After last year's experience at Bayreuth, we decided to give it another go. I managed to get tickets for three operas for this season: Meistersinger von Nuremberg, Parsifal, and Lohengrin. Another summer festival we wanted to try was BBC PROMS. The timing was such that we can catch a couple of the events after Bayreuth, and the programs look good. Glyndebourne is another summer opera festival south of London. Tickets were quite expensive when I looked at them, so we decided to visit more of the UK (Bristol and Cardiff) instead.
We managed to use PlusPoints to get upgrades to Premium Economy on our flights to and from Europe, and as I type this (August 2, before we go to the airport) UA42 looks to be quite full.
Saturday 8/2. When the rideshare car picked us up, the driver asked us what the service charged us, it was $38, he said he would be paid $14, and offered to do the trip for $30, if we agreed to have him cancel on us. We ended paying him $40, he would net about $35 after tolls. We usually tip $15 for this trip, so the car service would give him $14+$15, a difference of about $6. (I assume the car service would pay for the tolls.) A web search says about 70% of the net (after fees) would go to the driver, that would mean $18 of the $38 would be fees (booking, airport, and tolls).
Last time we flew from Newark to Frankfurt was about a year ago. Weather (thunderstorms mostly) caused a delay of about six hours and we missed the connecting flight to Nuremberg. We eventually got there without much drama. But that was always in the back of my mind; this time the cause was air traffic control problems that had been going on for a while, and many flights were canceled or severely delayed the day before. This evening we took off only a little behind schedule and ended up arriving more than 45 minutes early.
UA42 utilized a 777-300ER. The flight was quite full, but having the window/aisle combination in Premium Plus made the trip comfortable enough, even though we didn't get much sleep, if any.
Inside UA42 787.
Sunday 8/3. Before we landed, the Captain announced we would get a "hard stand," which I took to mean tarmac "gate" involving stairs and a bus ride to the terminal. So roughly the plane got to the stand at 9:10am, and we got to the terminal at 9:35 am, and we were through immigration at 9:55 am. To have 300 or so passengers deplane that way isn't how a well-run airport operates, and I am sure a few needed assistance.
Because of uncertainties about punctuality of flight arrivals, I booked a 12:35 pm train from the airport to Nuremberg. It was reasonably easy to while away the two or so hours - I had McDonald's for breakfast. The train ride took about 2:30 hours, and we got to the hotel a little after 3 pm. When I checked the price about a week ago, a ticket would cost 30 euros, the day before it was 70 (that's what I paid), and 140 on the same day. Quite a difference.
For dinner we ate the hot snack offered to Platinum Elite members, and then went to train station to buy a few items from their supermarket.
Accommodation: Sheraton Carlton Nuremberg. (2 nights)
Monday 8/4. For some reason I had trouble adjusting to the new time zone today, so we ended up not doing much.
After (free) hotel breakfast, we went over to the train station to buy a MobiCard which allows both of us to travel in the region for a week for about 120 euros. As with last time, it may cost more than buying tickets individually, but then we don't need to worry about how to get specific tickets. (As an example, Nuremberg to Bayreuth cost about 15 euros per person, so our roundtrip would cost about 60 euros. For short-distance rides it could be as low as 2.1 euros.)
Memorium Nurnberger Prozesse is located in the Justice Building, and dedicated to the Nuremberg trials of 1945-1949, the most noteworthy one being of the 24 leading members of the Nazi government. Part of the exhibit is Courtroom 600 where the trials took place - it is a small room for 24 defendants. Still sobering after all these years.
In front of the Justizpalast where there is a Museum.
Courtroom 600 where the Nuremberg Trials took place. It was in active use until recently.
Interesting food offerings at the Nuremberg train station.
We came back to the hotel after lunch, and I took a short nap before heading out for a walk in Old Town.
Several sculptures can be found in Old Town.
This building complex straddling the Pegnitz is today homes for seniors. Beehives in the middle of the photo.
Hans Sachs of Meistersinger fame was a real person in the 15/16th century.
Inside St. Lorenz Church. (Lutheran)
Interesting design of the New Museum of Art and Design.
Again we ate at the hotel dining room, taking advantage of their free offering.
Tuesday 8/5. I forgot to pack a pair of binoculars for this trip, so last night I search for places where a reasonably good/inexpensive pair can be bought. Fotomax is a few minutes from the hotel, they open at 10 am. The saleslady showed us quite a few pairs from Nikon, Minox, and Zeiss. We settled on the Minox for a good size (small) and price (low) combination. So a 185 euro penalty for forgetfulness.
