Africa 8:...  

I believe it was Confucius who said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with airport security".  Wise man.

Anyhoo, Jim and I got launched from ORD in a timely manner for the first leg of our trip. Random observations:

• Due to a massive scheduling blunder, I booked our outbound flight for 0845, thinking it was an evening flight. Duh. Nonetheless, it was the first time in a long time I was on a half-full plane. I may due the day flight again just for the hassle decrease.
• Our 18-hour layover was eased greatly by checking into the Yotel in LHR terminal 4. The airport was virtually empty when we arrived (2300 local) and 5 minutes of train got us from T3 to T4. 
• I'm going to try to post a video of the accommodations - no promises.
• Only partially successful with my electrical adapters. Luckily most of the electronics can be slowly recharged through the laptop USB and I did have a UK adapter for that power supply.

We used this morning to do the tourist thing at Hampton Court Palace. It was really good, and with light winter crowds the guides in the rooms were happy to chat (at length) with us.  The gardens must be spectacular in season. 

With it only about 15 min. from LHR, I highly recommend it if you find yourself with time to kill around the airport.

The "Bladerunner" trial is BIG news over here - everybody is following it and has an opinion. Seems like OJ all over again. Only in super-speed. Didn't it just happen last week?

How are the lawyers gonna come up with billable hours?