passatdoc
Well-known member
Just returned from five days in London, following five days in Ukraine (former, business; latter, business + play). Stayed in Bayswater near Paddington Station, and, if you know the area, you know that both Tesco and Sainsburys have "Metro" or "Express" small stores, but no large stores (I think Tesco has one in Kensington). It really was too far out of the way to go to a larger store, so I limited myself to the detergent offerings at Sainsburys' small stores (Paddington Station, Queensway).
I needed to wash some things in the sink, so the first night I bought a box of Ariel Actilift powder and it worked well. There was no Persil to be found (shelves empty). On my second Sainsburys visit (the one in Paddington Station), there was non-Bio Persil and Ariel Actilift. I would have preferred Persil Bio, but to me Ariel Actilift was preferable to non-Bio Persil. I bought in total four boxes of the 10-wash size, each of which lasts me months because I only use them for work clothes and I only use 30-45 ml at a time.
These smaller stores didn't offer the larger sizes, which was ok because I had brought a supply of gallon sized Zip Lock bags, and each box could fit inside one of the bags. In the past, with larger sizes of Via (Swedish Persil/Unilever), they were too large to fit inside a ZipLock and I had leakage from one of two paper cartons purchased on the trip. German Persil can be purchased in plastic "refill" containers that are indestructible and perfect for air travel, but the cardboard boxes are subject to breakage/leakage, at least inside a ZipLock you can recover all the powder if the package breaks (or if rain soaks through if it's raining on the tarmac, the bag gives protection).
I'm aware that better deals can be had at the larger stores, and that selections are better, but I had to ask myself if it was worth losing sightseeing time just to trek to South Kensington to buy a large box of Persil. By the way, the Paddington Sainsburys did have a shelf for Bio Persil powder, but it was sold out (they were nearly sold out of Ariel Actilift as well).
Anyway, all four of my Ariel boxes made it home intact. I just washed the first load (clothes used on the trip) and they came out nice and clean. One of the four boxes traveled inside my cabin bag, which underwent secondary search (because of too many gadgets and chargers, not because of the box of Ariel) and when the agent removed the bag's contents, he didn't even comment on the Ariel.
Now I get to go into Indian restaurant* withdrawals.
*for those UK readers who may not know this, American travel publications routinely used to advise US visitors to look for Indian restaurants for value and good food, especially outside of big cities where the culinary choices narrow, and one may have to choose between pub fare and Indian. I ate at an Indian restaurant in Kensington and the manager said that 60% of customers are American, in an area not that close to large hotels, and he never understood why Americans beat a path to his door. I explained it to him and then he "got it"---it's not that Americans eat that much Indian food at home, but they've been educated that Indian food is always a safe bet in the UK (and Australia) when you are outside of the big cities and you don't want pub grub.
I needed to wash some things in the sink, so the first night I bought a box of Ariel Actilift powder and it worked well. There was no Persil to be found (shelves empty). On my second Sainsburys visit (the one in Paddington Station), there was non-Bio Persil and Ariel Actilift. I would have preferred Persil Bio, but to me Ariel Actilift was preferable to non-Bio Persil. I bought in total four boxes of the 10-wash size, each of which lasts me months because I only use them for work clothes and I only use 30-45 ml at a time.
These smaller stores didn't offer the larger sizes, which was ok because I had brought a supply of gallon sized Zip Lock bags, and each box could fit inside one of the bags. In the past, with larger sizes of Via (Swedish Persil/Unilever), they were too large to fit inside a ZipLock and I had leakage from one of two paper cartons purchased on the trip. German Persil can be purchased in plastic "refill" containers that are indestructible and perfect for air travel, but the cardboard boxes are subject to breakage/leakage, at least inside a ZipLock you can recover all the powder if the package breaks (or if rain soaks through if it's raining on the tarmac, the bag gives protection).
I'm aware that better deals can be had at the larger stores, and that selections are better, but I had to ask myself if it was worth losing sightseeing time just to trek to South Kensington to buy a large box of Persil. By the way, the Paddington Sainsburys did have a shelf for Bio Persil powder, but it was sold out (they were nearly sold out of Ariel Actilift as well).
Anyway, all four of my Ariel boxes made it home intact. I just washed the first load (clothes used on the trip) and they came out nice and clean. One of the four boxes traveled inside my cabin bag, which underwent secondary search (because of too many gadgets and chargers, not because of the box of Ariel) and when the agent removed the bag's contents, he didn't even comment on the Ariel.
Now I get to go into Indian restaurant* withdrawals.
*for those UK readers who may not know this, American travel publications routinely used to advise US visitors to look for Indian restaurants for value and good food, especially outside of big cities where the culinary choices narrow, and one may have to choose between pub fare and Indian. I ate at an Indian restaurant in Kensington and the manager said that 60% of customers are American, in an area not that close to large hotels, and he never understood why Americans beat a path to his door. I explained it to him and then he "got it"---it's not that Americans eat that much Indian food at home, but they've been educated that Indian food is always a safe bet in the UK (and Australia) when you are outside of the big cities and you don't want pub grub.
