Bookings by Occasion · Travel companionship
Wheels up: travel companionship from Park Lane to the departure board and beyond
A good many of the Society's guests reach Mayfair by air and leave it the same way, sometimes on a scheduled flight from Heathrow and sometimes from an airfield most people never see. Travel companionship covers every part of that journey: the hotel beside the runway, the first night back in W1, and the trip abroad with company in the seat beside you.
Give Cressida the itinerary as it stands, however provisional. A flight number and a terminal are more useful than a promise to confirm later, and a plan that changes is far easier to follow than one that was never shared.
At 20:00
The occasion
Arranged around the evening you describe, never around a menu of extras.
Who suits Journeys and airports
4 companions Cressida would propose first for an evening like this. Everyone else on the roster may be asked as well.
Beside the runway
Airport hotels are the one place with a minimum: three hours at Heathrow or Gatwick, and her journey out and back is counted as part of them, never added afterwards. Both airports lie beyond Zone 2, so Cressida quotes the taxi both ways with the fee as one sum before anything is agreed; every other figure is on the rates page. The Sofitel stands at Terminal 5 and is reached on foot without stepping outdoors; at Gatwick, the Hilton is linked to the South Terminal in much the same way. Either suits a layover evening that would otherwise be spent alone with a room service menu.
A layover is rarely as long as the airline promised. Cressida plans for that by keeping the arrival time loose until you land, and your companion sets out when you message from the aircraft, not before.
Landing in W1
Most travel bookings are simpler than an airport. From Heathrow, the Elizabeth line stops at Bond Street and the Piccadilly line at Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, so a guest landing in the evening can be at a hotel on Park Lane or Piccadilly before a first course would have been cleared. Within Zones 1 and 2 her car costs nothing extra, and a first night back needs no more planning than a drink downstairs and a quiet supper nearby.
Guests leaving rather than arriving reverse the order: a last dinner in Mayfair, an early night, and a car to the airport at an hour nobody enjoys. A companion can see you off at the hotel door. If she rides out to Heathrow with you, the airport rule of three hours applies from the moment the car pulls away.
Trains are simpler still. St Pancras lies in Zone 1, so a Eurostar departure is priced like any central address, and a glass at the long champagne bar above the platforms is a civilised way to begin a journey to Paris.
The After Dark Notes map VIP hotels with a private entrance for arrivals who would rather not cross a lobby, and weigh the Grosvenor Square hotels for guests who have not yet chosen where to land.
Airfields with shorter queues
Guests flying privately usually leave from Farnborough or Luton, both well beyond Zone 2. The arrangement mirrors any other airport: the fare is quoted with the fee, Cressida will say whether the length you have in mind leaves enough time for the drive, and she is at the terminal whenever the handling agent asks passengers to be there. If she is flying with you rather than seeing you off, the journey becomes a longer engagement, described below.
Taking her with you
She can also come with you: Paris by train, Geneva for a long weekend, a country house hotel two hours west. Anything that keeps her away overnight is priced on the weekend line, which begins at £6,000, and Cressida fixes the figure when the dates and the destination are known. You book her travel and her room, in her own name, and the itinerary lives in the booking thread and nowhere else.
She decides for herself whether a particular trip suits her, and she will want the destination and dates before she answers. Once she agrees, she travels easily, packs one case and treats a five o'clock alarm as part of the adventure.
Companions who travel well
Laura grew up around horses, spends her winters on skis and knows the Italian lakes well; she can often leave the same day from midday. Nora is at her best on arrival evenings, ideally with a day's warning, when a guest wants company but no ceremony. Vanessa, forever part way through learning another language, is unhurried in any departure lounge. Stacy spends her winters on a snowboard and packs a camera before anything else. Laura and Nora are both listed among the toned and athletic companions, which on a long travel day shows.
Journeys and airports, asked
She can, though a hotel bar is the usual choice. An arrivals hall is crowded and a landing time uncertain; a hotel bar is quieter, and the drink is better.
Sometimes. It depends on the destination, the dates and the companion. Cressida puts the plan to her and comes back with one figure in writing; nothing is booked until you have said yes to it.
Tell Cressida as soon as you know. The evening can usually move to your new arrival time, and three clear hours' notice of any change costs nothing at all.
Yes. A day at the races or a lunch in the country is priced from the ordinary tariff by length, with the cab fare for anything past Zone 2 added to the quote.
Notes for the occasion
- 5 min readGame at the grand tables: the British calendar from the Twelfth to winter venisonGrouse on the Twelfth, partridge in September, pheasant and woodcock by October, venison as the nights draw in. How to dine the British game calendar in W1, and with whom.
- 5 min readThe second venue: leaving after the main course, on purposeLeave the restaurant after the main course and take pudding and a last glass somewhere with deeper chairs. Where to go in W1, what to order, and how to leave without breaking the spell.
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Journeys and airports, arranged
Tell Cressida what the occasion is, what to wear and when it begins. She proposes companions who suit it and settles the rest in one thread.