This day had worked out a little differently than originally planned, but that was all good. The original plan was for me to work an early shift that day and then take the train to London after work. I had requested a work from home day the previous week to avoid any commuting disasters. However, the previous Friday, I had been asked if I would be available to assist with cover the following day. I was only too happy to agree to this as this gave me the opportunity to have the day, we were leaving off instead. This just took a whole lot of stress out of the equation.
I had been good, even if under protest, and had done the bulk of the packing the day before. I just had to sort out the hand luggage and my personal item on the day. I had a bit of a slow start to the morning, but I rounded up most of the things that I still needed to pack and made a start of some emails I needed to send before the holidays. Then I headed out to get my nails done and run some final errands. I loved how my nails ended up. The design was inspired by both one of the gowns that I packed and a custom necklace.
When I got home, I dealt some last-minute housework and the rest of the packing. Then we watched a movie and relaxed for a bit. Just before 16:00, we headed out. A tram arrived just after we did and soon, we were at Manchester Piccadilly.
Graham fancied a coffee. I did not want one. He got himself an Americano and a lemon tart. Then we headed to our platform. We had just worked out where our coach was likely to be when our train pulled in a good 30 minutes early. This gave us plenty of time to deal with our luggage and to settle down.
We had a smooth journey south even though we ended up being about 20 minutes late due to speed restrictions on part of the route which then led to congestion around Milton Keynes. I had every intention to work on my mini trip report for our July trip to Chester, but I checked my emails and ended up dealing with some of them. I then checked into to Facebook and got absorbed by some stuff, but for a good part of the journey, I slept.
When we arrived at London Euston it was thankfully dry even though there had been some heavy rain not too far north of London. Graham had worked out that the best way to get to our hotel was to walk to St. Pancras and catch the highspeed train to Stratford International. There we were able to switch to the Docklands Light Railway to Stratford High Street station, which was only a short walk to our hotel. This worked like a charm. The walk between Euston and St. Pancras was quite nice. St. Pancras is a bit of a mace, but it did not take us long to find the right platform. Our train was already sitting there. Once it left, it took all of 7 minutes to get to Stratford International. As soon as we walked out of the station, we could see the Docklands Light Railway station, which was just across the street. A train was about to leave when we got to the platform. This really could not have been any smoother. The walk at the other end was not far either.
When we got to the hotel, we checked in and took our stuff to the room. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. We do like his brand, but the beds tend to be a bit on the small side. I was delighted that we had a super king bed.
Once we had dropped off the luggage, we headed back downstairs to get some dinner. Graham had a craft beer and fish and chips. I was not particularly hungry and had the loaded nachos from the starter menu with a side of pulled pork. I also got a free drink due to my status and had a cider. Once we had dinner, we headed back to room and got ready for bed, Graham well asleep straightaway, but I read a chapter in my book before I settled down for the night, too.
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