Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Luton

Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Poznan)

The sun was shining and Luton Airport glistened once again with its raw beauty and charm. I find this one of the better airports to fly through, it’s not necessarily the most decadent in many ways, but it does tend to have sufficient staff. It took just four minutes to get through security, although as ever I’d allowed for it to take an hour. The flight was the first one that I had booked with the All You Can Fly pass.

A quick visit to Big Smoke using my Priority Pass card, it’s a handy place to charge devices and sit in relative comfort and peace. The card really is a useful little thing and I like that they’re generous with how it can be used at a number of restaurants at some airports. The staff at Big Smoke are helpful, although they don’t like card holders sitting in the bar area which is where I’d naturally default to, just because it’s QR code only ordering there. Card holders get £18 to spend there, which covers these chicken tenders and this time I went for the Medicine Man IPA, which is hoppy, juicy and with a taste of pineapple. It was better than I remember it being a few weeks ago, but maybe I was just in a good mood. This location is very fast paced, but the staff never give the appearance of being panicked, even when they have some customers who seem to be quite challenging.

When the server came along, I mentioned that I would wait ten minutes for the lunch menu to start, but the server mentioned he’d take the order immediately and send it through to the kitchen and the chicken tenders arrived promptly. They taste decent and along with some craft beer, it’s a comfortable place to wait.

Then off to Avalon to use the Priority Pass card again. I could have also gone to the lounge and the Italian Nolito, but I felt this was more than enough. They stack the amount up to the full £18, but it was handy to have a sandwich for later on. Always friendly staff at Avalon and the coffee tastes good. Incidentally, I always thought that Cawston Press had some sort of presence in Norfolk, but reading the can (I don’t get out much) its Head Office and centre of operations is Kettering. Now, I know Kettering (permanently linked with James Acaster now) is perfectly acceptable as being the home of a drinks company, but it’s just not quite what I expected. If not Cawston, I’m sure they could have opened a little place in Aylsham.

Mine was the 12:25 to Poznan, so I meandered off to the gate content that I’d had a coffee, beer and chicken tenders. This seems to me to be the very basis of a balanced diet.

A view of the area in front of the airport that I’ve never much noticed when walking to the gate. I can’t say that this is exactly riveting, but it amused me for about three seconds.

And safely at the gate. Even though I did work for British Airways for a long time and so have a natural bias, they never really sorted out the efficiency of their check-in process, it varied enormously even within the same airport. Wizz Air are very precise, timely and it works for me to stay seated until the queue has nearly gone through and I join the back. No stress, no faffing about in groups and just easy boarding.

The aircraft sitting there ready. It’s G-WUKO, the same aircraft that took me to Belgrade a few weeks ago.

Boarding, again all efficient and most passengers worked out which door they had to board through.

I’m a little cheap and so I refuse to pay for seat selection, but the airline Gods smiled upon me and I ended up with a window seat anyway which was handy.

Safely in Poznan and it was raining, which made my decision for me, I wasn’t going to walk to the hotel. I rarely have much to write about these flights, partly because I fall asleep and partly because they’re so standard because they’ve got the processes sorted. The crew are welcoming, they do their swoop down the aircraft selling food and drink, then they have a go at selling other things and then we land. They’re very alert to safety issues and manage the take-off and landing processes well, they never really give me any cause for concern or annoyance.

December 8, 2024
Rail Journey : Liverpool to Luton (with changes at Crewe, Long Eaton, Leicester, Kettering and Bedford)

I have a slight problem at the moment with rail travel and that’s trying to keep the fares down whilst I’m travelling around the country. I’m simultaneously too young and too old to have a railcard and the fares can be challenging without using some ingenuity of split ticketing. I’ve also been hitting delay repay claims with some frequency recently and have had three turned down or refunded at a different amount, but all three fully reinstated on appeal due to ‘operator error’ or similar phrases. They don’t really have much choice as the Conditions of Carriage are very clear and it’s a bit of a faff, but we get there in the end.

So, mostly for my own amusement, here’s the story of today and endless changes of trains….. It’s actually evident to see why rail operators are struggling to unpick some of these delay repay claims and today’s will be another one when East Midlands Railways get it this weekend.

