Saturday, 22 August 2026

Day 1

 Day 1: Our Itinerary


For the detailed itinerary, see - Riviera Travel Itinerary

One advantage of flying to South Africa was that we didn't have to leave home in the middle of the night. Catherine picked us up and took us to Retford for our train to King's Cross where we killed time until we thought we should get the tube to T3 at Heathrow.  That was when things started to go wrong.

The day had started badly as we woke to the news that our sweet little Pepper had died that morning. We were now at Heathrow where no flights were checking in or taking off because of an air traffic control problem. No-one told us anything and everyone was just milling around as there was virtually nowhere to sit.  Elizabeth had already said that she sincerely hoped that she would never fly from Heathrow again and this experience did nothing to change her mind.


Waiting at Retford Station




Breakfast en route to London


Killing time at King's Cross Station




Chaos at King's Cross Station as air traffic control had failed - as usual!





Epiblog

  Some thoughts overall - Toilets were spotless and constantly being cleaned except in rural locations We wished we'd brought pencils...