London, Aug 1st 2015

On this day i embarked on my London adventure. And an adventure it was! It was the 8th time that i visited my most favourite city in the world. True to the motto:

But was it also a good idea to go there with ... my boss?? And that was the element of uncertainty in an otherwise really fantastic idea. Now, i know my boss for a very long time, next year we have our "silver anniversary" which means we have been working together for 25 years. We are on pretty informal terms as well. We have been through a lot of things together. So the idea is not as bizarre as it may sound. Nonetheless i was pretty nervous about it. But it turned out much better than i could have ever hoped! And with hindsight it was one of my most fantastic London trips so far. 

Our journey started on Saturday, Aug 1st. Our flight left at 22.20 p.m. I really liked it that way because it meant i still had the whole day to prepare things, to pack my bags and to relax. The flight was dead on time. We had our first laughing fit when U. folded down her table to reveal this:

That was a squashed small cake :D We laughed so much about that. I guess this was because it was a cheap airline and they didn't even have those nets on the seat in front of you where you could have placed something (actually there weren't even sick bags, U. said when you get sick you have to quickly fold your own sick back from a newspaper LOL) 

The flight arrived ahead of schedule which was very helpful for the continuation of our journey. 

There was quite a queue at the passport control and we were just about to queue up there when suddenly a staff member appeared and said "no, no ladies, please come this way" and he hastened away, through the meandering barriers and opened up the way, urging us to follow him. We were pretty confused by this, haha. But we tried to keep up with his speed. He opened one blockage after another and led us straight to a passport control booth. That was so funny and bizarre. He actually opened up a new queue with us. Such luck, really! We were through passport control in no time ("Good evening, where do you come from?" "Germany" "Ah nice, have a good time here!") 

Planning our trip i had hope we might get the Stansted Express at 23.30 but with all these lucky circumstances we actually caught the one at 23.00 o'clock! (the plane's arrival time was scheduled for 23.05 o'clock and we made the train at 23 o'clock .. magic!) That was super convenient because it meant we had the chance to also catch the last tube if we were lucky and wouldn't have to take the night bus. I had bought our Stansted Express tix online which was also a good idea because that meant we didn't have to figure out the ticket machines at the station and could go straight to the platform and the train. In the train i wondered that no one checked the tickets but then i thought we may have to scan them when leaving the platform at Liverpool Street Station. Arriving there i asked a staff member and he said we will have to scan them "over there" but the barriers were open and .. we were well on our way to the tube. The ticket hall was still very busy and we were under some pressure to get a ticket quickly not to miss the last tube. Then .. the next bizarre thing happened. We were at the ticket machine but it refused my £ 10 note. When suddenly a guy addressed us and offered help. The following events happened so fast that i cannot really quite remember them anymore. He had obviously seen the problem with the note and he produced 2 One Day Travel Cards from his pocket and i gave him the money, he gave me back my change and then rushed us to the ticket barrier. he entered first and told us to enter our ticket, to walk through, take our ticket. he took us to the platform and then he was gone. It all happened so very quickly, hehe. With hindsight i think he might have collected One Day Travel Cards from people after their last ride and basically re-selling them but i couldn't care less because we only payed the regular fare which we would have had to pay anyway. 

With the last tube we arrived at Baker Street Underground Station and from there it were only a 3-4 minute walk to our hotel. We only had to cross Marylebone Road, then turning to the left and the next street to the right .. tada! We had reached our base camp and retreated for the night.