The first UK is expensive (1)

Day 1

I went to England for the interview.

However, I was there for only 4 days. It is a short trip only for 2 days in London and 2 days in Scotland.
The purpose is to go around the distillery and write an article about whiskey. For the last four days I have been energetically moving around.
However, except for interviews, I just went to bars and hotels and did some shopping.
What I realized during that trip was the high prices in the UK.
That said, it's only been a few days, and I haven't surveyed consumer prices, so I don't know what it feels like to live.
Traveling in luxury is quite expensive. Also, luxury items and luxury items are really expensive.
The shopping in the UK that I experienced in the last four days was really expensive.

I arrived in London at 5 pm on Sunday

Take the pick-up car to the hotel.
Our hotel is "Royal Garden" not so famous but a good hotel.
It's not super first class, but it's about first class. It costs about 50,000 yen for a single use of twins per night.
As I learned later, the market price for hotels in this class is about 50,000 yen.
In Tokyo, this price can only be remembered at Park Hyatt or Hotel Seiyo Ginza.
From here on my trip, I already realized that "Britain is expensive".
I don't pay for the invitation so it doesn't hurt or itchy. But I feel bad for me to use it so much.
It's a relatively large hotel and the American style isn't enough.
It's no different from a Japanese hotel. I'm sorry I was invited, but I don't think I'll stay there myself.
I want to stay in a small and cozy hotel in London.
I will write in detail later what kind of hotel I want to stay at.

It was decided to check in at 6 o'clock and go out for dinner at 7:30.

In the meantime, I decided to go check out the bar at the hotel.
Take a taxi to save time. London taxis are said to be the best in the world.
If you say the address, it will carry you to that address. I think most hotels are in my head.
I went to a hotel called Lanesborough. This is a relatively small hotel with 95 guest rooms.
It is near the Hyde Park Corner, and according to the taxi driver, the building that used to be a hospital has been turned into a hotel.
In Tokyo, this is unthinkable, but in Europe, the building is valued and the interior is changed without changing the appearance.
It used to belong to the Texas hotel group like Hotel Seiyo Ginza in Tokyo, but now it seems to be another group.
Each room has a butler and the service is highly evaluated. However, I have never used a butler, and even if the butler comes to the room, I do not know which one is the butler.
Whether it's comfortable or not depends on the person who uses it.

It was a cigar companion who taught me about this hotel.

There are few people who smoke absolute cigars.
For that reason, I meet the same face in various places. Information is exchanged between such things.
The Lanesborough bar had a great selection of cigars. I checked it on the website before visiting the UK.
There seems to be a rare cigar, but I was surprised to see the price, and the expensive one is 20,000 to 40,000 yen.
This is absolutely unfortunate, I closed the HP thinking that I would slowly smoke a cheaper cigar locally.
I arrived in Lanesborough in about 10 minutes. I arrived at the hotel and took a seat in the lounge.
I ordered coffee. Coffee was poured from a large pot into a cup.
British coffee is probably worse than Japanese coffee. But the coffee here was delicious.
I wanted to drink everything if I had time. It will take about 2 hours to drink them all.
Next to the lounge is the Library Bar. I was shown the bar menu.
Brandy and wine that I didn't know were listed on the menu.
Looking at the age, it says 1925 or 1930, and the price is about 3 digits.
That means that if you think of the pound as simply 200 yen, it is over 20,000 yen.
Just in case, when I asked "Is this the price of a cup?", The answer was "It's Mr. Left."
About 10% is 2 digits. Still, it's at least 10,000 yen. However, vintage brandy is expensive everywhere in the world.
So I can't tell if the price of this hotel is higher or reasonable compared to Japanese bars.
In any case, I can't drink a glass. Cigars were expensive, and even ordinary cigars were about 1.5 times as expensive as in Japan. Vintage cigars are a little out of hand.
In Japan, the price of cigars is set by law, but in the UK it seems to be free (I didn't have time to investigate legal issues). The price was quite different depending on the hotel.
After all, I didn't drink at this hotel due to time constraints. Coffee is about 850 yen. I think this is cheap considering the service and quantity.
I hurried back to the hotel and headed for a delicious steak pub with 6 people.