The pair of binoculars I got. Except I was charged 185 euros for it. When I went back to the store a few days later, the manager insisted that the pair I bought had a different product code.
Anne went to the post office to buy stamps to mail the postcard she had written for Emmie. Emmie started her 2-week camp yesterday, so there is a good chance the card will get to her before she leaves.
Our original plan was to visit one of the many nearby museums, the binoculars hiccup make that impractical.
The 12:37 pm train got us to Bayreuth at around 2 pm (schedule says a few minutes over an hour). A room was available, so we got a bit of time before the 4 pm concert (check in time is 3 pm). The opera Meistersinger didn't end until 10:30 pm or so, so we didn't get back to the hotel until around 11 pm.
There were definitely more Wagner statues on the lawn this year compared to last year.
View of auditorium from Row 28.
Brass fanfare before start of Act 3 (photo taken at 8:15 pm).
Curtain Call for Meistersinger von Nurmberg.
Meanwhile, I found out I was overcharged for the Minox binoculars. I will try to fix in on our return trip.
Accommodation. Bayreuth IBIS Styles. (4 nights.)
Wednesday 8/6. Neither Anne nor I slept well last night, but we soldier on. Breakfast was at Doring Cafe near the train station. We did a bit of walking in town in the morning, and then bought some food from ALDI for lunch.
The opera we saw this evening was Lohengrin. It was relatively short at 3 1/2 hours, the program ended around 9:30 pm - an early night.
With Wagner outside the Tourist Information office.
Slope west of the opera house. We will try to grab a bench and have dinner the next day.
Fanfare announcing the beginning of the next Act.
Lohengrin curtain call.
We figured the best strategy for getting food was for Anne to claim a table (or half a table) while I go get food. That worked reasonably well yesterday. For today we decided to eat during the second intermission (which started at around 7:30 pm), it still worked, but unnecessary as most people probably ate during the first intermission. We will bring our own food on Friday. We will see if the plan we have for that day works.
Thursday 8/7. Coburg was spared much destruction during World War Two, and therefore managed to preserve many historical buildings (instead of having them rebuilt). So we planned to visit, utilizing the MobiCard we have. The journey would take about 1:30 hours, via two connections, per the VGN APP. We boarded the train for the first leg of my trip, and when we got off, the connections disappeared from the APP. I believe the reason was the first train was late enough that we would have missed the second train. The next departure for Coburg would be 30 minutes later. We decided not to wait, and went back to Bamberg instead. In hindsight, perhaps we should have stayed with Coburg (not a big deal, though).
Bamberg was exactly the same as we left it last year. The exception was the summer festival either hadn't started yet, or was canceled. We went back up to visit the Cathedral, and walked along the waterfront a bit. Even the butcher where I got my "cheese liver" was closed (the sign says it's open 4 days a week). Today wasn't that hot, so it was a pleasant afternoon.
I had a walking tour of Coburg all planned out. But a late train caused us to visit Bamberg instead.
A small village we saw on the train. (It's Trebgast.)
Train museum at Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg has a turntable.
Trains split and combine at different stations. (Anne took some videos.)
Bamberg old town hall.
Three (of the 14) stations of the cross in Bamberg Cathedral.
I took similar photos last year. Still working on the towers.
A couple of things I discovered: some of these smaller stations are not handicap-accessible. I have no idea how those in wheelchairs can make it from one platform to the other. The other is that the posted track may not be the track the train is at. For our return trip, the electronic sign said Platform 4, but the train was at Platform 5. It had been there for a while, and people walked towards it when departure time was near (without prompting, as far as I can tell).
Dinner was at YuYu, a "multi-Asian" restaurant serving: Bun (rice vermicelli), Thai curry, and fried rice. They also offer "Crispy Duck Peking Style" which I had.
Friday 8/8. I spent most of the morning doing laundry. Anne walked a bit downtown and discovered a few additional sights such as the New Castle. She also bought enough groceries for lunch and dinner, the latter was going to be "picnic" during intermission.
This afternoon's opera was Parsifal.
Anne by herself at Hofgarten.
Curtain Call Parsifal. Our last evening at Bayreuth.
This is our last evening in Bayreuth, we are leaning towards coming back for Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman next year. The decision will have to be made soon.
