Final Preparation

Location: Sunderland, UK

With great relief, our bags turned up at LHR Terminal 4. We’ve had incredibly bad luck with the baggage handling system at Heathrow - the last big trip we had our bags “delayed” (in the official language, they bags are rarely “missing”) for over 6 weeks. On a 6 week trip… And when you’re traveling overland, carrying clothing for 3 of the 5 Köppen climate groups, photo and video gear, GPS, etc. it’s stressful to be parted from it. So we only checked out luggage through to T4, went landside, picked it up and re-checked it at Terminal 5 for our flight to Newcastle.

While we’re here, we’re having a relaxing time, doing some last minute shopping (we usually travel with some food - we did have almost 4 weeks of fried eggplant for at least 1 meal a day whilst in Sudan), cleaning cameras and double-checking we have everything. It really makes a big difference when you have the extra time to finish the preparation in a leisurely manner. I’m feeling very relaxed - I’m wondering what I’ve forgotten!