We get up, pack up everything and leave our bags at the front desk. For breakfast, Marlene found a place called the Muffin Man not far away in Kensington, so we head there. We have a nice heavy breakfast which is good since we'll be flying later on and food on planes = not so good. We both have traditional english breakfasts consisting of Scrambled Eggs, Bacon (which is more like ham), toast, sausage and baked beans. It's very good and we're very full so we decide next to walk back to Harrod's to finish our souvenir shopping and to walk off the food.
Now you know the Muffin Man, the Muffin Man, the Muffin Man
We spend a ton of time in Harrod's getting gifts for others and ourselves. From Harrod's, we head back towards the apartments to grab our bags. We get to the area around 1 and we really don't have to leave until 3 so we decide to hit the Victoria and Albert Museum which turns out to be an excellend idea. We spend a few hours there, taking in sights such as this:
Above: Things not found in most homes
After, we go back to the apartments, add our Harrod's stuff to our bags, and hop on the tube to Heathrow. The tube is crowded, but at only 4 pounds each to go to the airport, it's well worth it.
At Heathrow, we wander around and marvel at the new Terminal 5. It's really a great airport terminal, it feels more like a mall than a terminal and it's a far better experience than most airports I've been at. We hit a few more stores there, and then for lunch, we find...yet another Wagamama! As we are now hooked on the place, we have our last meal in London at it. The lunch is good as always, and it's a good way to end the trip.
We board our flight and it turns out the exit row seats are a great idea. The flight has a ton of kids on it but oddly, they are not that loud on this flight as most of them fall asleep about 1 hour into it. No, the real issue is with the, how does one put this nicely? The flight was full of people who don't make controlling one's body odor a priority in life. In fact, I think it would fall pretty much down at the bottom of the list, if it's even on the list. This leads me to give up breathing through my nose for most of the flight.
By having the bulkhead exit row you don't have the seats that cram down into your chest (see earlier post) and you can stretch the legs. I also wear headphones that burrow so deep into my head that a sudden whack to my skull might cause an accidental lobotomy so it helps to negate the noise issues. What British Airways does do right is the entertainment system, which lets you pick movies/tv shows/music on demand and let's you pause, fast forward, etc. I watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which I haven't seen in years. Then I switch to the Playstation Portable and watch Airplane! We also watch an episode of the Amazing Race on the laptop which I had downloaded while in London.
The flight's a bit bumpy as it was apparently monsooning in NJ for most of the day and the landing is a bit adventurous. But, we do land on time(!) and getting through customs isn't too bad.
Home by around midnight thanks to a pick up at the airport by the parents (thanks parents!) and yet another trip is complete.
Next, the post mortem.
