Despite being in some of the most uncomfortable seats on the plane, we both somehow slept for about five hours a piece. But I’ll cut right to it. Our bags did not arrive in Heathrow as promised by multiple agents in Nairobi. This was . . .upsetting. We filed a report with British Airways. The agents were very kind and sympathetic, but this didn’t do much to return our bags to us. The passenger the next desk over proclaimed, “My bag’s been broken. I saw me trousers come out on the belt before me bag!” Only comments like this can sustain us in times of darkness.
It was 6am. We only had the clothes we were wearing. The weather was very English — cold and rainy. It was a twenty minute Uber ride to Windsor and our hotel. Needless to say we had arrived before check-in time, but the people working the desk did not seem to be particularly concerned about our situation and told us to check around 2pm to see if a room was ready. We had some time to kill. Stores wouldn’t even open for another hour. I desperately needed a jacket at minimum. Just after 9am, we went to TK Maxx (not a typo, but it is exactly the same as TJ Maxx). Their options were limited, and we eventually made some purchases at H&M.
With a new found swagger in my new jacket, we went to the Crooked House Tea Shop for a little breakfast and pick me up. I had a rooibos tea and a crumpet. Nicole had an English breakfast tea and a ham and cheese croissant. We then strolled around the area, making small purchases as we went including basic things like toothbrushes, deodorant, etc.
We also stopped by a statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her corgis at a nearby park. The rain was subsiding and the sun made a brief point of showing its face, but even locals were calling this weather “bleak.” Around 1pm (and only after we saw another man get checked in right away) did we ask again if our room was ready (for the 3rd time). Finally it was, and they seemed to have no intention of letting us know that important piece of information. After checking in, I quickly gathered some clothes for laundry, ran down the street to a laundromat, put in a load of wash, treated myself to a Greggs sausage roll and a Ribena (a popular English black currant soft drink) while I waited. I waltzed back to do the drying, got us a USB wall charger for our devices and returned to shower for the first time in . . .well a while.
We then explored the area a bit more, but enjoyed another tea time with some scones at a tea room across the street from the hotel. After recovering from a day of insanity, we then strolled down the Long Walk near Windsor Castle before working our way back to the hotel, attempting in vain to get an update on our bags, and went to the Duchess of Cambridge pub for some dinner pies and ale.
I actually don’t know where we are going tomorrow. We had initially planned that this part of the trip would be where we relax and recover from the chaos of the earlier portions of the trip. Unfortunately, with no clothes and limited supplies, that complicates things quite a bit. This trip is quickly unraveling, so hopefully we can figure something out tomorrow that witnesses some change.
passports & pepto bismol 