Guys, this vacation was a long time coming!
After moving, and then starting new jobs, both the hubby and I were having to hoard all our vacation days in order to make the trip we planned before leaving our old jobs actually happen. The reality of that meant that we hadn’t taken a “real” vacation since Big Bend — and for a couple who usually travels once a month, that’s a long drought!
But, the time finally arrived, and our long-awaited Baltic cruise through Copenhagen was finally at hand. I’ve written previously about how we used a British Airways credit card and their “Travel Together” promotion to get our business class airfare on the cheap. And now it was time to see whether this points-hoarding scheme had paid off.
We were on a Boeing 747-400, which means there were two “Club World” (aka Business Class) cabins: one in the main part of the plane in a 2-4-2 configuration, and a second smaller cabin in the upper deck in a 2-2 configuration. We obviously chose the upper deck.
And space wise, this was great. I was next to the window, which meant I had a whole wall of storage to utilize, and in lay-flat mode, I could even throw a leg over to the storage area to make a bit of a wider bed. The only awkward thing is that there’s no access to the aisle for those seated along the windows, so if you need to get up to use the restroom, you’ll have to try to straddle over your neighbor to get there.
I was also impressed with the food on British Airways. In fact, I generally found it quite a bit tastier than our experience with Singapore Airlines a couple years ago. After champagne (they were pouring Champagne Canard-Duchêne “Cuvée Léonie” Brut NV this flight) and warm nuts, I went with the burrata and heirloom tomato salad, followed by the vegetable pesto pasta, and a lemon fondant cake. The hubby chose the mixed green salad, followed by the seared beef, and chocolate mille-feuille.
I was very pleased with all my choices; the hubby reported that the beef was overcooked and over-salted, but that everything else he was served was good as well.
Once dinner had been cleared, it was time to channel my inner-most Chrissy Teigen, and so I did the most banal of business class activities; that’s right, I masked.
After some half-hearted sleep, we arrived bright and early to a radiantly sunny and warm day in London. We had an 8-hour layover, so we left Heathrow and proceeded directly to the Warner Brothers UK Studio Tour where you can see all the behind-the-scenes goodies from the Harry Potter films.
Unlike the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando or California, this isn’t a theme park, but more of a museum. You get to experience the actual sets, see the actual costumes, and view the actual props from all eight films.
There were also a few moments clearly inspired by Instagram-bait art installations. For example, you could summon a broom:
…or charge head first into Platform 9 & 3/4:
…or perhaps try your hand at finding a horcux in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault:
And yes, observant readers may notice that we did in fact take our wands with us!
We also tried the cafeteria, where the hubby had a chili cheese dog, and I had a chickpea burger. We both had butterbeer. Verdict: get the butterbeer, skip the food.
Overall, though, even without rides or shows, this was an absolute must-visit for diehard Potterheads. It’s amazing that they kept EVERYTHING. Literally every prop. Every set. Every costume. And almost all of it is on display.
Having proven ourselves true wizards (no muggles around here!) we headed back to Heathrow to relax in the Club World lounge and prepare for our final flight of the day, into Copenhagen.
Stay tuned for the next installment from this trip, where we share where we stayed, what we ate, and all the activities we got up to in Denmark. And in the meantime, tell me your favorite Harry Potter movie in the comments below!
