Dalaman to London – 8th July

I managed to go without buying any food or drink at Dalaman airport in the early hours of Monday 8th July. I absolutely begrudged paying the ridiculous rip-off prices but with a 2 hour delay to the flight and the AC not being particularly cool due to how crowded it was, it was tough going. By the time I got on the plane, I was thirsty so I bought a cup of tea, a water and one of those vegan snack boxes which had hummus, oatcakes, dried mango and chocolate in. I paid on card and got no receipt but later checked to find it had cost me 345.44 lira (£8.22) so was much cheaper than buying at the airport. The flight went ok but of course, we were later than planned and I was meeting Captain Caveman in London. We were meant to have landed at 3am in Gatwick but at 4.20am we were still in the air, although I could see land. When we landed, I had no working phone but managed to log on to the free WiFi. Captain Caveman had tracked the flight so wouldn’t be waiting the extra 2 hours for me in a 24 hour cafe in Farringdon, where we had arranged to meet. 
At the airport I was peckish and thirsty again so I went to the shop and here’s what I bought, priced in English pounds;

Marks and Spencer
2 pack of sausage rolls £1.10
1 pack of Salt & Vinegar crisps £1.30
Water £1.65
Total spent £4.05

There were staff stood chatting but not allowed to serve me and I had to scan my own items. This turned out to be a bit of a faff but I did manage to pay with a £50 note, a feat that would prove more and more difficult the further north I went.
I made my way to the train station where I managed to buy a £14.40 one way ticket to Farringdon station. Nowhere would allow cash so I had to pay on my Turkish card.
I followed explicit instructions from Captain Caveman on how to get the 300m to La Forcetta cafe, including the walk with the Pret a Manger on my left. It turned out that there was quite a few Pret a Manger shops on that stretch but I finally found it. Unfortunately, Captain Caveman’s idea of a 24 hour cafe so that I would have somewhere to go on arrival did not have a toilet and I was busting for a wee. I ordered a cup of tea but the breakfasts weren’t ready to order yet and Captain Caveman had much more pressing issues to deal with. He’d hardly welcomed me when he was insisting on inserting my Giffgaff SIM card in to my phone so that I had credit. He had ordered it to come to his mom’s and all I had to do was top it up with £10 credit. The current exchange rate was 41.9 lira to the pound but my £10 top up took 428.84 lira out of my Turkish account. Finally, we ordered the Full English Breakfast and I was so pleased with the buttered white toast. The breakfast came with chips and lots of baked beans, my bacon was too salty so I gave that, along with my eggs and tomatoes, to Captain Caveman. I did wonder if I was doing the right thing eating it when I needed the toilet and I had an appointment for my passport renewal this morning.

There were so many coffee shops in the area and I really needed the loo so badly, I’d not been since on the plane and it was already 8.20am. I had taken the day off work today as I needed to be at the passport office at 11.50am. Captain Caveman felt certain if we headed to a Macdonald’s there would be a toilet but I was concerned there would be a big Monday morning queue and that we would have to buy something to get a code for the toilet door first. MacDonald’s didn’t have a toilet so we nipped in to a nearby Cafe Nero and Captain Caveman got himself a second breakfast of juice and a croissant. I didn’t ask how much it cost but those places aren’t cheap. Our next stop was a walk through Bloomsbury and on to a Wetherspoons where Captain Caveman left me with the bags while he ran errands. I was delighted with a hot beverage refill for only £1.56 a cup and proceeded to have 3 hot chocolates and an earl grey tea plus 2 more toilet visits – bargain. This would not be my first visit to a Wetherspoons and I was rather impressed with this one.
We walked to the train and went a few stops to the passport office at Warehouse K and it has The Fox pub almost next door. I left Captain Caveman having a pint of Guinness while I went for my appointment. The queue to go in was only about 10 minutes and that was the longest part of the whole thing. I was a total of 15 minutes and I had my new passport. I wasn’t impressed that the passports aren’t as firm as the old ones and they feel rather flimsy but, for an outrageous £220, I now had my new extra pages passport and could travel abroad again. I got myself a Guinness which was £6.75 and thought that would equate to about 280 lira if I was in Dalyan.
In the afternoon we went to an Indian restaurant which was rammed full. Captain Caveman got us a tali to share but I could barely eat any of the mains due to the chillies. I ate bread and rice then we left to wander through a strange exhibition with butterflies before getting the train to Barnes.
I got a lovely welcome from Captain Caveman’s parents who I probably hadn’t seen for about 4 or 5 years. They hadn’t changed a bit. It was 3pm and I hadn’t slept since Saturday night so I had a little nap before dinner. Captain Caveman’s Ma made a lovely risotto for dinner and we had a glass or 2 of wine with it. At bedtime I unpacked and Captain Caveman had bought a lightweight down jacket from Uniqlo which he said I could have when he left. London felt extremely cold to me but it probably wasn’t too bad – passengers had been wearing coats and jeans at Barnes station though. The bed was super comfy and I think I fell asleep immediately!