That’s not a great photo of Liverpool Lime Street, although I was taking photos to remind me at what time I was at each station. Half of the station has gate lines, the other half doesn’t and this was one of those tracks, track 6. Incidentally, on the way into Liverpool, we stopped at Broad Green railway station and I looked at the station history on Wikipedia (yes, I do this a lot) and discovered that it’s the oldest railway station in the world that is still operating, having opened in 1830. On that theme, Liverpool Lime Street is the oldest still operating grand terminus mainline station in the world, opening in August 1836.

The first train of the day was on time, the 10:08 West Midlands Train service to Crewe.

I liked this train, relatively empty and there were power points which are useful for journeys such as this. There was a passenger on board telling his friend Tony (he said the word Tony at the end of every sentence so I soon got to know Tony’s name) who gave a near constant verbal flow of railway facts on our journey. To be honest, I found it all quite interesting, so fair play.

Crewe, it’s not my favourite place in the world if I’m being honest, but I wasn’t leaving the railway station and so it didn’t much matter.

Here’s the EMR train service to Long Eaton.

More power points and an annoying customer who was playing music loudly sitting opposite. I’m generally quite immune to these things, but when it’s so loud it’s over the volume of my headphones, it probably is a bit much. Someone else sat opposite and stared at him, which meant he later on stopped, so that was a relief for us all.

Only here briefly, but a quick photo at Stoke railway station to send to Łukasz who sometimes meets me here. The train was delayed into Long Eaton, but this didn’t much matter as the one I needed to connect to was also late and was coming in on the same platform.

Long Eaton railway station which was opened in December 1888 as Sawley Junction.

An information board about Midland Railway Sheet Stores.

Right, I can still get the 12:40 because it’s going at 12:46.

Here it comes sweeping in to take me to Leicester.

And there’s Leicester in all its raw beauty and there’s been a railway station on this site since 1840.

This train into Leicester was busy and I couldn’t get photos inside and it was running fifteen minutes late, meaning I’d miss my connection. But, as luck would have it, the train I was connecting to was once again also late and coming in on the same platform. I boarded three different trains today that had an end destination of London St Pancras and all three had the seat reservations cancelled as the on-board computers had gone wrong.

I boarded the East Midlands train to Kettering and it was at this point that the network was entirely falling apart due to electrical cabling issues. There weren’t really enough staff to help at Kettering and no announcements to help passengers at the station, it wasn’t great for those who didn’t know their way around railway apps and the like.

I went to find someone (not pictured above) and she told me which train to connect, telling me to get on a train to Bedford.

I had a little walk around Kettering railway station which was originally opened in 1857. I find it very hard to be in Kettering and not think about James Acaster and the Kettering Town FC song. Incidentally, that bridge to the other platforms was only put in as late as the 1990s.

This is a nice reminder of how railway stations have been such important locations in times of war.

And here’s the canteen that it’s referring to. There are an awful lot of structures on railway stations, it’s a shame that more can’t be done with a great deal more of them, although at least this one hasn’t been demolished.

Aaaahh….

Another train boarded, this is the one to St. Pancras yet again. I was fortunate incidentally to get a seat on every service despite them being so busy. Most trains had power points and customers seemed to be generally calm and content.

And safely at Bedford. I thought it was positive that the train guard told anyone with flights from Luton Airport that they were fearing they’d miss to tell the platform staff so that they could do something about it. I’m not sure what the platform staff were planning to do about it (and even if they knew the train guard had been telling passengers this), but it was a nice gesture.

For reasons unknown even to me, I’ve started noting in this blog post when railway stations were first opened, so keeping that theme alive, this opened in 1859 although it’s moved about a bit. When I say that, I mean it’s moved down the line a bit, they haven’t relocated Bedford railway station from Truro or something.

I waited patiently here for the Thameslink train I was told that I could catch as they were accepting EMR tickets given the network issues. Of course, it changed its departure platform which involved more stairs. This is how I stay healthy I think.

But, it arrived on time and took me to Luton railway station and incredibly the only service of the day actually running to schedule. I arrived into Luton just under 50 minutes later, so that’s a 50% delay repay of the ticket and I thought I did well to actually get to the final destination not that late.

I am perhaps one of the few people who likes this kind of adventure, I’ve also been suitably productive working on trains and also in numerous waiting rooms that I didn’t take photos of today. And now, I’m safely in Luton. I can’t say that this is exactly a Michael Portillo Great Rail Journeys type of post, but it amused me and maybe in my old age I’ll relive the excitement all over again and return some fancy destinations as Crewe, Long Eaton, Kettering and Bedford. Incidentally, I should add, there are more direct ways of getting from Liverpool to Luton, this was just the cheapest one for me, even if not the most convenient.

