....but bmi offer night before check-in for their transatlantic flights from Manchester, so we thought we'd try it out, and thus make the trip to the airport tommorow morning that much less stressfull, by depositing out luggage and getting our boarding passes in-hand (or paw).

And here is Manchester Airport, Terminal 3, on a Saturday night just after 7PM. In total, there were four of us: Willard, Ken, the nice lady from bmi who checked us in, and the guy cleaning the floors! Ken can remember when this area would still be buzzing with passengers at this time - oh how times have changed....

Having found the Terminal 1/3 foodcourt transformed into a new security hall, Willard and Ken went in search of dinner in the terminal (dinner in the hotel having been investigated, but appearing to require a second mortgage). The Burger King in T1 international arrivals had been morphed into a building site, but we found this new diner where the AVIS car rental desk used to be (I wonder if they will still accept our WIZARD number and AWD?)

The "Chef's special Burger" wasn't quite as huge as the menu implied, but still hit the spot and provided Willard with much needed sustenance, whilst staying within budget.

After a rather chilly wait outside T1 Arrivals for the Hotel shuttle (10 minutes my furry [censored]!), Willard grabs another glass of cider before retiring for an early night, ready for the, hopefully now very stress-free, trip to Terminal 3 tomorrow.