A fast and furious departure from London

As ever, I never quite realise I'm leaving somewhere until I'm sitting on the flight itself. And today is no exception. The difference is that this time, I'm sitting on a Virgin Atlantic flight, and in Upper Class. Not that I would ever spend four grand myself on a business ticket when I'm going on holiday - nor am I communicating any unhealthy infatuation with the Virgin brand. It's just that I'm quite pleased with myself because with a last minute calculation, I decided not to go for a cheaper and quicker option with Kenya Airways as I realised that there was a high probability of getting upgraded on this particular flight (because it's a Monday and there would be few business travellers to Nairobi flying out then, and because buying a premium economy ticket would get me silver status), and now it has all happened.

So a year spent working in Virgin's aviation team, and in particular a few painful weeks spent analysing competitors' Frequent Flyer Programs on 20-odd routes has come in handy after all.

:-)

And not that I'm excited about the champagne, nice wine, or food (as I can't actually have any of it right now). It's just that I'm in dire need of sleep and ecstatic at the prospect of actually resting before this Kili trek, because my last weekend in London upped my levels of stress to new levels, and gave me a taster of how one's body can react when reaching a state of exhaustion. It's also, once again, made me realise how lucky I am to have such close friends and family.

This week was punctuated with more goodbyes, first with the Bank of America crew @ the quaint Dean Street Townhouse restaurant, then with the Virgin Management lot, the Virgin Money team @ Brown's Hotel Bar, the Sevenoaks crew (with 'Gertrude' visibly wanting to pop out of Charlotte's belly and join the party), other buddies (you know who you are!) and finally my lovely bro and sis.

The last minute scramble to the finish also involved yellow fever and typhoid jabs, and another run to a travel / adventure shop to purchase the last few items. This was greatly helped with my thoughtful goodbye gifts from the V. Management crew which included trekking socks, a first aid kit, moskito repellent, energy bars, etc.

Not that stressful I hear you say. And it wouldn't have been if I didn't still have to handover both my roles at work, and empty the contents of two offices and pack my flat, all in the space of four days. And Oh My Lord do I have a tendency to accumulate the most amazing amount of junk. The most notable items unearthed (at home I may add), included a 1990s floppy disk (which I have kept for posterity - old habits die hard), a tape (who still owns tapes these days seriously?!) and a pirate's eye patch (legacy of last year's NY Halloween costume).

As well as finding these old treasures, I've also experienced a few "firsts" this week:

- First feet cooling experience in the fountain of Trafalgar Square with Sev

- First drink @ nearby legendary Gordon's Wine Bar

- First visit to delightful Brent to drop off the contents of my flat in storage

- First passing out in a London street (or any street for that matter)

And these last two 'firsts' are worth elaborating on. The first as my sister Caroline deserves a massive big-up for helping me pack all my stuff, most notably casting her fashion-conscious eye on my often distinctly unfashionable clothes. Result: three large bags dropped off at the local charity shop. Good riddance and Lord help anyone setting foot in the Melcombe street charity shop looking for the next fashion trends. Merci Caro, not sure how I could have done it without you!

The second because I would never have expected my last night in London to involve me being ill in the street (twice) and losing consciousness whilst sitting on a bench trying to gather my senses and some energy. And all without a drop of alcohol involved.

I just had the worst reaction to food poisoning I've ever had. Perhaps because I ate of piece of meat at a BBQ that wasn't fully cooked. Possibly because I had a very bad reaction to Diamox (a medicine which is supposed to help limit the onset of altitude sickness - but can 'occasionally' have nasty side-effets. Ha!). Perhaps because I've been burning the candle at both ends as Chris P so diplomatically put it when I called him asking for his expert advice the next morning (thanks Chris!)...

To cut a long story short I spent a horrific night and not sure I would have made my flight were it not for Olivier who virtually carried me home after witnessing me passing out and being ill (bottles of rose will be duly delivered in August - merci encore), and my flatmate Jo-Jo and sis who kindly played vigil by my side as I shook and shivered my way to sleep.

Aside from this stress and drama, this week has made me realise - with some nostalgia - what I love about London:

- The fact that you can discover somewhere new anytime you choose

- The fact that any glimmer of sunshine leads to a mass migration to the parks and a mass consumption of Pimm's

- The fact that this country really does go World Cup crazy

- The fact that I have such close friends and family who live here

Who knows what next week will bring but one thing's for sure: this past one was fast and furious, and whilst I did manage to get everything done in two weeks, my body and mind took a proper beating in the process and I'll make sure I give myself more time next time!

More forward planning would also have given me time to acknowledge all the kind emails I received after sending out my leaving emails. I'll try and do so properly in due course, but in the meantime, thank you all for your kind words and keep in touch with your news!

The next update will involve a detailed update on the trek so keep your eyes peeled! :-)

PS: Feel free to subscribe to this newsletter or to shoot me an email if you want me to add you to the distribution list! x

One week to go...

It feels like an eternity since my first post last week because it's just been a crazily intense 7 days...

After the mild panic attack last weekend of realising just how much I needed to get done before leaving London, I booked a return flight to Nairobi and my Kilimanjaro trek on Monday. So now it's official, I'm flying out on 28 June and starting the climb on 30 June - yikes!