The restaurant on the second floor of the pub near Victoria Station.

The taste here is ok.
After that, I ate a lot in Scotland, but Scotland was better.
However, in Scotland, it is a restaurant of a three-meal hotel, and in London, it is a pub restaurant, and the quality is naturally different.
The next day, I headed to Scotland early in the morning and there was jet lag, so I decided to go back to my hotel and have a drink.
The bar wasn't open because it was Sunday night and I had a drink in the lounge next to the restaurant.
I drank a glass of single malt Craganmore. It is a distillery that I will go to the next day, so I need to prepare for it.
About 1,500 yen. The price is almost the same as a Japanese hotel. There were only about 10 types of cigars and there wasn't a long one, so I chose Bolivar's Coronas Extra.
It is as high as 1,700 yen in Japan and 3,000 yen at this hotel. I decided to drink a drink and go to bed early for the next day.
I said it was luxurious if I didn't like it, but the room was large (similar to semi-sweet), clean and the bathtub was big.
Certainly a very good hotel.

2nd England is expensive (2) ... Scotland

Second day morning

The first night I woke up in the middle of the night.

It was 4 o'clock in the morning without falling asleep due to jet lag.
If I fall asleep here, I will not be in time for the departure at 7 o'clock. I couldn't help it, so I decided to take a bath slowly and shave slowly.
I like shaving, which I will write in detail later. I was in a hurry this time, so I used a portable shaving foam I brought from Japan.
My beard is so hard that I can't shave it easily. You can leave it unshaved.
I'm not satisfied so I'll buy a better one somewhere. Take a bath slowly, shave slowly and shave at 5 o'clock. What should I do?
I have nothing to do, so I decided to go out. Fortunately, next door is Kensington Park, and if you go a little further, Hyde Park.
I asked for room service for breakfast at 6:30, so I decided to take a walk until then.

The park with nobody feels very good.

London has a high latitude, so early summer has a long day.
The outside is already bright and the air with low humidity is refreshing. Waterfowl swim in the pond, wild birds fly, and squirrels run away in front of you.
But I left the large park and walked around the city. There are cafes and restaurants at Petit Hotel here and there.

I'm curious to enter, but I'm supposed to have a full-course English breakfast in the room, so I'll put up with the meal until then.
Take a short walk for an hour, return to the room, pack up and wait for breakfast.
Room service was delivered at 6:30.

British breakfast is great, really.

I can't get through the table. Anyway, there are many items.

Juice, bread, cereals, egg dishes, coffee and fruits line up on the table.
There are also several types of jam. Each is big.
Eggs are 3 eggs, with plenty of bacon and sausage.
Perhaps there are about 10 cups of coffee in the pot.
I wonder if there are people who eat all of the bread such as croissants, toast, brioche, etc., and what happens to the remaining bread.
I remember having breakfast at another hotel in London before and not having anything to eat all day.
I thought it was yogurt and tried it, it was cottage cheese.
I checked the room service menu and ordered it last night, but I forgot to check it.
The amount of cottage cheese is about two cup-shaped containers sold in Japan.
I'm worried that eating this much may cause fatty liver.
But it's really delicious. After all, there are many items, so if you eat slowly, it's time to leave.
Unfortunately, I could only drink two cups of coffee and couldn't touch a large plate of fruit.

How many years have you eaten such a breakfast since you came to England before?

But it's expensive. About 4,000 yen. Come to think of it, how many years have you spent so much money on breakfast?
A Japanese hotel costs about 2,000 yen. 3,000 yen at a high place.
Once eaten at Hotel Seiyo Ginza, it costs about 4,000 yen.
The breakfast over there is probably the most gorgeous of all Japanese hotels. The atmosphere is also good.
It's been a few years since I came to England or ate at Hotel Seiyo Ginza.
It is 10 times more than the morning service of Japanese coffee shops.
Suddenly, all the guests wanted to know if they were always having this kind of breakfast.

