Monday (30 October) an early start, check out of the AirBnB and on the first metro train at 5:37 to Gare de Nord to catch the Eurostar to London. They tell you to get there early, so dutifully we arrived an hour before our train was due to leave, at 6.56 however they had not yet opened up, and as there are three trains an hour there were a lot of people waiting.
Got to the French passport scanners, Nic’s passport scanned OK, so Nic had to move through the system (the UK passport scanners and then security), however Rog’s passport wouldn’t scan in the French scanners, so had to join the manual line, then the border control guy, scanned the passport, studied his computer, looked around and left his station, came back, still not having said a word, used the phone, nobody answered. Told Rog to stand aside and wait! Finally someone arrived in full security gear, bulletproof vest etc, took one look at the passport and said ….. “everything is fine, I’ll just get your passport stamped” phew that was a little worrying for a couple of minutes. UK passport scanner and security then worked fine.
Eurostar was not too busy, and a pleasant journey. For our train back up to York we used the Seatfrog app to bid for a 1st class upgrade, and won for £9 each. We had two hours to kill in Kings Cross station, so used the 1st Class lounge, and got our money’s worth of tea, coffee and biscuits before even boarding the train. Once on board we had even more tea, coffee, biscuits, then sandwiches and beer! £9 well spent.
Monday afternoon, we unpacked, started the washing and began the repacking process.
Tuesday, more washing and repacking!
Wednesday, lunch out to celebrate a family birthday, and a little retail therapy at Monks Cross shopping centre in York.
Thursday, lunch out again in Burnby Hall Gardens, nice to see the autumn colours. Catching up with more family in the evening.
Friday, we had a booked train at 14:02 back to King’s Cross, but at about 11am the train was showing as cancelled so we headed to York station early to solve that issue. We managed to get an earlier train, but ended up standing all the way to London, what a contrast to Monday’s 1st Class experience!
That night’s accommodation was the Premier Inn in Hampstead, 6 mins on the tube from King’s Cross, and a third of the price of the King’s Cross Premier Inn. The reception and restaurant had a newly refurbished feel, and it was well worth the short tube journey.
Met with family at the Nell Gwynn Tavern on The Strand, a real proper London boozer, then on to The Port House for tapas, a lovely meal.
Saturday, checked out of the Premier Inn, and headed to Heathrow for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand via Zurich and Singapore. All the flights were OK, we managed to get seats together, despite not paying for reserved seats. On the Zurich to Singapore, our seats were just behind Premium Economy, and had loads of leg room. Result!
Sunday, on a plane and/or in an airport! We wouldn’t get to New Zealand until Monday.
Singapore Airport was incredible with a fountain coming from one of its ceilings, and a butterfly garden to visit to pass the time.
Travurple 