Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Autumn In My Heart: Fifth Beat

Saturday, 19 September 2015

I wasn’t in a hurry this morning and only left the hotel at 1100. I walked to Oxfam at Westbourne Grove but nothing caught my fancy. I retraced my steps and from my hotel, walked to Mount Street. I had done some research the evening before and thanks to this article, turned a 180 and decided to buy a Moynat Cabas tote instead of Goyard Saint Louis. So maybe it was a good thing I didn’t manage to get it in Paris after all, silver lining and all that.

I was welcomed very warmly at Moynat and asked to see the tote bags. I was told one of them was being discontinued. The store only had the Petit Model (PM or small size) and Grand Model (GM or large) sizes. The Moyen Model (MM or medium) had sold out back in early August and they still hadn’t received any new stock as the artisans in Paris were off on their summer holidays. So I decided to bite the bullet and go for the GM size (even though I find my Louis Vuitton Neverfull GM a bit large). The friendly sales assistant also explained that they could ship it to me at cost (minus 20% VAT) but I would be subject to possible import duty back home on top of the insurance and posting costs. Well, I managed to ride on The Connaught’s wifi and sent WA message to Yan who told me that there may not be an import duty on bags (I double checked this, no import duty on bags) but I would be subject to 6% GST on the value of the bag when the bag arrives home. What??!!! I sat down at some seats and contemplated: should I get the bag there or ask them to post? I could ask the Paris store to post too for that matter but would still be subject to that blasted GST. Finally I decided to just get the bag. So I went back to Moynat and swiped my plastic. Oh, in the interim, I did go to Goyard a few doors away but was told both times that the store was full. Well, that did it. Moynat for me then, thank you very much.


At Moynat


I walked to Oxford Street and continued on to Cancer Research shop at Marylebone High Street. I was in luck this time and bought some accessories. I also picked a couple more accessories at another charity shop on the walk back to my hotel.


Accessories that I bought


I went out again shortly after arriving at the hotel to get some food.

Sunday, 20 September 2015

I checked out at noon after a late breakfast and a light lunch. After storing my bags (yes, plural. They had since doubled!), I headed for Malaysia Hall to perform prayers. Then I walked to Whiteleys to browse before settling down with my book. I’d completed my shopping anyway.

I went back to the hotel after 5, collected my bags and walked to Bayswater Road to catch a bus to Shepherd’s Bush. The traffic was surprisingly heavy then; we heard a few ambulance and police car sirens as we waited. I finally got bus 148 but it was a slow ride before I finally alighted at Royal Crescent Gardens. From there, I walked the short distance to the bus stop. When I discovered that easyBus has started serving London Heathrow, I decided to take it as I didn’t want to struggle up and down the tube stairs and change stations. The online ticket was only £1 (+ £0.50 for credit card fee).

The bus was late and I was already starting to panic and contemplating my options. It arrived at 1835, 15 minutes later than scheduled. It was the heavy traffic that caused the delay. I don’t know how easyBus broke even for that trip as I was the sole passenger. It didn’t take long to reach Heathrow from the stop at Shepherd’s Bush. We arrived at Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station at Terminal 2 at 1910 and I followed directions to Heathrow Express. For Heathrow Terminal 4, you actually need to take Heathrow Connect but just follow signs to Heathrow Express and it would lead you to Heathrow Connect. I managed to board the Heathrow Connect train with 10 seconds to spare. Phew! Had I missed that, I’d have to wait ten minutes for the next train. We arrived at Terminal 4 four minutes later and I immediately took the lift up to the departure level to check in. It wasn’t 8 p.m. yet and already there was a long queue. I had to wait a while to drop my bags because there were only two counters for bag drop.

I immediately went in after dropping my bags (they totalled less than 15 kg!) and went in. There was a long queue to clear security and another long one at Travellex for VAT refund (after getting my form stamped by the brusque, stern but efficient custom officer). It was almost 9 when I was done and I hurried to the multi-faith prayer to perform prayers. The announcement to board was made very soon after I finished so there wasn’t any time to browse the duty-free.

We took off pretty much on schedule. Sleep eluded me again. As usual.

Monday, 21 September 2015

We landed at KLIA at 1800. I had anticipated it would take a while to unload the plane so I went to perform prayers first. I only had to wait about 7 minutes after performing prayers before my bags came out. I had dinner in Cyberjaya and only reached home at 2110.

So that was my early autumn trip. I’m not sure if there will be another autumn trip to Europe and in any case, it’s getting ridiculously expensive to go to Europe or indeed anywhere with the weakening Ringgit.


The End