2 Kids, 2 Countries (Slight Return)

[MattA]

In between towers, we had a little wander around Leadenhall Market, and grabbed some tasty foccacias at Rocca for lunch:





Then a little wander through the city. Lloyds building:



Gherkin:



Then on to tall building #2: Horizon 22. Much more basic at the top than Sky Garden (it is just a big empty space) but it’s much taller:



Sky Garden looks tiny from up here!





A little far away to follow the cricket at the Artillery Ground, mind…

 

[MattA]

In contrast to Sky Garden, there’s just a small concession at the top of Horizon 22. Over a coffee (us) and a couple of soft serves (kids) we planned our next move. “Oh, the Bank of England is just around the corner, let’s pop in…”

And so we did. There’s a small free and quite interesting museum there. You can hold a (very securely enclosed) gold bar:



After a little wander we headed off on the Lizzie Line over to Paddington, where we were meeting friends for dinner. Quite enjoyed these paparazzi dogs in the park near the station:



No prizes for guessing which celeb they are shooting…



And that’s just about it for the London bit of the trip. Just one last sunset view from the river as we returned to the Novotel for one last night:



Tomorrow: France.

 

[lovestotravel]

Onboard and we’re taking over row 20 on the first leg to SIN, which is the second row in the mini rear J cabin on these Long Haul-config A350s. Put the kids in the two middle seats, with myself and MrsMattA taking the windows. Seems to be the best setup for us and at any rate the kids are now 6 & 11 so they don’t need as much active assistance from either of us (they are more than capable of navigating the IFE and quite happy sorting themselves out with unfettered screentime…)

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Book the cook lamb loin stirfry, with a side of the Donald:

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Very tasty (the dish, that is, not the orange one, although I did also enjoy the movie—“The Apprentice”).

Kids had the book the cook burgers. Thumbs up all round. No time to get a photo of that one before it had been attacked.

After that we pretty much all dropped off to sleep and next thing I knew we were starting our descent. I know many people have negative views on the angle of the bed on SQ, but I had no problem getting comfy even at 6ft 4. Slept right through the second meal service, but it was only the “refreshment” so I think sleep was the better call.

Weirdly the crew handed out Le Labo amenity kits as we came in to land. Er… That seems kind of late? (There were only slippers/socks/eye masks on the seat when we boarded).

Bears for the kids:

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Touched down in SIN 20 mins early (despite having departed 30 mins late).

Just catching up on this thread. Kids book the cook is back wow! Must be recent as that went away during covid and wasn't there in March.

About time

 

[MattA]

Just catching up on this thread. Kids book the cook is back wow! Must be recent as that went away during covid and wasn't there in March.

About time

Oh we just ordered from the regular BTC menu, not a specific kids one. Just picked the dishes that seemed more kid friendly and went with child meals instead when there wasn’t anything suitable.

 

[MattA]

Time to start the next leg of the trip in France.

I did mention there would be some LCC action on this trip. It begins with U2 2423 LTN - BOD. That meant starting by heading in the wrong direction to “London” Luton Airport, perhaps the most tenuous of all those to take the capital’s name.

Not wanting to lug our cases on the bus, we caught a cab from the hotel to Blackfriars station, about 15 mins from the Novotel Waterloo. It is at least one of the more scenic London stations, with the overground platforms spanning across the river.


Thameslink run a service about every 15 minutes up to Luton, which takes about 40 minutes to get to Luton Parkway, where you transfer to the DART shuttle train for the 5 minute hop to the airport proper.

For all my reservations about flying Easyjet again, it was… fine. The most stressful part of the whole experience was the line for what seemed to be the only airside water fountain, as our boarding time approached. Everything else—security, bag drop, the flight itself, was pretty seamless.

Not much leg room for the taller passenger, of course, but no worse than most Y seats:



And dead lord wasn’t going to order whatever this cheesy monstrosity is.



(Luckily we had already had lunch at what turned out to be the world’s most expensive Pret—*fifty* quid for four sandwiches and drinks!—in the terminal before boarding)

But it’s a short flight, we touched down in Bordeaux a few minutes ahead of schedule, bags appeared shortly afterwards, and we were off to collect our hire car.