Holiday Day 5

Fact: I did not fly anywhere on Wednesday 6th August as scheduled.

Day 5: A cheeky trip to London

Whilst packing my suitcase for my multiple trip adventure - Devizes, Windsor, Denver, Chicago, New Jersey, New York - I put my Oyster card in my travel pack.  "Laura, you're not going into central London, why do you need your Oyster?"  I said to myself.  Flash forward 5 days and yep, I'm on a tube, the Picadilly line, into London...Shepherds Bush to be precise.  I'm going shopping!

On arriving to the airport after being unsuccessful checking-in online or at the self-service machine, I was informed that the aeroplane was full.  The B.A. rep babbled on about having problems with the original plane and so a smaller one was drafted in instead of cancelling the flight completely.  This meant only some people couldn't fly, rather than everybody.  Made sense.

I was given 3 options: 1) volunteer to fly tomorrow 2) wait and pray enough people volunteer to fly tomorrow otherwise fly tomorrow anyway 3) wait and be successful. On weighing up these options I went for number 1.  The night in a hotel with breakfast, lunch and dinner with the compensation money meant I would have some time to do some yoga (my back is crippled after sleeping in a field), and the money means I could buy the Longchamp shopper I've been pining after for months - I've tried cheaper alternatives but they're just not the same.

And so.  I'm gutted I've missed out on visiting the hotel where Stephen King wrote The Shining and seeing the highest paved road in America, at 3600ft, as my friend had planned but the extra $650 spending money (well, minus the Longchamp) means I'll be able to say "Yes" to all the activities my friends suggest instead of rolling out the "I'd love to but...", yay!

N.B. Whilst in London I managed to:

- transfer the compensation from the random Visa Electron card that BA had given me into my bank account

- use a Boris bike to cycle across Hyde Park and along Mayfair

- stumble around the Underground system attempting to get back to my hotel

-miss dinner due to my failed negotiation of the Underground

- eat a Zinger Tower burger courteousy of KFC as a substitute for the missed dinner! 

- enjoy salmon and Philadelphia on toast for breakfast, yummy!!