Flight and London Day 1

The inflight entertainment offers home delivery of New Zealand Wine 

Dining aboard our plane

Delicious Cobb Salad on Hotel roof 

Our local Vape Shop

We flew from Los Angeles to London on Air New Zealand. This is our first flight on Air NZ. The seats are arranged in a zipper like fashion on the diagonal, no two seats are adjacent. It is the same formation that Virgin Atlantic uses. One nice advantage is that for food service they set a table up, so that you can dine as a couple.

Our flight was non-eventful and once we cleared immigration we were met by a representative from Addison Lee who escorted us to our waiting car for the drive to our hotel. Cathy’s brother had recommended Addison Lee due to their professional reputation. We can vouch for their efficiency.

We are staying in the Soho region of London where many of the theaters are located. Our Hotel: The Ham Yard, is very hip. It was recommended to us by our friend. We are very impressed with it.

Today has been a bit of a disaster. Not an auspicious way to start a vacation, but I am sure it will all work out. Cathy was pickpocketed. We were walking down the very crowded street and all of a sudden, she realized her purse was unzipped and her wallet was missing. It is ironic, we travel to a lot of third world countries and have never had an incident like this. Oh well, it was bound to happen some day on a trip. We returned to our hotel and called the credit card companies and they are rushing card replacement to her. I have my cards and our shopping won’t be inhibited. 

Right outside our hotel, is a very modern Vape Shop. They were very helpful as they sold us a Vape Pen and CBD oil. Unlike in California they don’t have legal Pot stores yet just CBD oil stores. The sales people are restricted in that they can give no medical advice about the effectiveness of the various CBD tinctures.

On a happier note we finally got to eat at Nopi. Ottolenghi is an incredible chef. We once ate a dinner he prepared a Mozza in Los Angeles and it was excellent. He has written several cookbooks, we have then all. The food is Mid-eastern influenced, he is from Israel, his partner is a Palestinian. We very much enjoyed the food and wine. The restaurant just by chance is quite close to the Ham Yard.

Upon returning to our hotel, we discovered that I had forgot to pack a prescription that Cathy takes. Tomorrow we will unscramble that. I am sure we will quickly resolve the problem and get back on track. It is amazing, we are seasoned international travelers, yet unexpected things happen no matter how much you plan. I guess that is what makes travelling such an adventure.

One advantage of staying at a Hotel like this how very helpful all of the staff are to us. On a simpler note, I like how for service charges are built into restaurant bills, and taxis, eliminating the calculating of tipping. I wish we had more tipping like that included in the states.