The travel to London was uneventful which was perfect. We were able to find a gas station, get gas, return the car without ANY dings or issues (!!).
Can I just say how proud I am of driving on the (wrong) RIGHT side of the car, on the (wrong) LEFT side of the road? It honestly wasn’t that bad and it’s always nice to have others in the car to remind me of “left, left!”. Even though I never did actually make a mistake and go on the right.
Sam DID think I was doing it wrong once and freaked out but I was moving to the right because there was construction on the left!
Oh man, I forgot to talk about how crazy the construction on the roads was. Tiny roads and when there is construction in ONE spot, they have lights to stop traffic and the lines of cars that… line up! Crazy! Anyway.
The airport was a little silly. Inverness is a very small airport with one security lane. We were Fasttrack because I booked us business class but there were only 2 or 3 families in the regular line. Except we were all stopped because… as the working guy was irritated and said – everyone was not getting out their liquids!
Ugh. Why do we have to take out our liquids? Why can’t all airports be the same? Suffice to say, the people in front of us were delayed… and then WE delayed (poor Sam’s bags – one of them had to go through THREE times – thanks medical bag!) so we spent 30m there and the line behind us was SO long after that point. It wasn’t just us but that was crazy.
The lady who was checking my bags said they had really old devices because there was literally NOTHING wrong with my two bags. One of them had “too much stuff” so she had to check it. Haha, did I pack too much? Shocker. And the other bag, she just took a longer look at the x-ray screen and handed everything to me.
Dad and I had a nice conversation about it at dinner on Thursday night and he said he informed the guy working there that (the guy checking the x-ray screen) needed to run for office, and then push a tourist tax and then upgrade all their airport stuff. Hahaha. My dad cracks me up.
So anyway, we got in, the waiting area was SUPER tiny but we got right on the plane, had room for our carry-on luggage and the flight was just over an hour. Being in Business class was minimal $$ but afforded us the middle seat blocked off. No extra leg room but less people to breathe on you, I guess?
We landed easily, got snacks, and hopped on the Underground straight to Hyde Park/Mayfair and spent a little time calling our apartment concierge but we got in our apartment.
Super tiny apartment. Standard for London. On the 4th floor so all the heat rises but we figured out how to open windows. I made some friends with some flies but it’s fine.
It was perfect timing for our tea! I thought we would have to kill a half hour or so at Hyde Park but nope, I estimated a buffer time perfectly.
I love when I do that.
The Dorchester hotel was insanely posh and beautiful. I had warned my pair that it was fancy but I did triple check and make sure that a dress code wasn’t enforced. Because there was no way that I was enforcing a dress code on them, that was way too much effort. But I dressed nice and was happy about it. There were others wearing jeans too. Even though J said he felt uncomfortable, he said he didn’t bring anything nicer than the shirt he was wearing. But honestly, they were so nice there and I don’t think it was a problem.
I was totally admiring all the London ladies, a few were wearing fascinators. One group brought their little dog and sat it on a pillow. It was wearing clothes. Standard stuff.
I believe our waiter was French and he was just delightful. He recommended a beautiful Bruno Paillard rosé champagne. It was lovely. The sandwiches were adorable. I had the gluten free ones but I still ate them – all the sauces – I think I paid for it the next day but it’s fine. The scones are my favorite with the strawberry jam, the apricot, and clotted cream. The cream was my least favorite but I always adore strawberry. The sweets at the end were not my favorite but still yummy.
I think it was the ambiance that was the best. It always is! The piano player playing Pink Pony Club next to Disney tunes. The ladies having tea, the sweet couples having a moment together, some high-powered business men conversing and lunching. It was fun.
J wanted to go back and take a shower and Sam and I walked through Hyde Park. I love Hyde Park. You have your runners, your crazy bikers, the people from all walks of life strolling around. Groups of people chilling on the grass. It always makes me want to be someone who chills on the grass. Then I realize I’m usually too impatient to chill on the grass. If I had the right people to chill on the grass, it would be lovely.
Anyway, Sam and I had a nice stroll and chat. Being next to the Serpentine, where it has been featured in so many of my Regency romance novels, is always a thrill. The garden is lovely. Many parts were closed off but that was fine.
We walked back and grabbed J and took the Underground down to the London Eye.
The Eye was one of Sam’s bucket list items. It did stop SLIGHTLY at the top for a few minutes but you could barely notice. A bit terrifying but it got going again. We booked the last slot and it was so nice. We were the first ones in so we got the BEST spot (on the sunset/river side!) and took it up for about 50% of the way to the top and then moved around to give others room to take pictures. But it was really nice.
Here is one of my favorite photos that I’m saving for my scenic screensaver. Love it!
After, we walked over and got pictures of Big Ben. Sam is obsessed with Big Ben. LOVES it. She must have taken so many pics, vids, TikTok’s… She kept asking, we are coming back, right? LOL
After we went to Rules. It was the oldest restaurant in London. I think. Over 200 years old. The style was delightful. The pictures/painting on the wall, super crazy. We went upstairs to the bar and enjoyed the ambiance.
We all ended up having salmon, which was also perfect. They had theirs with the yummy sauce, mine was plain. J got the cheesecake, which I had a bite of. That also probably punished me later but oh well! It was good but not amazing. It’s always sad when I cheat on food and it’s not amazing.
I think I was DONE at that point. J wanted to walk home, I wanted to take the subway because it was 10m faster so that’s what I did. Sam walked home with J. I got to drunk call Ang – at $0.25 a minute, I reminded her – haha – and had a delightful quick catch-up and slight vent. Then did the same with Nicole since she had not been texting me, but then started WhatsApping me and it was so weird so I had to call her and laugh at her. So that was amusing.
But it was a nice day.
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