December 5, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Luton Airport Back to Newmarket

I had initially planned to repeat my travel plans of the previous week, which was to stay at the Pret Landside at Luton Airport, then get the 04:30 National Express service to Cambridge and then get the first train to Newmarket. It was in many ways a sub-optimal journey. However, thanks to a particularly impressive early arrival from Wizz Air, a border with no delays and my ability to walk quickly, I was able to make the last National Express service of the day that would get me back to Newmarket.

And here she comes. Are coaches female? I don’t know, let’s say it is, I suppose there’s a comparison about a mother hen gathering up her chicks, just as National Express pick up passengers. I think that might be stretching the logic though and I’m digressing once again. I had paid £5 to transfer my coach ticket to this earlier service and that didn’t feel unreasonable for the convenience.

It wasn’t the busiest service I’ve been on.

I’m not sure if I’ve seen a request from a coach company about tipping drivers, even in the United States. Although I don’t envy drivers, dealing with this massive vehicle and edging it through traffic, battling roadworks and dodging kamikaze pigeons, all the time listening to the cacophony of coughs, sneezes and rustling crisp packets from passengers. They probably deserve a little extra every now and then.

The bus arrived at Parker’s Piece, perhaps most notable for being where the football games governed by the Cambridge Rules were played, the forerunner of how football is played today. It was pragmatic, there were plenty of students coming to Cambridge from various decadent private schools and it was only sensible that there were agreed rules on how to play the game.

I had to wait for my second coach, so it was time for a Titanic Cherry Porter in the JD Wetherspoon pub, the Regal. The beer is always a delight.

The gleaming beacon of cleanliness, it positively blinded me with its radiance, it must have been bathed in the tears of a thousand angels.

Changing to the next coach which turned up early, the driver seemed to take a dislike to another passenger and a shine to me, something to do with how I didn’t hassle him with my bag. I like being the favourite customer on board. It meant that I arrived safely into Newmarket at around midnight which was all rather lovely given that I had expected to arrive nearly nine hours later.

October 2, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Wizz Air (Gdansk to Luton Airport)

Ready to go through the Schengen gates, I was pleased that the random seating Gods had given me an aisle seat. King Sigismund II Augustus, the former Grand Duke of Lithuania, would have no doubt been pleased for me.

Passengers piling up at Gate 31, the wait here often feels like a tragicomedy of sorts, a drama of human existence.

Ready to board and listening to the usual symphony of sighs and slightly impatient shuffles from other passengers. And once again, I gazed slightly bored at the floor and wondered how the tarmac that my friend Liam helped put down at Heathrow twenty years ago is getting on. Indeed, I bet I’ve thought more about this than he has.

Another airline nearby. I had to look up which airline this was, it’s Smartwings who are a Czech airline with 37 aircraft.

And off we go. The aircraft is 9H-WNE, an Airbus A321 which was only delivered to Wizz Air in March 2024 so it’s still nice and shiny. Once again, the flight itself was without any particular note, everything was efficient, I was comfortable in my aisle seat and the cabin crew were polite although seemed a bit stressed on the flight. It was likely their third or fourth flight of the day, so I imagine that I’d be a bit stressed as well if I was doing the same job. The flight was particularly notable for me as I needed to arrive on time, but more on that in the next riveting post.

October 1, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Gdansk)

This was smooth in terms of customer handling, I arrived at the gate and had a wait in the queue of only around five minutes before boarding. I almost felt as if I had purchased priority boarding with this level of efficiency.

Boarding underway.

Aircraft registration SH-WDO, I don’t think that I’ve been on this Airbus A321, but it’s only just over a year old so that’s not entirely surprising. Out of interest (to me anyway) I looked up how many aircraft that Wizz Air have had and they had 55 planes in 2015 and 120 just before Covid struck. It’s now 215 aircraft, so they’re nearly twice the size that they were four years ago. Ryanair have 605 aircraft though, so there’s some way for them to go. British Airways have 244 aircraft in their fleet, so it’s likely Wizz Air will soon catch them up.