Meet in the hotel lobby at 7 o'clock.

Everyone seems to be fat without heart.
Head to Gatwick Airport, where domestic flights mainly arrive and depart.

It's far. It takes about an hour from central London.
We have time to arrive at the airport and fly, so stop by the duty-free shop.
It is strange that you can shop at a duty-free shop even though it is a domestic flight. Why is it so?
Here, I buy Clinique's cream shave, which I also love in Japan.
Shaving supplies This is a regular item for me as a nerd.
I always have more than 10 types of shaving supplies at home.
Use it properly according to the mood, time, and skin condition of the day.
Shopping in London on the way back will be centered around shaving supplies. I'm looking forward to it from now on.
Clinique Cream Shave It's 3,500 yen in Japan, but it's as cheap as 1,500 yen here.
I feel like I've finally found something cheaper than Japan.

There was nothing fascinating in the whiskey corner.

Both blended whiskey and general single malt are more expensive than Japanese mass retailers.
Rare whiskey is not available at the airport. There was a Harrods shop, so I thought it might be useful for some occasion, so I bought chocolate.
This was cheaper than Japan. If I had time, I wanted to compare the prices of products from famous chocolate shops with those in Japan, but unfortunately it was time for boarding.

Unlike Heathrow, Gatwick is a local airport, so there are few Japanese.

I strongly feel that I have finally come to a foreign country here.
Depart for Inverness, Scotland.
Enter the plane and receive the newspaper. It's a Scottish local paper.
It was the moment when I realized that I was taking a step toward Scotland.
English with strong accents flies in the cabin.
Yes, you can tell that it feels like you're on an airplane bound for Aomori in Japan.
An in-flight announcement was made shortly after takeoff. The word "breakfast" can be heard in hard-to-hear English.
Maybe in-flight meals will be served from now on? Thank you service, but now I'm full.
Despite my worries, in-flight meals are distributed to my seats. It will be rude if you don't eat it because it was distributed.
I've cleaned up almost all the sandwiches, juices, and a light breakfast of salads.
I'm full. I also gained weight.

3rd
Britain is expensive (3) ... landing in Scotland

Second day afternoon

I arrived in Inverness after 11 o'clock.

The airport is small.
Other than us, there are only small propellers. When I got off the gangway of the plane, it was an airport building.
Tony guided us to the airport to drive us. Surprisingly, one sightseeing bus was waiting for us.
A party of only 6 people. Thanks to this bus, our Scotland tour was extremely comfortable.
There is a toilet and all you can drink. Although it is non-smoking, I got permission from Tony to smoke a cigar at the last seat.

The impression of Scotland is very lonely.

The houses are sparse and there is no sign of people.
All beautiful symmetrical stone houses have chimneys on the roof. Maybe there is a fireplace.
I want to smoke a cigar and drink whiskey in front of the fireplace on a winter night.
When the cigar is extinguished, ignite a long piece of cedar from the fireplace and ignite the cigar with the piece of cedar.

Imagine such a scene.

I arrived at the hotel for an hour and a half while watching cows and sheep, a rare running hare, and a deer.
The hotel is called Kregerahi, a country house-style hotel on a small hill along the River Spey.

I wanted to stay at a hotel like this.

I am very satisfied.
A well-known hotel among whiskey enthusiasts, the bar with single malts is widely known.
You will be guided to your room, organize your luggage, and head straight to the bar. There are hundreds of single malts.
I have a feeling that there may be rare sake. I want to have a drink before lunch.
What is a good aperitif?

Mr. Yamauchi, an interpreter, will join us from this hotel.

