Thursday 07 June
Arrived via Eurostar to St Pancreas/ Kings Cross Station. Short walk to our accommodation, which was a small studio in Cartwright Gardens. A gorgeous Mews with a lovely park with tennis court in the middle. Good location. I checked online and decided on a small play called Quiz playing in Leicester Square. Got the tube in (after negotiating the tube fare and going for the Oyster card - half price fares). Had an early dinner then a wander through some lovely streets around Leicester Square. The play was excellent- based on true events about “Who wants to be a millionaire “.

Friday 08 June
Meet with Lucy Webb and her man Mike for breakfast at a local cafe.
Checked out and found a storage place close to Marylebone station. Headed into city to some old haunts of Mikes. After a pub lunch we headed down Pall Mall to Buckingham Palace. Did some purchasing at the gift store. Mainly H&M memorabilia as gifts.
Meet Juliet at Marylebone for our train to Chorleywood.
Quiet night in with pizza and wine.

Saturday 09 June.
Jake and James headed to a Scout day camp so Ellie Juliet and I went shopping at Westfield. Good success.
Great Indian takeaways for dinner.

Sunday 10 June
Went to mass - very small church in an old house - very friendly.
We all headed out for a walk to a local village pub for lunch. The Boot. It was excellent and delicious food. There was a local fate on in the common and vintage cars including a McClaren.
Home for a lazy evening and a game of “Cards against Humanity” - hilarious!

Monday 11 June

HOME TIME!

Ellie not feeling well so stayed home. Juliet left at 10 for Barcelona - work trip away for the week.
Mike and I walked to Jake’s school to watch his fun run.
We headed off with packs on back and cabin wheelies to train station headed for Victoria and Gatwick Express.
Arrived Gatwick in good time. Decided to wrap our packs since our flight was via Taipei and Brisbane.
Checked in - final weight after 6 weeks 32kg including cabin bag - total. Pretty good but think can reduce more.
We are traveling on China Airlines and access to No. 1 lounge - used by many airlines. Firstly, after security and Customs we arrive in the departure area. It was like the busiest shopping mall ever! The lounge was the same. 10 minutes at the bar to get a drink. It did eventually empty out to a reasonable capacity.
Our flight on the A350 business class was awesome. Great service and the lie flats very comfy. 6 hr transit in Taipei but a really nice lounge - quiet with lovely bathrooms/ showers etc.
2 hr transit Brisbane then to Auckland.