The hopeful passenger next to me declared at this point that it looked like a quiet flight. I was privately sceptical, Wizz Air and Ryanair usually have very good occupancy and so it transpired when the second wave of passengers boarded, filling just about every seat. As with most flights, it was uneventful. The random seat Gods had given me an aisle seat and the flight was under two hours and there were no issues that I remember, so that’s just how a flight should be. It’s all very formulaic, they’ve got this really well sorted now in terms of their operation.

Safely in Gdansk. I had hoped for a smooth border control as the hotel that I was going to was so near the airport and it was late that I just wanted to get there. The not being in the EU is slowing things down somewhat, if I had been an EU citizen I would have likely left the airport within ten minutes of the flight landing. It took me 29 minutes, which is hardly a disaster, but it’s a little bit of a faff.

And finally leaving the airport. The flight cost £10, it’s hard to fault the value offered from Wizz Air. And, I have to say, it was great to be back in Poland.

September 24, 2024
Gdansk Trip – My Lounge at Luton Airport

Well, this is sub-optimal, I’ve got behind once again with this blog. I shall have a posting burst today to catch up. Talk about surprising and delighting my two loyal blog readers and the three people who stumble on here every now and then. I once again wasn’t confident that I’d get into My Lounge at Luton Airport, but they said there was no queue and I was welcomed in with my Priority Pass card. I found a seat at the rear of the lounge, next to one of the plentiful power points, and collected my average beer and a heap of nachos. I would personally prefer proper seating at a table than these low chairs, but each to their own and I’m sure others will differ.

Focusing on the food this time. Well, who would have thought? It’s average, I think we should point towards that and I mentioned that last week. At the end are some jacket potatoes which can go with baked beans, coleslaw and butter. It’s not decadent, this is the cheapest hot food I suspect they could think of. It might be transformed by a decent chilli or something to put on the top, but this is a weak offering for a lounge. They kept it topped up, even though I was there until nearly the closing of the lounge at 21:00.

The lounge authorities then seemed to sit and work out what the cheapest cold food option they could have was, going for nachos. I actually like these and have no complaints, but it’s not going to win many prizes on the creativity scale.

As a lounge it’s comfortable, but I wouldn’t pay for it with my own money if it wasn’t on Priority Pass, as the drinks offering is weak, the food offering is weak and it’s not actually that quiet in the lounge. One reviewer noted recently:

“Don’t waste your money unless you’re a party animal who wants a party vibe. If like me you want peace and quiet, ability to work or just relax. This one isn’t for you.”

I have some sympathy to their complaint. However, there are plenty of power points and I like those, with the snacks being entirely edible and the drinks not a disaster, but I wonder whether they could take things upmarket just a little bit here and there. Although I suspect they’re limited by the number of customers who are trying to get their money’s worth by hammering the free alcoholic drinks. It’s usually £34 to pay to go in, that feels like quite a lot of money to me.

The staff here are friendly though and the welcome at least feels authentic. They were pro-active about the closing process, a staff member went around and told everyone at 20:00 that they were closing the bars at 20:30 and then the lounge at 21:00. I like a bit of clarity in my life. There are plenty of staff going around the lounge and clearing tables, with the whole arrangement feeling clean and organised. I did wonder whether it was entirely prudent when two staff members were talking to each other about how they were hammering the lounge company for overtime money at the moment, which might explain the cost cutting that’s going on.

And far be it for me to comment on this, but the lounge promises “enjoy premium beers”. It has one beer, which is Birra Moretti, which isn’t premium. It’s like saying that Aldi own brand Jaffa Cakes are premium. I mean, they’re fine, but they’re not seen as a premium option. What the lounge could do with is a delicious pale ale, preferably a hazy one. I might be too focused on beer though, that has been commented on before by a high percentage of my two loyal blog readers. But, I digress. At this point, it was time to meander over from the lounge to the Wizz Air gate for Gdansk to get this little adventure started.

September 24, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Avalon at Luton Airport

This week’s arrangement at Avalon thanks to Priority Pass. I didn’t try and buy this much, but once again the staff members suggested topping up my purchases to get the maximum benefit. I’m not sure that the scheme is designed for this, but that’s what they offer and so that’s what I had. The mango and granola thing was delicious, although veering on being slightly healthy. The BLT sandwich is quite heavy on the tomatoes and the bread gets quite soggy, it’s an interesting arrangement. There are also smoothies, coffees, cakes and toasties available at the outlet, which only has around eight tables although the turnover is quite fast.