So aside from trying to wrap things up at work, I spent most of my free time trying to sort out all the logistics for my departure: insurance now sorted (though not without being told by French insurers that a scanned signature of the contract wouldn't be sufficient and having to queue at the Post Office for 45 mins to arrange for a recorded delivery of the original... what decade / century do we live in seriously?), trekking boots purchased, rental sleeping bag, winter jacket, and trekking poles ready for pick-up in Tanzania.

Still a few 'minor' details to sort out by next Monday: yellow fever jab which I will need to present on arrival in Kenya / Tanzania (and needs to have been done 2 weeks prior to arrival - I look forward to that conversation with airport officials), Kenyan and Tanzanian visas (both consulates obviously only open from 10am to 12pm weekdays), another outdoor equipment store visit to get all the smaller items I didn't get round to purchasing this weekend (spare batteries for my head torch, a first aid kit, mucho wetwipes - I won't get into the details but obviously no showers on Kili, walking socks, rehydration tablets, Camelback hydration system, the list goes on...).

The other insignificant issue is that I have not yet finalised the removal of my belongings, partly because our driveway in Aix (aptly called "Chemin de L'Echelle" as it as steep as a ladder), has so many potholes due to recent floods in Southern France, that even if the van makes it to Aix-en-Provence, I may have to hire someone locally to do delivery for the final 80m. Oh and I'll be in Tanzania with no phone when the delivery is scheduled to be made. Lurvely.

And then there's been the multiple parties this week. Firstly my sending-off dinner and party from Virgin organised by the lovely Mills - THANK YOU!!! - which started in a pretty civilised fashion but descended into mayhem post-dinner. Let's just say it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that mixing wine, champagne, sambuca and tequila wasn't going to lead to pretty scenes the following day. Not on my count may I add (my liver seems well trained after all) - stellar performance with a reasonably sober arrival into the office at 9.30am.

With a day's respite, Thursday was the annual WTA pre-Wimbledon party @ the Roof Gardens. We did the usual tennis player sock-line spotting contest, but as I watched the dismal performance of France in the World Cup and therefore missed the start of the party, I also missed most of the exciting VIPs. No repeat of my chat with Venus and Serena over the buffet a couple of years ago... Perhaps most exciting was spotting rugby players Danny Cipriani and Gavin Henson, which doesn't quite match bumping into Jonny Wilkinson a few months ago but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

The weekend highlight was Saturday night with the leaving drinks @ Aqua and subsequent party @ Movida. I was really touched by everyone who came so thank you! Such a civilised bunch, especially in contrast to the Movida crowd. I think I have never seen quite so many trashy looking women in one place as that place on Saturday, but thankfully there were enough of us to have a blast independently.

So to cut a long story short, a note to self: don't try and manage work handover notes, leaving parties, a three and a half week holiday, and the packing and removal of all your belongings in two weeks. It might be possible (tbc next week!) but it certainly ain't stress-free! Only just a bit of spare time for the nostalgia to start kicking in. More on that next week :-)

Escaping London

After five and a bit crazy years in the Big Smoke, it's time to hit the road for a new adventure! I'm setting off to do an MBA at INSEAD, based in Singapore first, then in the lovely French town of Fontainebleau.

I won't bore you with the rationale of why I've chosen to do an MBA, why INSEAD, or how painful the application process was - suffice it to say that I was in need of a change of scene and the prospect of spending a madly intense 10 months travelling, studying and meeting new people was quite appealing, and I'm now super excited about it all happening!

So in exactly 2 months time, I'll be setting off to Singapore. In the meantime however, I'm 2 weeks away from finishing work and leaving London and I'm only just realising what an absolute logistical nightmare it is! I didn't quite think all I would need to do would be to book a removal van and a flight somewhere exotic, but I didn't think it would be quite so painstaking either. Well it probably doesn't help that I'm planning to spend 3 weeks in Kenya / Tanzania (climbing Kili and sunning myself in Zanzibar), then heading to a wedding in Paris, then shooting over to Aix, Carcassonne and Beziers for a few weeks before flying off to Singapore in mid-August. And I haven't booked a single flight, or train journey... nada, zilch, niet, que dalle quoi.

If you're anything like me, when you think about leaving a city where you've spent a good chunk of your life, you think about the friends you're going to miss, the multiple leaving lunches / dinners / drinks / parties you have to organise, and the adventures awaiting you on the other side. But what happens next is that one minute you're sunning yourself in Hampstead Heath. The next minute you realise you have two weeks to get your ducks in a row and get the hell out of town!

You just don't think about the multiple address changes you need to make, setting up a new bank account and credit card, getting travel and insurance health insurance, sorting out the removal company (and the insurance for the removal so that you get compensation if your belongings end up at the bottom of the Channel), the driving licence which is about to expire and takes 4 weeks to renew, the trains, flights, visas and jabs which will make this escapade possible, the dress for the wedding which you need to get to Paris somehow...

Bref, so many things to do, so little time. I can sense a theme starting already.

Bring this adventure on.