Saturday 8/9. We left Bayreuth for Nuremberg on the 11 am train, getting in at about noon. The train was crowded - it was the start of a weekend after all. I went to Fotomax to try to get an adjustment for my binocular purchase, to no avail. A subway ride on U2 got us to the Nuremberg airport, early enough that we could stay about an hour at the Durer Lounge (both Priority Pass and Star Alliance Gold). The lounge was quiet and had some food offering. Our flight was going to be the fifth flight for the plane (an A319) for that day; by the time it got to us it was running about 45 minutes behind schedule. The flight was blocked for 50 minutes, but took only 25, so we ended up getting into FRA about 10 minutes behind schedule. Again FRA seemed to not have enough gates, so we had a stand and we had to carry our bag down a staircase and get on a bus to get to the terminal. Since UK is not in the EU anymore, we had to "leave" Germany, and that took a while as there were quite a few people waiting for passport control. For some reason, the FRA-LHR showed a boarding time one hour ahead of departure time, so we had all of 10 minutes to go to a Lufthansa Lounge to grab dinner. Actual boarding was 30 minutes before departure, that extra half-hour was for document check.
As Star Alliance Gold members we could bring a regular carryon into the plane, so we did that. This flight also didn't have an arrival gate, so we had to haul our luggage down a staircase again. A bit annoying, but I would continue to do this to avoid luggage missing the connection (happened a couple of times last several years).
Snack at Nuremberg Airport's Durer Lounge.
Anne took some photos from her window seat. We were just leaving Continental Europe. Rotterdam can be seen. The oil drums are in the Massvlakte Rotterdam area (look the place up in Google Maps).
London Eye by the Thames.
Hyde Park.
Fish and Chips at the Aberdeen Steak House (or is it the Angus Steak House now?).
Our room at the Inhabit Southwick Street hotel is by no means "roomy," the bed is narrower than what is usually considered "king," no courtyard (view) either.
There is now an Elizabeth Line that runs between Heathrow Airport and Paddington Station. Per Google Maps it would cost about 13 GBP, Heathrow Express now sells discounted tickets for groups. For two people the cost was 20 per person. We decided to take the Express as we didn't know if Elizabeth would be crowded. (Turns out the few times we took it the crowds were minimal.)
When I looked into what Marriott had to offer in the Paddington Area, I saw the chains Design Hotels and Sonder. Sonder seems to be less expensive in general, but I ended up going with a Design Hotel that's about a 10-minute walk (at a slow pace) from Paddington. We had a "larger room" with a "king size bed" that is a small room and a not-quite king size bed. The receptionist told us it was one of the largest rooms, and the bed is legitimate king size. And the bathroom is so small that one has to step around the toilet to get into the shower. (I just checked into the Marriott Bristol, and let me say the king size bed here is considerably wider.) I guess that's typical London accommodation. The hotel claims to be very green-minded; their full English breakfast is vegetarian.
We decided to have dinner at the Aberdeen Steak House on Praed Street.
Accommodations. Inhabit Southwick Design Hotel (3 nights).
Sunday 8/10. We had a late breakfast, so it was past noon when we got to Tate Modern. This is their 25th anniversary (I didn't know it was this young), so they identified some displays that their staff particularly appreciated. We tried to locate those: some we liked, some we weren't so sure. After about 3 hours at the museum we went back to the hotel, rested a bit, and went to Chinatown to have dinner with Greta. Tonight's PROMS 2025 concert would be Gardner conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Paddington Station looks quite modern compared to last time we saw it. We would use this train station multiple times during our stay in England.
Taken from the Blackfriar Underground Station. The other building between us is "The Shard."
St. Paul's Cathedral and buildings in Central London (someone who knows the London skyline would be able to identify them).
Millennium Bridge.
We also saw this spider sculpture in Bilbao. Evidently there are a few others.
Matisse.
Warhol.
Wenceslas Square was very quiet after the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Dali.
Babel is made from radios tuned to different stations.
In front of Royal Albert Hall.
Royal Albert Hall has a seating capacity of over 5200.
End of tonight's concert.
Greta trying to figure out which line to take.
It was after ten when we got back to the hotel. Greta lives in Aylesbury, so it would be more than a two hour trip via public transportation.
Monday 8/11. Last time we visited the British Museum in 2019 we were looking at this Assyrian exhibit. Parts of it was closed, so today we gave it another try. Tickets for the museum are free, but by the time I looked they were all gone for the day. Anne found out tickets for their special exhibits were still available. For seniors the cost is 9 GBP, although one is encouraged to make donations.
The Assyrian exhibit is complete, but we didn't learn that much more than our last trip. All these kings had stone murals commemorating their conquests. One interesting exercise would be to correlate the events as recorded in the Bible with what is on display here; an exercise that would take time and patience, neither of which we could afford today.
