IT IS EARLY MORNING HERE IN SALT LAKE  CITY.  I am off for a month’s stay at our home in London.  I will post daily about  restaurants, exhibitions, walks, and of course my favorite photographs.  Here is my check list to be sure I am not forgetting something.  I have completed the following preparations:

1.  Passport / signed     Be sure the passport is valid for your dates out of the country.  Remember, when you check in, if your passport expires within six months, you can’t use the check-in machines.  NEVER CURBSIDE  Have a xerox copy of your passport in a second location.  If you lose it or if it is stolen, it is much easier to replace it if you have a xerox copy as a back-up.  Believe me, I have helped a lot of friends in London with lost passports.  I am on an almost-first-name basis with the people at the American Embassy on Grosvenor Square, Mayfair (soon to move to the Battersea side of the river).

2.  Flight schedule/ticket –  a second copy in a separate location.  Leave a copy of your flight details with your family at home.

3.  Credit cards;  bank notified that I am traveling out of the country so the bank will not question my charges while in Europe.  ATM details and private numbers.

4.  Contact numbers left with my office and friends

5.  camera/charger/adapter

6.  Phone/charger – I have made arrangements with the phone company to be sure that I have use of my phone while in England and France.  If you have your contact numbers in London, be sure to leave them with family in case of emergencies.

7.  My prescriptions  and small amounts of toiletries.  I take small amounts and buy what I need at the chemist’s in London

8.  London contact numbers:  flat number, chauffeur contact number, flat and exact address of the accommodation.  HILARIOUS–last year, we had a client arrive in London and made no arrangements to be collected at the airport.  She told the driver to take her to MAYFAIR.  The perplexed driver asked WHERE?  SHE ANSWERED:  ”MAYFAIR.”  Six hours later, when she could reach her family in the States, she found out where she was staying.  I got the phone call from the US family who were absolutely stunned.  I sent our driver to the airport to collect her.   SHE WAS TRAVELING TOTALLY UNPREPARED – a 38-year-old lady who ran a real estate office in Florida!

9.  Dress shoes, old walking shoes, tennis shoes  -  I travel with a pair of  penny-loafers because of security where I am constantly taking-off and putting on my shoes/no shoe laces for my plane ride. NEVER TAKE NEW SHOES.  ALWAYS, BE SURE THE SHOES ARE BROKEN IN LONG BEFORE TRAVELING TO EUROPE.  You will get blisters!  I knew a traveler who wore flip-flops, got his feet sunburned and couldn’t walk.  Aren’t people funny!?

10. I am at the airport 2 1/2 hours before scheduled flight departure.  BETTER EARLY THAN LATE  I always wonder about people who rush to the airport just before the flight leaves and wonder why they hate flying.

11.  A second pair of glasses –  I’d be dead if I lost my glasses or if they were damaged.  I’d be wandering through London thinking I was in the midst of a IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING or A MODERN SPLASH.

12.  My laptop.  I have made arrangements that my computer is going to work while I am in London.  Oh my goodness, what would I do without my computer for my blogs.  DON’T FORGET THE CHARGER

13.   DRIVER’S LICENSE/passport/airline ticket  MUST NOT BE IN THE PACKED LUGGAGE   TWO FORMS OF PHOTO IDENTIFICATION

14.  MY RECENT MICHELIN GUIDE TO LONDON  -  this is my Bible and reading material.  I never travel without it.  All the other travel guides are left at home.  I will do my own editorializing.

15. No matter what time of the year, when I travel to Europe I take under my arm a rain slick with a hood–small, light, and black–roll up and put in your carry-on

16.  250 pounds / $500.00 in small bills

17.  Information concerning calling back to the States:  001 + area code + phone number  ;   calling central London from the States:  011 + 44+ 207 + number

18.  A watch that can be easily reset for all the time zones you made be traveling through.

19.  A small tooth brush and small amount of tooth paste – traveling size – have pity on the poor person sitting next to you in flight.  NOTHING WORSE!  Floss before you leave  AND THAT WONDERFUL DEODORANT

20.  SAY YOUR PRAYERS;   IT WON’T HURT.  Hey, after all.  My Mother used to make me say my prayers when I went to boy scout camp in the summer.  I suppose it is what you get used to.  Anyway, I don’t like to travel ALONE.

I AM VERY HAPPY YOU ARE COMING ALONG WITH ME ON THIS TRIP.  I will make it as informative as I can.  This is trip #167 to Europe during my long life and living abroad.  Besides, I have a new passport–the virgin run for this passport.  It is really colorful, I have to say.

Here we go!

Thomas Moore   email:  TMooreSr@me.com    Telephone:  801.791.9918

http://www.londonconnection.com