Stopover in London

Day 2 – November 20th

Well, we made it to London. A quick stay here including a jaunt into city center for 5 hours, and then back to the airport for the flight to Johannesburg at 9pm.

Rocker man didn’t even look at me this morning on the plane and as we deplaned (embarrassed or memory lapse perhaps, who knows).

We walked for hours (or so it seemed) from our gate in search of the Star Alliance lounge where a hot shower awaited (and never felt so good) before we hit the Heathrow Express train into London.



Not really knowing where we wanted to go in London, we disembarked and decided to head for Sloane Square, an upscale shopping district with great stores and restaurants.

We opted to have a spot of lunch (nod to Mouse Club) at the busiest restaurant (and the only really busy one) at 3pm in the afternoon called The Botanist. Full of life on a chilly London day, a glass of red wine and a delicious lunch followed by a decidedly British version of carrot cake was perfect. Although the tiredness we both felt was starting to creep in.

A couple of Brits (women) two tables down started chatting us up about where we were going and what were doing. And then the conversation turned to politics and they wanted an American perspective on Obama. They said that everyone they know was really excited at the prospect of Obmaa being president and ready for America to take the lead again in world issues. We couldn’t agree more.

We headed out into the dark, chilly London evening at about 4:45 and yes it was dark and strolled down Sloane street, popping into a few shops here and there, eventually winding up at Harvey Nichols – London’s version of Bergdorf-Goodman meets Barney’s meets Fred Segal.

Tired of lugging a 50 pound carry-on (ok that’s a bit of an exaggeration), we got a wheelie duffel bag which took a huge load off our shoulders and then it was back on the Tube to the train station and back to Heathrow.

Nothing horribly exciting to report except we hopped aboard our South African Air flight to Joburg exhausted. I needed to sleep so I popped an Ambien which took effect immediately. Twice Mike woke me up as I had fallen asleep mid-dinner, literally while chewing my food. Gross, I know, but it wasn't like I sat there for hours with food in my mouth -- just seconds....but man, was I tired.

Long flight!!!