Mr. Yamauchi sometimes works as a bartender at this bar and is familiar with whiskey.
For greetings, consult with Mr. Yamauchi and choose whiskey.
Glenburgie, this is my first time to drink. It's a soft, sweet and appetizing liquor.
I had some time, so I decided to smoke a short cigar.
Smoke a tube of Romeo Frietta brought from Japan.
It comes in a tube, so it's convenient for traveling.

A drink and a bottle before meals, and the atmosphere of the bar.
A perfect pre-dinner moment.

But it's lunch, not dinner. In addition, I have a job to do.
Glenburgie was reasonably priced at around 1,200 yen.
In fact, the hotel's single malt assortment and knowledge is rare and exceptional in the UK.
Japanese bars are maniacs when it comes to liquor. It often seems to be overkill.
On the one hand, Japanese bars are the ultimate. I will introduce this matter from various angles in the future.
I have no idea how many hundreds of single malt bars there are in Tokyo alone.
There are countless nerdy drinkers. This is a special phenomenon only in Japan.
It's nice to be able to drink all kinds of rare single malts and brandy,

It can be a bit stuffy for both the bar and the patrons to become too enthusiastic and try to figure out the way.
Occasionally I see customers who are seriously competing with the bar. I think it's better to enjoy the bar more and use it ...

Well, Scotland.

It's a meal again. Lunch is sandwich and coffee.
Open sandwiches, cheese and prosciutto made from slightly larger breads that are between French and British breads,

Even though I ate smoked salmon, cucumber, and breakfast twice, I felt that I could pack as many as I wanted.
Delicious. I didn't count it, but I ate a lot. I'm full again.

In the afternoon, I went to Cragganmore Distillery for location scouting.

I checked all the places to put in the picture in advance.
The beautiful distillery, which is hidden in the valley of the River Spey, is supposed to be visited the next day, and on that day, only the whole view is taken from the surroundings.
I can't drink whiskey. The white building of the distillery nestled in the tranquility was lean and beautiful.
Is it functional beauty? It was around 6 o'clock when I took a picture for about 2 hours and returned to the hotel. Supper is at 7:30.

I've already eaten three meals, so I don't feel hungry.

I drank coffee at the bar and smoked a short cigar.
Bolivar's Petit Corona. This is about 1,500 yen, which is a little higher than in Japan.
After that, I decided to take a walk on the promenade on the banks of the River Spey to get hungry.
This promenade is called Speyside Way. It is a beautiful and well-maintained road that is ideal for trekking. You can also cycle.
It's cold, and it's still quite north (much north of Wakkanai in Japan and north of Sakhalin), so it's cold even at the end of May.

I decided to walk back to the hotel for about 10 minutes.

Two horses came from the other side. It seems that horseback riding is also possible.
I passed by two horses carrying a young woman. Horseback riding is cool.
Horses were also accustomed to dealing with pedestrians and were not kicked.
There was a shop in the hotel where whiskey-related books, glasses, decanters, etc. were placed and I bought one gift.
There was a whiskey specially bottling by the Kregerahi Hotel, but I didn't buy one because it is currently in stock at 15,000 yen.
Let's drink at the bar after returning to Japan.

By the time I had dinner, I was a little hungry.

The hotel has plenty of common space, whiskey can be drunk in the bar, in the reading room, in the living room, anywhere.

Supper can also be taken in various rooms. We had dinner in a private room with a glass of wine.
I have beef steak, salad and a simple menu. I shared the Scottish specialty haggis (a dish of sheep's guts) with everyone.
I could eat it in Japan, but I didn't like it because it smelled so strong.
It is better not to have such a prejudice. Actually, it is a dish that is elegant, light and sweet. It was excellent.
It's a typical Scottish pub, but the hotel offered it in a more sophisticated form.
We drank wine and enjoyed plenty of steak, salad and bread.

And after all single malt.

That's why I went to the bar after eating.
I drank a little stronger whiskey while smoking the Romeo Churchill I brought, but what was the brand?
I don't remember. The cigars in the daytime were good, but after a heavy dinner, I could have a good dream of smoking a cigar while drinking a good drink at a country house.


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