Heathrow Terminal Three: Boots & Brekkie.

If you're going to have a long layover (and I do - I am in London on a 12 hour layover, to be followed by a 12 hour flight to Cape Town), these are the airports in which to have them:

• Hong Kong International
• Singapore International
• London Heathrow - Terminal Three

Each of these has excellent shopping, cafes, restaurants, mini spas and lounges where you can sleep. The airport in Singapore even has a gym. A GYM!!!

I am sure there are plenty of U.S. domestic airports that are excellent for long layovers. But I have yet to really discover them. And today's long layover finds me in Terminal Three at Heathrow for the second time in less than a month.

And I am quite pleased about it. Because it meant hopping off a plane in time for breakfast, but only after shopping at my favorite store here... Boots!

Boots is a pharmacy in the U.K., if you weren't aware. And it is fabulous! The fact that there is one here in Terminal Three meant that I barely packed any liquids in my carry-on 3-1-1 bag, in favor of picking stuff up here at Boots.

And I scored my favorite things (two of which I can't find in the States)...

Dry shampoo that smells like coconuts... E45 Cream, which is the best thing for dry skin (which I get a lot with all of the traveling I do lately)...  And a nice-sized bottle of deep conditioner for my hair - which is particularly amazing as I will easily go through this 250 ml bottle while in South Africa this week. 

The small travel size bottles last me ONE shampoo. And when you have hair that reaches past your bra strap on your back, and add to that it is wavy and thick... I laugh at small travel-sized bottles of "conditioner." They won't even cover the hair sitting on the top of my scalp!

But I digress...  

Boots is wonderful. And when I come and visit London again at the end of March, it will be worth having to pack a checked bag just to allow myself to bring back goodies after visiting a Boots in the city.

After scoring my essentials for the week, I sat down for breakfast ("brekkie") at a cafe here. Since English breakfast cuisine seems to favor pork - which I can't have till August - I opted for healthier stuff...

Porridge! (Or "oatmeal" for us Yanks.) They put pistachios and honey on it, which I'd never had like this before. It is my new favorite thing. I ate the whole bowl. And I never eat the whole bowl of oatmeal.

Not even when I put Bailey's Irish Cream in it. (Kidding! I've never done that. But I might have to try it...)

And since I mostly refuse to eat the "sodium bomb" they call food on airlines (I cave during long-haul flights. But anything less than six hours - I won't touch the food), I also ordered eggs on toast...

I was even brave-enough to try the HP Sauce (the dark brown puddle on the right) with my toast. It was very good. Like A1 sauce (which I used to put on everything as a child).

And instead of my usual coffee, I went with Earl Grey tea...

To be perfectly betch-tastic... I don't understand why some British people get up in arms about how tea is served in the States. It happened on the flight last night from Boston to here! The gentlemen sitting next to me asked for tea from the flight attendant, but "only if it is British tea and not American tea. I just can't handle American tea and how it is served."

Perhaps they made it differently on the plane. But whenever I have had tea in the U.K. - which has happened a fair amount of my trips over here - I honestly can't tell the difference. My Earl Grey this morning was lovely. But it's exactly how I make it at home in Boston. 

Ignorant on tea, I am. I guess.

As I finish writing this up, I am preparing few hours stay at the No. 1 Travellers Lounge here in Heathrow. I have a bed and a shower booked. I am going to rest, shower... Then have a large late lunch before boarding my flight at 7:30pm. I have 12 hours in the air. And I am sure I will sleep a ton and eat a little.

And maybe write some more.  :)