The Reading Room at the British Museum. On this hot day many halls at the Museum didn't have adequate air conditioning. This room was therefore a relief.
Hiroshige's works constitute a special exhibit at the Museum.
We attended our second PROMS 2025 concert tonight. It was Mahler's Third Symphony.
We found Paddington Bear today.
Queen of Sheba is a Yemeni Restaurant in Paddington.
We were well into the meal when we decided we should take a photo. The dish in the center is the mixed grill. The other main dish is chicken curry.
End of PROMS 25 concert. It was performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Brittany Symphony.
Tuesday 8/12. We took the Heathrow Express to Terminal 5, caught the rental bus shuttle to the Hertz counter, and rented a KIA CEED to drive to Bristol and later Cardiff. These cities were picked because they are there, and we haven't been.
I also find Heathrow a bit intimidating as there are multiple terminals and some don't connect easily. I had reserved a Dollar car for the trip, and I asked ChatGPT how to rent a Dollar car at Heathrow. It returned some complex options, and suggested Hertz as a better alternative. This was about 10 am, and my Dollar reservations was at 1:30 pm. So I canceled the Dollar reservation (at no charge, hopefully), and made one with Hertz. It was reasonably easy to get to the shuttle bus stop at Terminal 5, even though ChatGPT made some mistakes in its step-by-step guide. The bus that came had both Hertz and a Dollar signs on it. Yes, they are the same company, and are co-located in the same parking lot, and at Heathrow there are not even separate Hertz and Dollar counters and agents. When I "complained" to ChatGPT, it basically just said "oops," it should have known.
I didn't take a screen shot of the directions to Dollar given to me by ChatGPT. Those by Copilot weren't that much better. No idea what step 4 means.
The KIA CEED is a small but functional car.
We watched a few episodes of the TV series Agatha Raisin, filmed in Biddestone, so we drove by to take a look. The village is small, and not much seemed to be going on while we were there.
Driving on the "wrong side" is proving a bit more difficult this time. Especially around areas where streets are narrow and cars are parked. So I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I pulled into the Marriott garage. Then I had to contend with the narrow parking spaces.
Roads like this typically have a speed limit of 60 mph (probably default limit, so the navigation systems don't know any better). On-coming traffic knows where to stop so something like this can squeeze by. We did see the hay hitting the car a few times.
Village of Biddestone. The red phone box contrasts with the mostly gray and brown houses. There was a phone inside, wonder if it still works.
The one business on the main street (The White Horse Pub) is closed until further notice.
Biddestone Pond.
Taken from the Ferry Landing in Bristol. The River Avon drains into the Severn a few miles downstream.
Many bars line one side of the Ferry Landing channel.
We had dinner at a Thai restaurant close by. The part of city we are in seems quite vibrant.
Accommodations: Marriott Bristol (2 nights).
Wednesday 8/13. After breakfast (at the Marriott Executive Lounge) our plan was to visit the Bristol Cathedral next to the hotel. One thing led to another, and we ended up spending quite a bit of time walking in the area: Willis Memorial Building of University of Bristol, the Cabot Tower on Brandon Hill with commanding views of the city, a couple of Banksy's works, before we went inside the Cathedral.
City Council Building. A small part of the Bristol Cathedral can be seen.
Willis Memorial Tower is part of University of Bristol. Mostly the law faculty.
Inside the Willis building.
The Cabot Tower was named after the Cabot well-known in Canada. He left Bristol to explore modern-day Canada in the 15th century.
View from Cabot Tower: the building in the foreground is the City Council Hall, behind it the Bristol Cathedral.
The 6-masted ship is the SS Great Britain. It crossed the Atlantic in 1845 in 14 days.
Inside the Bristol Cathedral.
Some parts of the cathedral (at least the grounds) need better maintenance.
A Banksy called "The Well Hung Lover."
Who is to argue this is not a Banksy?
Anne and I visited Bath probably in the 1980s (she also did so when she was a teenager), so we decided to give it another try. To get there we Uber'd to the Temple Meads station (cost 8 GPB plus tip), and hopped on the Great Western Railway for the 11-minute ride to the Bath Spa station. The Roman Baths are a few minutes away. We ended up spending a couple of hours to tour the place. The return train was a local (made a couple of intermediate stops), and we took Bus 70 back to the hotel - one could make a credit card payment while boarding the bus.
