Please note that this will not be your typical tourist trip report. We are here in Venice for our 12th consecutive Christmas, staying in the same apartment in the last seven years - a two-bed/two-bath apartment just a bridge from the Rialto market. We go out for a cappuccino and latte macchiato every morning but do almost all of our eating at home.
Travel days seem to get longer as we get older. We deviated from our normal overnight stay at the Sofitel at LHR T5 and arriving in Venice in the middle of the day, since BA offered a connecting flight to Venice with a three-hour layover. We were chosen to have TSA precheck at SFO, so security was a breeze. LHR passport control was also a non-issue: no line for FastTrack, scanned our passport to open the electronic gate and off to security. I took out our liquids, iPad and laptop but forgot about the kindle, so that bag had to be manually checked, and that took a little while.
Then off to the North BA lounge which was standing room only, so we chose to walk to the South lounge to wait for our connecting flight. That lounge also got real full after a while. We would have gone to the B lounge except that our connecting flight to Venice was departing from the A gates.
We have asked our landlord/good friend to get us some bottled water, fruit and yogurt just in case we arrive after the supermarket has closed. We just couldn't face going out to eat after all the airport and airplane food. But as luck would have it, the Coop nearby was still open, so we bought a small package of chicken thighs, a big potato and zucchini. I cooked them simply with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. I packed some oatmeal cookies from home, which was dessert that first evening.