May 1-2, On the Road Again

I plan most of our travels for the shoulder seasons, usually September – October, but after last year’s bucket list trip to Kenya and Tanzania, we decided to get to the list more often, so we’re traveling in spring and this spring’s bucket item is one I’ve thought about for years: the Chelsea Flower Show.  I used to watch coverage of this legendary show when I was a BritBox subscriber.  It was so over-the-top amazing that I swore I would attend someday.  Well, someday is now (or soon, at any rate). This spring’s travels will take us to lots of places in England and, for the first time, a couple of places in Wales. Once again, all this travel is made possible by Trusted Housesitters. How lovely to be able to stay in people's homes and take care of their cats. Doing so allows us to stay in the country so much longer than if we were renting hotel rooms. We enjoy lovely houses in places we want to visit and it makes travel much more like "normal" life, for lack of a better term.

Before one can start to enjoy all the things that old Blighty has to offer, one has to get there.  We fly Virgin Atlantic, because it is by far the best bang for the buck. We even treat ourselves to Upper Class for the trip to Heathrow so that we can have a fully reclining bed/seat.  We did that in December when we last came over but I fell into the trap of enjoying everything that Upper Class has to offer: access to the Delta Lounge with complimentary food and drink, glass of bubbly during embarkation, cocktails before dinner, three course dinner with wine parings, port and cheese after dinner and two films from their rather good selection. This meant I got about 2 hours of sleep, and not very good sleep owing to all the things I ate and drank and the fact that we were seated at the back of Upper Class near the bar where 4 people decided to party all the way to London.  By the time we landed I felt as though I would collapse.  Add to that, the fact that we had three hours to kill before we could check into our digs and I was MOA (miserable on arrival), only just better than DOA.

I decided that this time I would try to plan better in order to feel better on arrival day. Starting a week out, I started going to be a half hour earlier each day and getting up earlier so that the 8-hour time difference wouldn’t be so hard.  I still enjoyed the Delta lounge, but stuck mostly to sparkling water. I still enjoyed my glass of bubbly at embarkation,

but then stuck to sparkling water for the flight and opted for the “Express Dinner”, which consisted of cream of asparagus soup and a cheese toastie and which allowed me to turn in early.  I was then off to sleep in my complimentary Virgin Atlantic pajamas. When I awoke, breakfast was almost over but that was fine since the VA breakfast is notoriously awful.  We made up time during the flight, but Heathrow was very busy so we ended up circling for over 20 minutes. Finally on the ground, we headed to the automated passport control which now takes about 5 minutes to clear, then to baggage claim (or baggage reclaim, as it is known here.)  We waited almost 30 minutes before the carousel announcement was made, but Virgin did get the Upper Class bags out first. From there we walked through the customs doorway marked “Nothing to Claim.”

Now comes the best part of traveling Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. We exited customs and headed for the VA Revivals Lounge, an amazing perk! We stowed our luggage and were assigned shower rooms. 

Feeling refreshed, we went into the dining room and had a marvelous breakfast complete with latte. I ordered eggs royale (basically eggs Benedict with smoked Scottish salmon in place of ham.

Bruce had poached eggs and toast and a bowl of fresh fruit. We relaxed, read the paper (many British and American newspapers and magazines are available) and killed time till almost 12:30pm when the lounge closes. That meant only 2.5 hours till check in.  The best part was that my plan seemed to work.  I was well rested and, unlike last time, didn’t feel like I’d been hit by a bus.

We walked from terminal 3 to terminal 2 to catch the tube to the S. Kensington station. The train from the airport takes quite a while with many stops, so more time was killed there. We arrived at the S. Kensington station and walked the 10 minutes or so to our digs.  Once again, we chose the Chelsea Cloisters, a hotel of efficiency apartments.  This way we can cook at home when we don’t feel like eating out.  It’s very reasonably priced as well, which is a bit of a surprise in this rather posh neighborhood. When we arrived, our favorite employee, Kieran, was at the front desk and he got us into our room more than an hour early.  I call that a success!

After unpacking, we walked around the neighborhood.  I stopped into a market I hadn’t visited before and bought the most incredible strawberries from Brittany.  They are so sweet and beautifully red all the way through, not white in the middle like so many I find in markets at home. This place had the most beautiful produce, artfully arranged, as well as fresh pasta, cheeses, charcuterie, fresh herbs and more.  I will go back. 

From there we stopped at Sainsbury’s for basic provisions.  We passed a lovely corner near a construction site that had a "Wall of Kindness"; a place to donate coats for the less well-off, a water bowl for dogs and a bug house.  So nice.

Back at the room we had a bit of a rest. By this time it was after 5:00 and Bruce was hungry so we headed to the Brompton Cross pub. The pub kitchen didn’t open till 6:00, so we walked around a bit then headed to a different pub, the Admiral Codrington, aka The Cod, to share a plate of fish and chips.

Their loo features an interesting throw-back toilet.

It was a long day, so we walked back to the flat, watched a bit of telly, then headed off to bed.