The Roman Baths were a lot more elaborate than 40 years ago - as I remembered them. Now there is audio narration as one wends through the corridors of the baths. There is quite a bit of what Roman life was in the first few centuries (AD, the Romans conquered England in AD43), and how the architecture of the baths can be interpreted either as the Romans assimilating, or asserting their dominance. All that to justify an admission charge of 29 GBP for a senior.
The town of Bath is quite pleasant to walk around in. We were trying to do afternoon tea there, but they all seem to close at around 5 pm.
The Great Western Railway serves many cities to the west of London. (This photo was taken at Paddington Station, London.)
Sharing a pasty on the train. This cost 7 GBP, on market day we got a pasty, a tart, and a drink for 8 GBP.
The main bath.
The sacred bath.
A full view of the main bath.
That's how the bath is fed.
The Bath Abbey costs 8 GBP to visit. We decided to skip.
Jane Austen was born 250 years ago. She spent a few years in Bath.
Avon River. Popular for watercraft.
The wait staff is completely unconcerned about the pigeon. Or rather, the pigeon is completely unconcerned about the staff.
The Marriott Hotel in Bristol.
Not sure what it means, but, sure.
The snacks provided at the Executive Lounge were enough to be called dinner, although we bought a couple of cup of noodles as a late snack tonight.
Thursday 8/14. We decided to do a few more things before heading out to Cardiff for the last (of five) cities of the trip. There is a ferry that runs up and down the Avon from the dock outside the hotel. We took the loop to "The Cottage." It was pleasant enough a ride, and the captain and the deck hand had to work quite a bit to keep to the schedule.
A "must see" on most websites about Bristol is the Clifton Suspension bridge. It costs 1 GBP to drive over it, and payment can be made by tapping a credit card. Parking, however, was impossible to find. We ended up parking about 5 minutes away. The Parking Meter doesn't work, so Anne and I took turns staying with the car while the other walked to look at the bridge.
Ferries start from Ferry Landing and head in direction of the train station or the SS Great Britain.
When Anne asked the deckhand why these houses were painted with such bright colors, the answer was it's a tradition dating back when sailors would be at sea for years, the paint on his house would make it more readily recognizable.
The SS Great Britain was a great steamer in its day.
Many sail boats on the Avon.
The walls are quite high at this part of the Avon, so ...
the Clifton Suspension Bridge was to span the two sides.
As seen from the valley below.
Web searches into what to see between Bristol and Cardiff returned many different cities, including Chew Magna (south of Bristol) and Clevedon (west, on eastern edge of Severn Estuary). The drive to Chew Magna was generally okay, a few narrow roads required cars going one direction to stop to let the ongoing cars pass. It was close to 4 pm when we got there, and we decided not to stop (there didn't seem to be a main drag where people could stroll). A few minutes south of the village is a park with restrooms, we made use of those.
I didn't feel like navigating these narrow lanes for another 45 minutes, so we skipped Clevedon and headed towards Cardiff. Traffic was heavier than I expected (perhaps I thought with a little over 3 million people, how bad can traffic in Wales be), but the driving was mostly on divided highways. Things were a little tighter when we got into town, and we first had to park the car in a garage so we could walk to the hotel to check in and ask about the traffic situation. It all sorted rather easily. Traffic signs here use print sizes much smaller than we are used to, so we possibly missed some signs completely.
Chew Magna looks like a clean and nice town. We didn't stop.
A few minutes south are these clean washrooms. (By Chew Valley Lake Picnic Area.)
Dinner was also taken care of by the snack offered in the Executive Lounge. The lounge is small, but there were few people when we got in.
After dinner we took a short walk to the river (Taff). What I didn't expect was that there is a lot of nightlife around this area. As I type this at about 1 am, I can still hear crowd noises and music; and we are on the nineth floor.
The Principality Stadium is a short distance away from our hotel.
Our room at the Marriott Cardiff hotel.
Accommodation: Marriott Cardiff (2 nights).
Friday 8/15. We started the day visiting Cardiff Castle, which had been one form or another of defense for the area starting from the Roman times. Then the Normans (think William the Conqueror) started building on the ruins of the Roman fort in the 11th Century. Jump ahead a few centuries, and we have a Marquess Bute who was the richest man in the world due to coal. He built residences (main lodgings) that we also visited, quite modest for the world's richest man, in my opinion. All this is now in the hands of the government, partly due to high estate duties. During the summer months many concerts are held on castle grounds, indeed Tom Jones (who is Welsh) would be performing later this month.