Without going off on a tangent, I find customer behaviour quite intriguing. Avalon is one of the first food outlets that is visible airside and the number of customers I’ve seen here who say something along the lines of ‘here’s a coffee place, let’s sit here’ is much higher than I might have expected (not that I’d given it much thought in advance). My customer behaviour (when not bouncing around lounge options) is to meander around, find the best value and then check Google Reviews about the matter. I don’t think that I could live my life with the amount of jeopardy of “let’s sit here” without weighing up all the alternatives. I accept that some customers are not price conscious, are tired and don’t have time to faff about, but I’ve once again digressed into irrelevance.

September 19, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Big Smoke at Luton Airport

Thanks to my new Priority Pass card, I started my time at Luton Airport with a visit to Big Smoke. After last week’s little debacle, I was seated at a more traditional table and the team member kindly found me one which was near a power point. I felt that the service was always efficient, but I suspected before they ordered food that they were going to have trouble with a customer who was seated nearby.

The chicken tenders, they’re a little expensive at nearly £10, but that keeps me under the £18 Priority Pass budget. Tender with a crispy flavour, they’re perfectly competent efforts, although I accept unlikely to send the venue into the Michelin Guide.

The beer is the Medicine Man from Big Smoke Brew Co, it was hoppy with a tropical edge, but the flavour didn’t much linger.

Anyway, to add to the excitement of my meal, the customer next to me got her meal and she then called a team member over as she wanted vinegar. Then she called them over again as she wanted salt. Then she called them over again as the chips were cold. Replacement chips in a bowl were brought over promptly. Then she called them over for vinegar for the new chips. Then she called them over saying they had left her with the original cold chips, so the team member said he’d bring another bowl. She then asked how she was expected to eat her meal half off a plate and half out of a bowl. The team member said he’d bring a plate. She said she didn’t want two plates. The team member asked what she did want. She wanted the manager. The manager came off and was initially beautifully direct about the situation, but then the customer told her to shove the meal and the manager thought she’d better be polite. The manager said she’d replace the whole meal. The meal came over. The customer called the team member over for vinegar. I left at this point, I had seen enough drama but could I just give a comment of great thanks to everyone working in the hospitality industry.

I like this venue, it’s clean, comfortable and fast. It’s not really the greatest value going, but airports aren’t cheap and it seemed competently delivered. I’m very pleased with my £18 dining credit with Priority Pass every time I visit, I will eventually work through most of the menu I suspect (well, the bits that won’t involve me going over £18).

September 19, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Getting to Luton Airport

I can crunch all this into one post as it’s the same route that I took last week on my little trip to Belgrade. I’ve also had a cold this week, although it’s obviously an aggressive version of it, but I’ve been very brave about it. However, I mention that not as I like telling people I’ve been brave, but just as an excuse as to why yet again I’ve got behind with posting about things.

Slightly blurry, but Liam once again drove me to Hatfield to stay at the Travelodge overnight before my onward journey. It’s always handy to get gossip fitted in on these journeys and it is quite handy getting a chauffeur driven ride straight to the hotel. Nothing much to report here about the Travelodge, the room was clean and there were no noise issues internally or externally. It seems a reliable hotel, I suspect I might be staying here a reasonable amount.

The view of Hatfield. I’m not sure that even my two loyal blog readers need to see a view of Hatfield out of a hotel window, but yet here we are.

As my flight was later on in the day, I popped to Harpsfield Hall to have several hot drinks for £1.56. Things looked problematic at first as the team member thought that the card machines were down but she said I could try, but I’d likely need to go and find cash. I wasn’t going to go and find cash, but I didn’t mention that and I was preparing to just move straight to Luton. However, to her surprise and considerable delight, the card payment went through and I went through a few hot chocolates. It reminded me that I really should restore the emergency £5 note to my wallet that I rarely remember to replace following the very occasional occurrence that I’ve had to use cash. It’s usually to get chips, but there are few places now which don’t take cards.

It’s quite metallic to say the least. I’ve visited here before, but I appear not to have ever written anything about it. I will use the history that Wetherspoons provide:

“The original Harpsfield Hall stood nearby and was approached by a long driveway, across open fields. It seems to have been built in the early 19th century, when it replaced a larger, older house of the same name, described as ‘a commodious residence with pleasure grounds’. The later hall was demolished in the 1930s to make way for the main runway of the new Hatfield Aerodrome. This pub stands at the corner of the old aerodrome site.”

