I was up before the alarm sounded this morning and ready to go fairly quickly. Philip was up soon, too, so we had time for a last breakfast in this hotel.  

I checked us out, and we waited just a short time for the taxi to arrive right on time at 8:30.  While waiting, I verified with Nikita, one of the reception/desk clerks, that the taxi would take a credit card.  She assured me that all drivers took payment by card.  It is required by law.  When that law was made recently, the taxi fares were also increased to cover the extra business expense of the bank fee for using credit.  When the driver arrived, I said to him that we needed to use a card to pay; we're out of cash.  No problem for him.  The ride out to the airport was busy, but traffic moved regularly.

I checked us in for our flight last night, so all we had to do was to drop one bag off and get though security.  Our tickets are in AerSpace class which I now know includes priority access, priority boarding, FastTrack security, and business lounge access. We made use of all amenities and shorter, priority lines and were seated in the Aer Lingus lounge less than an hour after getting in the taxi at the hotel.  That length of time is great.  I’ve read about long lines at security here.  Not for us today!

The flight was on the departures board as going out of gate 303.  However, when we walked to it, an Air Canada plane was parked there, and a delayed flight announcement was on the boarding screen.  I heard lots of chatter among the passengers waiting there about whether it will be able to handle our flight in time.   A young woman by me went looking for updated info and found our flight two gates away.  We moved on down to that gate, but she said she was going to stay with another older woman that she just befriended promising to help her get to the gate.  Such a sweet thing to do.  I have another Irish hero.

The flight was able to take off on time.  It was an easy flight into Heathrow.  The flight attendant was helpful again as we learn more about Aer Lingus.  We’ve flown them before, but things have changed.  I have been very happy with the service today.  

We arrived in London and sped through the arrivals area. No need to see any immigration agent nor show passports.  We left through the Nothing to Declare door.  Even waiting for our luggage which was close to the last one on the conveyor belt (almost all the other passengers had left), we were out in thirty minutes.  When I booked our transportation to the hotel for today, London was having major problems with getting luggage delivered and people through the process so I factored in extra time that we did not end up needing.  We had time to get lunch at The Queen’s Arms before the driver was due to arrive.  

We met up with the Blacklane driver after lunch, and he got us to the Hilton at Hyde Park fairly quickly.  He did take a lot of side roads and twists and turns on the route, but I think that avoided some of the city traffic.  The transfer was a prepaid, flat fee based on distance so I am sure he was taking the most efficient route that he knew.

Checkin at the Hilton came with no upgrade this time.  We are in room 601 which is the worst Hilton room I’ve ever seen.  I expect European rooms to be smaller on average than American rooms, but this one is ridiculous.  It’s cute and would be fine for one person.  However, I’m not sure how we will manage the bed situation.  It is built into a corner with one person having to sleep against the wall.  I tried to pull it out a little bit, but it does not budge.  I called to ask them to bring in a chair which they did.  

We had dinner at Pret a Manger around the corner from the entrance to the hotel.  There are lots of ethnic restaurants and fast food places on the same street as Pret a Manger so maybe we’ll try them over the next few days.  

London may be the best city in the world for people watching.  While we were out we saw a number of characters that we’d never see in Burque.  While we were sitting in Pret a Manger, a woman leaving the place walked by and said to Philip, or to no one in particular, “I hate to leave the floor show.”  I don’t know which eccentric she was referring to, but now I think that’s what we should call it — a perpetual, ongoing floor show.  By then, we’d already seen several different types including a tall, lean yet muscled, young man wearing a very short, plaid, pleated skirt with matching scarf waiting for the light to change.  Well, each to his own.  He looked happy.