We had an overnight stay near Heathrow before being picked up by our private hire car to transport us to Gatwick. The car worked out cheaper than the bus and the driver was lovely company. We were also much happier with the hotel over our earlier stay at Heathrow. Four star with excellent amenities versus two star with dodgy amenities, but there was a price to pay...an extra $10!

We did have one problem though. I had left out a breakfast order for one (it was so expensive we decided to share). By 8:15 we were wondering how long it would be and then I checked our front door: the order was still hanging there! Harrumph. However, the hotel couldn't have been quicker in responding with a free breakfast in the restaurant for two. That is the definition of good customer service: how a problem or issue is rectified.

Our flight to Lima was about 13 hours, arriving 7:30 local time. I had picked a hotel close to the airport, but there were four lanes of traffic at 8:30 pm, so it took 30 minutes to get to our hotel. I wasn't so surprised when I discovered that not only is Peru a developing nation, it has a population of about 30 million with one third living in Lima!

On arrival at our hotel we were offered a welcome drink and I tried the local speciality "pisco sour" (made from pisco queirdo which is apparently a light brandy type spirit). It was right up my alley taste wise (and became the drink of choice in Peru). Once we'd polished off our welcome drink we took off to bed as we had an early flight in the morning to Cusco.