It was so difficult packing for this trip. We are going to England and then cruising to Iceland. It is a wee bit colder there than it is in south Florida. So mostly long sleeve stuff with rain gear and hopefully that works out.
Our ride by Lyft was fairly uneventful. We arrived at the airport with four hours to kill.
We went to the Centurion Lounge but they wouldn’t let us in. Only 3 hours before flights. Wow! Kind of annoying since it was only 25 minutes. Oh well. So we waited and entered at the right time.
We had our fill of wraps and chicken. Bruce had soup. All was good.
For this flight, we booked economy basic which was $1300 each round trip. My American Express Platinum card gave me a $200 Airline Credit and American was my airline of choice. I booked two exit-row seats at $141 each. So it cost me $82 out of pocket. The seats were pretty good. Bruce had lots of legroom but the seats are not very wide. We missed our business class seats.
Now we are staying for two nights in Southampton at the Doubletree by Hilton. My gold status gives us free breakfast. It was $175 a night and using points doesn’t make sense. So another expenditure to add to my cheap cruise.
We had pizza for dinner and Bruce had the real sticky toffee pudding.
Today we are out and about in Southampton. It’s a bigger city than we thought.
I love the old walls and architecture.
The old buildings.
And of course churches. We visited St. Michael’s Church.
Next, we stopped at St. Joseph’s church.
Southampton once had a wall built around it to protect it from raiders. Now there are only pieces of it standing here and there.
Just a bit of walking and we were ready for a stop. We found The Pig in the Wall which is also an inn.
I had a cappuccino and oatmeal raisin cookie and Bruce had a strawberry cake.
We spent the afternoon at the SeaCity Museum in Southampton. It was fairly comprehensive on the lives of the crew of the Titanic, especially those who resided in Southampton, the ships departure port to the US.
The SeaCity Museum was housed in a fairly old building. The restroom was quite interesting.
For dinner we ate at M’Dim Sum.
It was an amazing meal but it could have fed 4 people. Our starter included spring rolls, chicken satay, toast, and ribs.
Our next course was Peking duck and its trimmings.
Followed by sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, Chinese vegetables and steak with mushrooms.
We had so much leftover, that we took a to-go bag and gave it to a homeless person sleeping on the street. He seemed very grateful. If you ever have leftovers and are in a city with lots of homeless, its better to give food then money.
We walked 5 miles today but it felt like 10. I am realizing how out of shape I am. This vacation I plan on building my stamina and hopefully not eating too much!
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