take some good photos as we drove past. Just ignore the razor wire. Thank goodness for the traffic.
Stonehenge- been there,done that.
And then off to find our hotel, The Barley corn Inn at Collingbourne Kingston. We got there early and thought we could have lunch and then sleep as we desperately needed sleep. The sign on the door said it did not open till 5pm on a Monday. This was surprising as we were meant to be able to check in from 3pm. Hmmm
We then went looking for somewhere to eat, get onto the internet so we could ring our pub. We had passed a nice looking pub called the Tipple Inn so went there.
A really lovely little English pub which was not at all busy so we had a nice chat to the owner and the only other couple there having lunch.
The discussion started with the latest sports news (der). Something about a cricket match and an unlikely and controversial win by England. Something about it being the best finish to a cricket match ever and we were on the plane so missed it. I was very disappointed. But so lucky that the nice owner put it on TV for us to watch.
For mine, New Zealand has Jacinda Adern, England doesn't even have a prime minister and they have Brexit. So let England have the Test match. They need it more.
And after lunch, still homeless and having left a couple of pointed messages on the answering machine, we headed to Marlborough looking for alternative accommodation or something.
(Marlborough supposedly has the widest main street in England or something. Yes it was wide and Rick Stein has a restaurant there. )
Both of us were nearly asleep. Somehow Paul drove us there and back to the Barleycorn without falling asleep. Thank god the owner had received our messages and was there to let us in. We were barely (barley) through the door before we fell asleep.
The end of an incredible day.
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