Sazz In The City: Let the Great British Adventure Begin!!!

Day 1-2: Chicago to London

Yey!! After month's of planning, its finally here!! Its our big UK adventure! ManpanionTM, the Squids and I are in the UK for 10 days of action-packed, touristy-filled fun! The Squids have never been to the UK before and, as frankly their fake British accents need a LOT of work, so where better to polish up their skillz in queuing, unnecessary apologizing and tea-drinking than jolly ole' Blighty herself?

Man down!! Jetlag takes its toll on one of the Squids as we
kill time in Costa coffee waiting to check into our hotel room.
#americanhobo

Our itinerary is stuffed to the gills with all the classics that you never actually get round to doing when you live in the place - with the exception of today, as a travel day, we've got at least one fun thing booked to do each day. We are spending the first week in London, staying at a very swanky apartment in Knightsbridge, within jet-lagged eyeballs distance of Harrods, so we are slap bang in the middle of everything! It was a bit of a splurge but, as I sit here in the lovely comfy lounge, in front of the fire, watching old re-runs of George Michael music videos (two thoughts: #1: 2016 - you SUCK! And now you've just claimed Carrie Fisher too (hands off the Queen!!); #2 Wow. How did we all survive the sartorial horror of the 80's?!), it was a brilliant call. The Squids have their own rooms and, aside from a spacious living room, the apartment also has a fully stocked kitchen and dining room, as well as plenty of bathrooms! So tea on tap when required - huzzah!

So our journey here was pleasant and uneventful. ManpanionTM and I sprung for biz class on British Airways (they were having a brilliant sale a few months ago, so why not? Plus... we're old). The Squids were in Premium Economy but they had plenty of room (honest) so Matt and I didn't feel completely guilty as we luxuriated on the upper deck. And, at any rate, the Squids had had the fun of enjoying the British Airways lounge at O'Hare airport before we left - I think the server in the dining lounge had definitely completed her Extreme Over-Politeness to Strangers course, Level 2 as she was very attentive to our table. She even brought me a fresh glass of champagne without my even asking for it! Now THAT is service!

Fancy fish jam in Harrods!! Super fancy prices! Yowzers!

The flight itself felt super-short (possibly linked to the pre/in-flight champagne...ahem) and I think there must have been a heroic tailwind, as we arrived a full hour ahead of schedule, just after 6.30am. The queue through immigration was about 40mins long (they didn't let us all go through the Fast Track lane as only Matt and I had biz class tickets - miserable moo), so we had to pay our dues in the end. However, it meant we had a fairly short wait for the baggage after we'd finally gotten through - plus all the bags actually made it, so that was something, I guess. We'd booked a car service in advance to pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel - a prescient move, given that the Heathrow Express was on strike (ahh....some things never change!). There wasn't much traffic so the drive into Knightsbridge only took about 40mins. It did feel a bit weird for me being on the "wrong" side of the road and the road lanes themselves felt very narrow (guess I've gotten used to fat American cars in the 12yrs I've been away!).

Yum yum. The Cheesecake Factory AKA Harrods.

Anyway, we arrived at the hotel just before 8am and I was under the (as it turned out, incorrect) impression that we'd booked from the night before, so that our apartment would be ready for us to occupy as soon as we arrived. But no - i'd mis-remembered and official check-in time wasn't until 3pm, so hence began The Great Wait. We first went for coffee and brekkie in Costa Coffee - I had a lovely cheese and tomato toasty - yummy!! And - while I won't comment on the politics of Brexit - the effect on the Pound is definitely having its effect on making our dollars stretch further! Things feel noticeably less expensive than the last time I was in the UK!

After an hour of falling asleep into our paninis, we moved our disheveled asses to Harrods, where potentially looking like hobos may be interpreted as being of extreme wealth. Alas, i don't think anyone was fooled, but we had a fun time wandering around for about an hour, especially exploring the food halls. And the toy hall (inflatable radio controlled BB-8! C3P0 bluetooth speaker (that i'm still seriously considering...)). And finally the Jetlagged Hobo Rest Station where ManpanionTM and the Squids made full use of the facilities on offer.

Can you spot the ManpanionTM in this picture?

After another hour, we'd "done" Harrods (i did buy some mincemeat, so yey for mince pies next Christmas!) so decided to haul our increasingly unconscious stinky bods onto a hop-on, fall asleep, stagger-off Bus Tour. It was one of the shorter routes that just trundled round Knightsbridge and Hyde Park, and went past the V&A, the Natural History museum and the Royal Albert Hall. I'm not sure any of us stayed awake for all of it, but our tickets are good for 48hrs, so we've got time to take another trip when we're all slightly more compus mentus! It was good though for idling away another hour, by which time the pubs were open and we could camp out, have lunch and stare forlornly at the phone, wishing with all our hearts that the hotel would call early and tell us our rooms were ready. And - of course - the very minute I got up for a pee and went to the loo, leaving my phone on the table - they did!! Yey!!!

So, now you're up to date. The Squids have crashed out and we're not sure if we'll see them again before morning. ManpanionTM is taking a heroic-length nap (as only he knows how) and I am blogging and drinking tea and dunking Cadbury's, while surfing through British telly for the first time in 10 years and ending up watching Cake Wars! Hmm.... But time to sign off for now and head out for some supper soon. Tomorrow's fun includes the Girl Squid and I visiting Kensington Palace, while the boyz head off for a tour of Chelsea Football club! HUZZAH!!!