dylanks

My youngest daughter, son and I began the day with our new morning ritual, visiting the M&S market and then Covent Garden Grind. I was scheduled for a 10am Thai massage at Relax, a spa near our flat. After two plus weeks of carrying kids and luggage around, it was a great way to start the day.

We then took the train from Charing Cross to London Bridge, and walked to Borough Market to meet a few of my colleagues from work for lunch. We ended up eating at Rabot 1745, which has a very nice lunch menu. It was the first opportunity for my UK colleagues to meet my wife and children, and we had a fun time. We then walked around Borough Market a bit, picking up a few sweets for later in the day. In all my visits to London, I've visited many markets, but it was my first time to Borough Market. I look forward to returning on a future visit and trying more of the food options.

After the market, we took a leisurely stroll past Southwark Cathedral and then along the south Bank of the Thames toward Tower Bridge, another London first for me. The kids really enjoyed the glass floor of the bridge, and we enjoyed the view.











Even after living in London for a few years and visiting countless times, there's always more to see and do in the city.

By this point it was early evening, and we walked past the Tower of London towards the tube station.



We took the District Line from Tower Hill to Embankment, heading back towards our flat. Once again, our attempts for dining at Dishoom were dashed with a lengthy queue, so I ended up picking up a few things from the market and making a quick dinner for the family. We played a few games and had a relatively quiet evening together.

dylanks

Thanks LondonElite! What's interesting is that it's only been a month since we returned home, and already my perspective on the trip has started to shift. Near the end of the trip we were getting a bit fatigued and yet felt like we were not getting to do quite enough, but looking back, we experienced so much and it's had a very positive influence on the family. It also gives me great joy whenever my son exclaims the Eiffel Tower with glee when he sees a photo of it, and he then tells me a bit about the holiday, e.g. "and we took airplanes, and trains, and trams, and the subway, and the transportation museum, and the big Eiffel Tower!!!".

offerendum

Years ago I was absolutely head for highs. Not the case any more. I know it´s stupid but while I can walk over it myself I would get mad to see someone beloved on it.

dylanks

My kids are pretty fearless, in part because we draw a line a bit further out than many parents. My thinking is that just because something is translucent doesn't make it less secure than the rest of the bridge. Regardless of whether that is true or not, the attendant explained the rather large amount of mass it may support.

Prior to bungee jumping in Queenstown, I was pretty terrified of heights and edges, but now I'm fine as long as I don't see a risk of falling without a way to land safely!

dylanks

For our last full day in London, I started with a quick walk with the younger kids to the market and Covent Garden Grind. A few of the kids were starting to come down with a cold virus, which is never a fun way to end a holiday!





This morning was my wife's turn at the spa for a massage. After her return, we decided to head out for lunch and then over to St. Paul's. We were again denied the chance to dine at Dishoom, and decided to eat near St. Paul's.

We walked to Tottenham Court Road Station to take the Central Line over to St. Paul's. When I tried to scan my oyster card, it said I needed to top up. I asked the customer service agent how this was possible as we had just topped up a couple of days earlier. Because we were traveling with children, and the remainder of the family was already through the barrier, he quickly walked me over to the kiosk and determined that my card did not register for a tap-in from South Kensington a couple of days prior. That's not to surprising as it was rather chaotic and so many people were moving through the gates so quickly that one of us must not have topped up. I mention this because he very helpfully added the missing entry point which restored the balance to the card, and we were on our way.

We weren't sure where we would dine, but I thought the kids might enjoy either Burger and Lobster or Barbecoa. We tried Barbecoa first, and fortunately there were no wait and we had an exceptional meal. We had a large booth with an impressive view overlooking St. Paul's.

We then walked over to St. Paul's and made our way into the cathedral about 75 minutes before closing, so we rushed to get to the top quickly to not miss some remaining daylight. Our son even walked about half of the steps before it became too steep for us to let him continue to walk.



After a short break at the whispering gallery, we made our way to the exterior at the very top of the cathedral and enjoyed the view. We also spent a bit of time at the lower observation area.







After St. Paul's, we walked across the bridge to Tate Modern. One of my favorite photos to take is the view at the bridge looking back at St. Paul's.

I'm splitting today into two posts because FlyerTalk limits us to 10 attachments per post.

dylanks

We then entered the Tate Modern museum and explored various works by Picasso, Mondrian, Warhol, Dali, Degas and a wide variety of modern artists. A few years earlier when our oldest daughter was 9 years old, she made a ballerina pottery statue at art camp, so it was great for her to get to see the source of her inspiration in real life.

We ended up getting a snack at the roof top area and enjoyed the view outside. Afterward, my son showed his knack once again for spotting every museum gift shop, and we ended up with a few trinkets, though he was disappointed in the lack of toys for sale.

