Tier Point Run to Los Angeles in May 2024: Day 1 – Home to London Heathrow

It’s been really busy for both of us in the Billingham household just recently. So, Day 1 has arrived at both exactly the right time, but also at exactly the wrong time!

It was going to be great to get away for a few days, due to how busy I have been, even though my beloved won’t be with me.

She has a far greater calling in looking after both our own cats and also cats in the care of Cats Protection.

But it had to be today that our Sage Oracle Touch coffee machine broke down. We enjoy coffee relaxing in our cafe every morning, so leaving The Vickster without a working coffee machine is not a nice thing to do. The main coffee making boiler appears to be fine, but the milk frothing boiler doesn’t want to play ball.

I’ve been in contact with Sage support during the day, and they have just been asking more and more questions. It’s still under warranty, at least.

After finishing off my packing, I headed to Heathrow mid-afternoon. I could catch up on work emails later in the day. After a good few days of relatively warm weather, it’s gone chilly again, but the rain was holding off and it was an easy drive into the Heathrow area.

On this occasion, I had booked my parking in conjunction with a hotel stay at The Hilton T5, so that’s where I headed. The hotel car park is always packed, but I managed to find a space at the back of the hotel and I popped into reception to let them know that I was leaving my car.

The Hotel Hoppa bus arrived about 10 mins later and I had fun trying to get my mobile ticket to scan as I boarded the bus. In the end the driver waved me on – he was more annoyed than me in not being able to get his scanning machine to read my QR code.

The bus took me to stand 17/18 at Heathrow T5. From there I had to catch a train to T3. Rather than gamble on using the Elizabeth Line, I decided to go for the tried and trusted tube, but I ended up waiting 15 mins before a tube left, heading into Central London.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Los Angeles in May 2024