This part of Hatfield is all quite modern, the old village is known as Bishop’s Hatfield, but the bulk is part of the post-war New Town programme.

Clicking on this map will make it larger and shows the difference between the 1860s and today (copyright of image to the right is the Open Streetmap project). The cursor on the left hand map is where the JD Wetherspoon outlet is today.

Given the aerodrome link, there’s an aircraft related theme to the pub and it also has Boeing 747 engine cowlings which have been turned into booths. I’ll find my old photos as I sat in one of those before, all very decadent.

Whilst I was at the pub, a customer demanded that BBC News was turned off and GB News was turned on. I was privately a little unimpressed when the team member agreed. It would never occur to me to be so annoyed at the news channel that I’d go and get it changed to make a political point. Each to their own I suppose.

Off to the 610 bus to Luton, a bargain £2 but it turned up 25 minutes late. I’m not sure that it’s the most reliable of bus services but I’m forgiving when I’m not in a rush and the service is cheap.

And off we go, passing the Galleria in Hatfield. As an aside, this is the exact point where the Hatfield and St Albans Railway used to run.

Safely in Luton, I went to the town centre this time and I’m always interested in these sort of ghost remains of buildings. I’ll have to come back to this one another time though.

Full of originality, I went to JD Wetherspoon for food and drink. This is primarily as I wanted to sit in a quiet venue and get on with typing away on my laptop, with the chain being particularly good at providing an environment where this is achievable. Again, I’ve visited before and I’ll use the chain’s history:

“In the late 19th century, the Crown & Anchor Brewery stood on the site of this Wetherspoon pub, a short walk from the site of Luton’s first brewery. Founded by Thomas Burr, in 1780, it stood next to his family home, known as The White House.”

The meal and drink cost just over £6 thanks to the Luton Wetherspoons being in the lowest price band that the chain has. And I was able to look at some books whilst I was there. Cheap, cheerful and reliable. This is one of the Wetherspoons which seems to have a queueing system, something of a throwback to Covid, which always seems slightly odd. I paid using the app, but I’m yet to get used to queues in pubs, although there is an innate fairness about them that I like.

Walking to the railway station, I passed by a Vauxhall Factory, the home of the Vauxhall Vivaro. There are around 1,500 workers here so it remains an important employer for the area.

And then by the printing works of the Daily Star. There used to be a large sign for the Daily Express and the Sunday Express, but either they’ve fallen off or they’re no longer printed here.

Here we are again, the delights of London Luton Airport. I was just five hours early for my flight, which I thought was reasonable. Excitement was certainly growing, it meant that I was returning to Poland for the first time in over a year.

September 19, 2024
Belgrade Trip – Getting Back from Luton Airport

I had a slightly (very) sub-optimal arrangement to get back to Newmarket from London Luton Airport, although I’ve realised if I can get slightly earlier flights back then I can get a National Express bus straight back. Unfortunately, the final leg of that service isn’t operated a night, so I had a few hours wait at the Pret landside with a 99p filter coffee. They have power and seating, that’s all I really required. I was suitably productive though, so the time wasn’t wasted.

The coach can arrive at any of these gates it seems.

As a slight side issue, why are they being that precise that a coach will be leaving one minute late? And I accept there are more important things to worry about in the world, but when you’re meandering around outside an airport at 04:30 these things provide at least a modicum of amusement.

Here it comes.

Four of us boarded. This route just flits between Luton Airport and Cambridge, obviously much busier later in the day taking passengers from the airport. They need more legroom on these coaches, that’s my summary of the service.

Morning Cambridge!

Then a 20 minute walk to the railway station.

It’s all happening now.

There’s the Ipswich Rocket at platform 5 that took me back to Newmarket.

After a quick sausage roll at Greggs waiting for Wetherspoons to open, I then had the £3 breakfast and £1 unlimited coffees. I quite a few coffees to stay awake, but as Tony Blair said, “that is that, the end”. Well, for the Belgrade trip anyway. I’m conscious I’ve skipped great chunks of the history, food and culture that I thought I’d write about, but there we go, maybe I’ll get back to it another time. Oh, I didn’t mention, that was one of the better Wetherspoons breakfasts so all was well with the world.

September 17, 2024