We then walked down the river and crossed at Blackfriar's Bridge on a chilly and wet evening, and took the Circle line from Blackfriar's back to Embankment and walked to our flat. Given the cold and web evening, and the need to pack for the journey home, I walked across to the market and picked up a few items for dinner, and we spent the remainder of the evening getting most of our items packed for the journey home.

offerendum

Of course not. But fear is mostly not logical

P.S. Walked over it myself without any problems

dylanks

All good things must come to an end, and it was time to return home. We finished packing in the morning, had a light breakfast at our flat, and we got a bit of a late start. We had bookings at the Elemis Spa at noon and 12:40, so we just needed to make it on-time to Paddington.

Unfortunately, walking and traveling with kids slows things down, but even more so, having the Heathrow Express running only every thirty minutes caused a bit of trouble. We took the Bakerloo line from Charing Cross to Paddington, and arrived two minutes after the previous train had arrived. After a brisk walk to the T3 checkin counter, a swift checkin, and an empty Fast Track queue, we made it to the BA lounge at 12:10.

So we had missed our first massage booking, so I would skip. We had intentionally booked a gap between our treatment times so one of us could stay with the kids. After getting the family settled in the lounge right outside the kid zone, I took a quick shower. At my wife's booking time, there was an error and they had no record of her appointment. I went and talked to the friendly Elemis agent and showed her our confirmation email, and she showed me that her system simply had no record of our booking.

That said, she was able to get us both in for chair massage treatments, which were better than nothing all things considered. It was an excellent example of a member of staff trying to make the most of an imperfect situation, and it was very much appreciated. I later reached out the GGL line and they really have no idea what happened either, as their records show the booking being made.

We had a light meal in the lounge, with various items from the buffet, and I ordered a couple of burgers for the kids to share. The kids enjoyed the kids area, though there were essentially no toys in there, so my son turned the chairs into a train.

Towards the end of our time in the lounge, our son was a bit bored with the kids area, so we walked around the lounge. I've never seen a BA lounge this empty. There were at most 30 passengers for the two hours we were in there. Perhaps everyone was in the new CX F lounge, or perhaps the Saturday after New Year's is very premium light? Our flight was completely full, so it was a bit surprising to us. We decided to stay in the BA lounge rather than wander over to the CX lounge, because it was so empty and because we did not actually have that much time to wait.

January 7: LHR-PHX
BA 289
Seats 1A, 1K, 2K, 3K, 4K (First)
Scheduled: 20:40 - 13:30
Actual: 22:05 - 14:30

Around 14:00, we walked to our gate, which was a bit of a mess with crowds of people everywhere, with an AA flight departing at the same time on the gate next to ours. While we tried to make our way to the priority queue, it was difficult to make our way through with a stroller and a family of five.

We eventually reached the checkin agents and I explained that we wanted to take our trolly onboard. They said they'd ask the cabin crew. We made our way onboard the aircraft and were shown to our seats and they handled our stroller without issue. On both flights they seemed surprised to have five first class passengers at once!

For this flight, we chose the front of the cabin, though 2A was taken so we settled on the right side. My son sat in 1A, I took 1K, my wife got 2K, and our daughters settled into 3K and 4K. We spent some time getting our bags into the front closet and overhead bins, and settled in.

We were offered amenity kits and pajamas, though they do not carry children's sizes. We then worked to convince our son to sit in his seat during takeoff.

Surprisingly, we left the gate on-time and were in the air quite quickly. He managed to stay in his seat during takeoff. The challenge is that the seatbelt, at even its tightest setting, is something he can wiggle out of when motivated.

We started with the kids receiving their meals first, so that we could assist them and get that out of the way before we ate. At this point, we'd already had amazing interactions with the crew, who were incredible with helping us stay sane with the kids. For example, when one woman asked to have her bag placed in the front closet, she was encouraged to use the overhead bin since row 1 did not have overhead bins.

When I first walked my son to the toilet prior to takeoff, I received a few unfriendly glances from other passengers. That said, given that none of those passengers had been in First the prior day, I assumed they were op-ups, AUP, or staff travel so I didn't really think much of it.

Probably the most helpful thing the crew did was to bring us extra cough drops and tissues. Our entirely family had a cold at this point, and this was greatly appreciated.

(Split into two parts b/c of the 10 attachment limit per post from FT)

dylanks

After a couple rounds of still water and light snacks, I enjoyed the very flavorful seared tiger prawns and scallop for the starter. For the main, I enjoyed the beef which was prepared quite nicely upon request. While nothing compared to a proper steakhouse, it was medium rare and especially tasty for an airplane steak.

