The big day finally arrived. There was much to think about beforehand. The company I work for has its fiscal year end on July 31. As a salesman this is a busy and somewhat stressful time of the year as we work towards meeting quotas, achieving bonuses and taking full advantage of year end financial incentives. Gladly the year ended well and after a little year-end celebration I as able to turn my attention completely to my trip. On the final days my apartment was strewn with clothing and gear, some items not yet even removed from it's packaging. On the eve of my departure I stood and surveyed this mess and wondered how I would ever get it all packed. I did manage to get the lion's share of it tucked away but there was a lot of stuff - probably too much. This fact would haunt me in the days to come.
Brenda drove me to the airport with plenty of time to spare and I crossed my fingers that I might luck out and score a business class upgrade on my flight to London. I hate long flights and I had deliberately saved my Air Canada upgrade coupons for this trip. An upgrade from Vancouver to New York is a pleasant perk. An upgrade from Vancouver to London is a gift from God. Sure enough, my upgrade came through and no time I was sipping champagne and perusing the menu trying to decide between the beef and the lamb, and between the Chianti and the Bordeaux. The trip was off to an excellent start.
The next morning I arrived at London Heathrow. I had decided early in my planning to break up the flight to Africa into two segments. I had never been to London before and this was a great opportunity to explore a little bit and spare myself a gruelling 24 hours in transit without a break. So I settled conveniently into the Hilton at Heathrow terminal 4, snoozed, showered, and headed out to explore. There was direct access to the London Underground from terminal 4 and it was a straight shot on the Piccadilly line directly to the heart of London.
I had time for two trips to the city before my departure for Africa and I saw most of the mandatory sights including the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and just for fun on Saturday morning, Portobello Market in Notting Hill. It was all good fun. The only frustration came on Friday night when, after hours of exploring, I desperately wanted a cold beer and some dinner at a pub. Given the millions of pubs in London this hardly seemed like a problem but to my surprise every pub on every corner was bursting with people just finished work. Not only were the pubs full inside but people were crowded outside on the sidewalks with their beers. It was a bit of work getting my pub dinner that night.
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