I WAS A COUCH POTATO FOR 2 DAYS AND IT’S JUST WHAT I NEEDED

Need I explain any further?  I had NOTHING organised for the next two days.  I even cancelled my date with Kate and my trip to Cambridge to see her.  I was SO TIRED.  I needed some down time and I know that I will see her in May when I come back.  Gee I think I am going to be busy in May-I may have to stay 3 weeks to see everyone I am promising to see again. 

Poor Emma had to go to work for the next 2 days, which was Friday and Saturday as she had children she had to assess, so Paps and I were left to our own devices over the 2 days.  One of them was so much a couch potato day that I didn’t get out of my PJ’s for the whole day-AT ALL.  I literally was in my pyjamas for a consecutive 36 hours…….  I can’t remember the last time I EVER did that.  Certainly, not in the last 2 years anyway.  It felt GREAT.  I did promise Em when she came home that I wouldn’t do it for the second day in a row and still be in them for the 2^nd day running.

I am happy to report that I finished my MASSIVE departure day blog and got the next one done as well, so hopefully now that I am over that hurdle I can now get on a run and get them all done in the coming days and actually be up to date when I start the cruise.  This is a little ambitious and I am not too worried as I have 2 days at sea when we leave Barcelona, so hopefully I can use that time to blog and then I can blog live again, which hasn’t been done in a long time.  Let me think when I was actually blogging about the day I had just done….. heck I can’t even remember when I was totally up to date…..  I replied to some overdue messages, check what British Airways were going to charge for my second bag and it was going to be 40GBP at the airport or I could save 6GBP by doing it online beforehand.  6GBP is 6GBP, but I had an idea, I still hold a current round the world ticket from London to South America that I really don’t intend to use.  So I was thinking maybe I could show that ticket as well and just try my luck that they would let the second bag through.  RTW tickets on the One World partners let you have 2 pieces of luggage unlike the normal point to point tickets only let you have one bag, well to Europe anyway.  I decided to run the gauntlet and see what they say tomorrow at check-in and worse case I just pay the additional 6GBP in the hope to avoid the 40GBP fee, worse-case scenario.  I have never had to worry about luggage so much in my travels EVER and I can see why I always want to keep my bag to just one piece, but in my defence this trip is a little different and I know it will be worth the hassle to have a variety of clothes to choose from when I get to Kenya. 

This also gave me some time to update my actual blog.  I had been contacted by G Adventures that some of my links to their web were out dated and if I could update them with the links that they had provided for me in her email.  It’s nice to know that companies are checking web sites/blogs and that mine came up.  Any awareness out there for me is a positive and I replied back that I had updated the links and I asked if they were looking for someone to blog their trips that I would be interested.  The agent replied back, she’s super nice, that it wasn’t her area and I was given an email address to send a message to-but the automated reply back from them was they don’t reply to everyone as they get so many requests and if they were interested they would contact you back.  Oh well, again I can only put it out there.  I have my writing to show what I do-I’m doing it anyway and if I can hook a free trip or some cash from it why not ask the question?  I have nothing to lose.  I hope I hear back from them one day.

Sunday was my departure day from the Addletons.  I still had one more night in London that I had booked back at Tune Hotel, firstly it was where my entire luggage was stored and secondly it was easy as pie to just walk the 400m to Paddington station in the morning and catch the Heathrow Express out to the airport.  I was trying to keep the moving of all my bags to a minimum and this was the best option.  I was lucky I got to see CD and Jimbo one last time as they stopped in for a quick tea and then I was escorted up to the train station by Paps and Em.  These guys are also in that very special category of lifelong friends.  We met on my 2 week Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda trip and we were also lucky enough to be in the same ‘gorilla’ group when we trekked the national park to meet our gorilla group for that unforgettable hour we got to share watching these magnificent animals, who are more like us than some people care to admit and it is an experience that I will never forget.  And to share that with 2 people like Ems and Paps will be long remembered for years to come.  They are great friends, we have a lot in common including our love for Africa and I am eternally grateful for them housing me over the last week and inviting me into not only their home but also to their friends and family.  I LOVE and going to MISS you guys, but we will meet again in May-and maybe another house guest again?  So with hugs and kisses it was time for me to catch my train which was due in 4 minutes. 

I’m getting the hang of this train and Tube thing and it really is a transportation marvel of this century.  Something that was built 150 years ago still operating in the original tunnels is a feat in itself.  The frustrating thing for me is it is so cold outside you rug up, big jackets, hats and scarves and then when you’re in the train it is hot as an oven.  Nobody seems to take their jackets off, they all have them on and I guess if you are only going a few stops it isn’t such a big deal, but when I have 4 stops on the overland and then 9 stops on the Tube, it gets warm.  It can’t just be me right?  Add in to that the walking, you really heat up and get sweaty.  People think it; I am just saying it out loud. 

I got to Tune Hotel at 2.40pm and check-in wasn’t until 3pm.  There were people all standing around in the lobby all waiting for 3pm to tick around.  Really….. you are making people wait 20 minutes?  I can understand that there maybe a few rooms not quite ready, but to hold everyone up doesn’t make sense as they will have a rush at 3pm and just makes it all that much more chaotic.  Oh well, they are lost cost, if you want your room earlier they charge you a fee of 10GBP, so if they let people in that haven’t paid and people had paid, I would be cranky if I had paid, which I had on my last 2 visits, so all fair in love and business.  I did ask about the twin room upgrade and they said they did have a room and when I came back at 3pm I could just pay the difference then.  Sweet.  I decided to go for a late lunch to kill time and when I returned at 3.30pm, there was still a line up at the reception desk, so I just took a seat and when I was waved to come up to the counter and he checked me in, even when there were 4 people in line in front of me.  Well didn’t I feel special!  He may have regrated that move when I asked for my 4 bags in storage, but after 2 trips I had all my things in my rooms and yet again it was time to pack.  Before I got started I thought it would be best I get to the shops and buy a few last minute things.  I needed some more hand cream, nail polish remover, 2 thank-you cards and I got a light dinner of a pasta salad for later with a juice so I didn’t have to head out again.

It sounds like I spend half my time re-packing bags.  But every time I do it, it is for a reason and this pack was to try and get my cruise clothes into one bag, and leave 2 bags in storage at my Barcelona hotel.  I AM pretty smart you know.  Well as I was zipping the small red gym bag at 9pm that night you can guess what happened, the bag ripped!  I was horrified for about 30 seconds and then I just burst out laughing!  Crap.  What was I going to do now?   It was 9pm; nothing was open for me to buy a new one.  I was going to be leaving in the morning before the shops opened.  Well I was lucky that the rip was at the top, so nothing was going to immediately fall out, so I figured it could wait till I got to the airport tomorrow and I could either find a bag wrapper or buy a new bag.  This was the best I could come up with and just hoped that the rip wouldn’t get any bigger.  These bags will be the death of me I swear and little did I know that there was worse to come…. Oh yes…… much worse….

So goodbye London.  Thanks for a great trip.  I always have a great time here.  Thanks for the people I caught up with and the people who I met for the first time and sorry to those who again I missed out on catching up with.  A big thanks goes to those also involved in getting me some Africa contacts.  It means a great deal and even if nothing comes from them at least I have started and one of them has come back asking for my CV which has been forwarded.  If only to get myself out there now-my African journey has well and truly started now for me.