For dessert, I had the sticky toffee pudding terrine, which was very nice.

After the first meal, most of the family watched their IFE, and our son and my wife slept for a while. My son fell asleep with his head on the foot rest, and so we put the buddy seatbelt around him to keep him secure. During the flight I caught up a bit on work, and watched a few movies. There were also some pretty amazing views of the snow-covered areas in Northern Canada and Greenland. Overall it was a pretty uneventful flight and the time passed quickly.

About 90 minutes before arrival, it was time for the second meal service, where I started with the twice-baked Parmesan and Gruyere souffle, and had the rigatoni pasta in mushroom and pesto sauce.

Unfortunately, in the race to keep our son eating, I neglected to take photos of the kids meals, but I know they enjoyed a mix of fruit, vegetables, chicken strips, and other items.

We then scrambled to get everyone changed into their street clothes, and landed a bit early from the west, which meant a very short taxi to our gate. The captain's announcement was a bit humorous as he'd never flown to Phoenix and had no idea how short the taxi would really be, or how short the walk is to immigration.

Upon landing we received some praise from our fellow passengers on the good behavior of our children. We thanked the crew for another excellent flight, and then we disembarked fairly quickly after the other First and WTP passengers and some of the CW passengers. When we reached the door, the crew kindly made the other passengers wait for us to exit and get our son in his stroller, and we were then on our way to immigration. While I have global entry, the family does not. That said, PHX has kiosks, though it's a bit tedious to use a kiosk for a family of five where a photo of each kids must be taken given that the kids are shorter than the line of sight for the kiosk.

We were then quickly processed by an immigration agent, with the kids receiving passport stamps. We then found a trolly and waited just a few minutes for our bags, which were delivered together as some of the first bags off the flight! We had cleared customs by 18:40, took the series of hallways and lifts to the SkyTrain, and were in our car by 19:00 and home by 19:40! All things considered, that's a great result for a flight that is often 1-2 hours delayed.

At this point, we were all pretty happy to be home. It was a great vacation that we'll remember for many years.

Please let me know if you have any further questions about anything I might not have covered in detail. Thanks for reading along!

an_asker

I wonder why you post the photos as attachments. It would be more fun to have them inline so you could refer to each as you write. Is it because you use a tablet or smartphone which has limitations (that I am unaware of)?

an_asker

I did not get this comment :-(

dylanks

Thanks for the feedback an_asker!

I guess efficiency... keep in mind I'm not a full-time travel blogger, but run a company and post my trip reports for fun! Basically anything that was already shared on Facebook I included inline via URL, and anything that was not I just attached. I used to upload things to flickr but the time to upload, then go into each photo, get the URL snippet to share, trim the redundant Flickr footer from each block of code, etc. just takes a lot of extra time. This trip report took a lot of time to write/collate and I was running low on time and wanted to get it done before I forgot all the small details. Ideally, FT would not show the images at the end of a post if you included them inline, as showing the same image twice is not all that useful.

I guess what I was saying is that a bunch of people who had operational upgrades or last minute paid upgrades or who were traveling as staff seemed to be giving us resentful looks for traveling in F with a toddler, when we had booked the seats 8 or 9 months earlier. It seems a bit hypocritical to give that kind of look to someone when you got a free or cheap upgrade. That said, I seem to have lost my train of thought in my original point.

an_asker

I hear you on the efficiency aspect :-) It definitely takes time to do all the things you listed w.r.t. flickr (I do that, so I know!!).

I got confused because it appeared that you were sure that those folks had not come over on first class ... but there seemed to be nothing to back that statement up. That said, I'm always FOR folks travelling with kids. I don't care if the baby cries. That's what a baby does. I don't care if the kid behind me kicks the seat back. That's what most (I agree, not all) kids do!

Thanks for sharing the entire journey with us :-) It was a nice ride for sure. Like I said in a previous response, it is more fun to see photos of kids having fun (though I don't follow what I preach!).

dylanks

I normally do as well, it's just been an insanely busy start to the work year!

The flight was showing F7 until about T-72, with 7 seats open for selection, and then basically switched to being zeroed out with seats for sale. It's usually a pretty strong case for upgrades of some form if the seats are open for many months until the last minute.

Indeed, I've always been pretty patient with people traveling with kids. It's quite challenging, and really the more I do it, the more compassionate I am to other families traveling. And thanks again for the kind words, glad you enjoyed the report, and I look forward your next report as well!

CGRA

CONGRATULATIONS !!
- For this great TR and I truly enjoyed reading it
- To have the courage to travel the world with your Family and little ones
- And most important : For being amazing and great Parents . Bravo