We have had breakfast like this for the past few days.
In front of the Cardiff Castle. The clock tower is much nicer than the photo shows.
The Keep.
Residences of Marquess Bute.
View from top of Castle Keep.
Keep as seen from top of tower.
Well-traveled Paddington Bear. He even made his way to the Cardiff Castle.
Wall of animals along the Bute Park.
(When we got back to our room at around 6 pm this evening, we found out there is a direct view of the castle keep from our room. Our room is on the nineth floor, so the keep looks to be just one of the buildings in the city.)
Our original plan was to take the 12:30 pm "sightseeing ferry" from Bute Park to Cardiff Bay, The line for the boat was very long, and we were told we wouldn't be able to get on. We called an Uber instead. Roald Dahl Plass (Square?) is named after the popular author who was born in Cardiff of Norwegian immigrant parents. The oval-shaped square and the surrounding area was very busy with tourists and other people about, the result of a successful re-imagining of how the old dock area could be rejuvenated.
About half a mile from the docks is a crocodile sculpture commemorating one of Dahl's books. Anne and I miscommunicated about whether we would walk over to look at it, so we both ended up walking quite a bit. We did catch the last ferry back to the Castle area (left at about 4:30 pm), it sailed up River Taff and stopped at Bute Park. It was a pleasant walk back to the hotel.
Wall of animals surrounds Bute Park.
Fish and Chips at the Dock Restaurant, Mermaid Quay.
With the sculptures of a man, a woman, and a dog.
The Pierhead Building was first built as the offices of Bute Dock Company.
The Millennium Building and the Parliament.
The Norwegian Church is no longer used as a place of worship. It's now an arts center with a cafe.
Sculpture of a shipwreck.
The crocodile from Roald Dahl's book "The Enormous Crocodile."
Captain Scott and his crew set sail from Cardiff to explore the South Pole. The crew died on the return journey.
Many swans (and other waterfowls) are on the River Taff. We saw also coots, ducks, sea gulls, and cormorants.
These different bird boxes were put up around 2010 to attract different kinds of birds. Few takers so far.
View of Castle Keep from our hotel room.
We had some snacks offered at the Executive Lounge, and decided to call it a day.
Saturday 8/16. We are ready to go home after two weeks on the road staying at five different cities. Earlier United had sent an email asking for bids to get off our 4 pm flight. As is our usual practice, we don't go for these things, and I checked in without any problems. I used PlusPoints to upgrade to Premium Economy.
A some time today I got messages from United that said our seats were changed to 10A and 18A, which are in the Business section. I didn't expect that with an already upgraded seat, but assume the plane is full and they are bumping passengers up from coach to Premium Economy etc. No complaints of course. Eventually we got assigned seats 10A and 10D which are across the aisle from one another. United configures its 767s Business with 1-1-1 seating.
After breakfast at the hotel, we started our 2 1/2 journey to Heathrow, stopping by a gas station suggested by AI - 272 Bath Road. Traffic was reasonable all the way till we exited the M4, and then confusion set in. The data speed on my phone was limited (but free), so I would often lose track of where I was, usually while inside a circle, and thus would make a wrong turn. Eventually we managed to gas up the car and returned it to Hertz. Hertz representatives seem to go over the condition of the car more carefully nowadays, but we didn't incur any expenses for scratches. We basically used the car to drive from London to Bristol then to Cardiff, making a couple of detours to Chew Magna and Biddestone.
Our car rental was around 1 pm, and the flight was 4 pm, so we had quite a bit of time on our hands. With both our United status and Priority Pass we can visit PP and Star Alliance lounges: Plaza Premium and No. 1 from PP, and United, Lufthansa, and Air Canada from Star Alliance. We tried both PP lounges and the United Club in T2B (a satellite of terminal 2). Both Plaza Premium and United offered a good experience - with an edge to United, but No. 1 was crowded and offered less attractive food options.
The driver is to the right of this photo (Anne took it). I don't understand why so much screen space is reserved for messages from KIA (to be fair, we didn't spend much time playing with the controls), or why in general so little useful screen is devoted to the actual map.
Of the three lounges we visited, the No. 1 Lounge ranked No. 3 in my book.
Seat 10A in a United 767-300ER has 1/2 a window. And I never understand the pile of pillows and blankets handed out to each seat.
It's always unusual to see tailwind flying from Europe to North America. Our trip took only 7 hurs.
Of course I also had two meals on the plane. I didn't get much rest, Anne managed quite a bit.
We took a Lyft home.
