UK and Europe '24 - Transit and Day 1 aka What Day Is It?
There were times when it felt like this trip would never happen, then times when it felt like departure day would never come, but here we are, ready to take in a fresh new adventure a long, ling way from home. When you're planning a holiday on the other side of the world, you want to get bang for buck, or at least make sure all of those hours in the air are worth it, so our twenty two nights on foreign soil will take us to London, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Paris. It's the trip that ABBA built, borne from a resolve to finally see ABBA in concert and, well, while we're on the neighbourhood, pop along to the ABBA Museum. A great excuse to head places we've been wanting to see for years, so here goes.
Our trusty house-sitter arrived the night before we choofed off (hi Jiill!) so we know the boys will be safe and happy. I sometimes think they enjoy our hoildays, too. Surely that's not a look of disappointment when we barrel back through the front door? We drove to the airport at 4pm on Wednesday, and I feel like it's important to name the days, because there comes a point where minutes turn to hours and those hours keep repeating until you completely lose track of time. Travelling from Adelaide to London has that effect.
Our first flight departed Adelaide, Melbourne-bound, at 6:50pm. Virgin staff are fantastic. The ground crew talked us through the checkin process for international flights and the cabin crew were super friendly, leaving us with a handful of herbal tea bags when we asked where we could pick some up on the way. We weren't looking forward to killing time at Tullamarine airport. Our layovers on domestic flight have been notoriously b o r i n g but the international terminal was a pleasant surprise. Much more modern in design, it was a pleasure to pass through. Passing through border control was much quicker than our Adelaide experience last year and waling through the winging maze that is the duty-free shop was like passing through some kind of dream world, but that's probably intentional. It did have the desired effect of opening our wallets, if only for a couple of small purchases. After about an our in a small bar, where we sipped on mugs of hot chocolate, it was time to board our second flight: Melbourne to Singapore.
Premium Economy is is very comfy. Chris had paid a little extra for some more leg room and we had HEAPS! This is where I start talking in terms of hours instead of what the time is, because from here on in, time doesn't really exist in the ethereal delerium of long-haul flight. I booked the cook on the Singapore Airlines flights, and was treated to some pretty nice flavours. It's only seven-ish hours to Changi from Melbourne. "Only?" I hear you ask. In the scheme of things, it's a walk in the park. Changi airport is stunning. A traveller's wonderland for anyone needing to fill time between flights. We had seven hours and although we were somewhat tired - it was 530 AM local time when we landed - we decided to make the most of our time in this wonderous airport. There's a butterfly garden and installations thought the terminals that bring a little bit of nature inside. We got excited at one point thinking there was a sunflower garden, but it turned out to be the name of a chillout area. As was the cactus garden. Fool me once, shame on your, foo me twice, and I clearly wasn't paying attention the first time. Our favourite part of the Changi adventure was the shower. So nice to feel refreshed after our first flight and thousands of steps around the airport. It was time for our final leg: Changi to London.
I remember my very first long haul flight. It was from Sydney to LA. We had a talker sitting next to us and about three hours before the flight was over I was more than ready for it all to be over. This time I was prepared. Chris and I made sure we had a variety of activities to keep us occupied mid-air and my flight kind of went like this: for the first three hours I watched a couple of films. One had Michael Cain and Glenda Jackson in it and the second one I've now forgotten. It's been stolen by the time that kept peeling backwards as we traversed time zones and, eventually the international date line. There were moments where I woke up from a semi sleep, having dozed off to the in-flight meditation music interspersed with meals, word puzzles and a game of Uno. I checked the progress map for the flight. We were still four hours away and the place names on the screen still didn't hld any familiarity. Time to read some of my novel and binge watch three episodes of The Repairers (?) in which the artisan experts restored a banjo, and a rag doll, amongst other things. Even though we flew in daylight hours for all 14 hours of the flight, everyone in the window seas drew their shades, so it felt like the longest night in history. At last, we landed. London! It was just after 7:30 PM and we cleared immigration very quickly. It was time to navigate London's public transport system.
There are time in life when I'm glad to be the type of person who will ask for directions. I had written down the instructions of how to get to our first digs but as it turned out, there was a much more direct way of getting here. We hopped on the tube at Heathrow, changed at Paddington for the Bakerloo line which took us to Elephant and Castle station. From there, a five minute bus ride to Camberwell, and luckily, the bus drivers here stop when they here you yell "OY!" because I nearly lost my backpack on day zero. We were in and ready to crash by 10PM, which a brilliant time to get in, because we slept like babies (the sleeping type) and woke up at 6am, ready for our first day in London.
That feeling of making it through a huge chunk of text is somewhat akin to being rebirthed through the process of a long haul flight, but over much sooner. Let's explore London!
Day 1 - Orienting ourselves to London Town
The upside of landing at the end of the day is that you pretty much head straight to bed, just like it was a regular day a the office and jet lag seems like an urban myth. As day broke and we prepared for our day, we did our best to reduce the size of the tourist targets on our backs, but there comes a point where, despite not wanting to appear like tourists, you understand you are, in fact, tourists. You need to just roll with it. More on that soon. There's a cute cafe five minutes around the corner called the Tennis Cafe. It's next to tennis courts, but you probably guessed that already. We soon realised our abbreviated version for ordering the coffee we like is worthless in another country, even English-speaking ones, the Motherland, no less, and confirmed that we would indeed like two shots of coffee in our mugs of latte made with almond milk, please. Chris paired his with an almond croissant and I chose the fancy banana bread option with peanut butter, which was an interesting twist. Ooh la la!
Time to make our way to Southbank. We were doing just fine until we had to change buses and the stop we were meant to catch the connecting bus from was shut due to construction. We crossed and re-crossed roads like confused sheep, looking in despair at our little transport apps, then did a very old fashioned thing. We asked for some locals for directions and finally found Bus stop Z and a big red double decker bus to take us to Waterloo. We weren't defeated, we won the war. Winding our way down from the bus stop we finally caught a glimpse of the Thames and continued down to Southbank via the steps next to the National Theatre (not pictured).
It's such an odd sensation to feel a sense of familiarity in a place you've never been to, but all of those years of seeing London through the lens of TV shows and films gave me a sense of connection. It really struck me how the Thames is a working river. Tugs move about pulling hulls and barges amongst the leisure craft taking in the city's sights. As we walked westwards beside the river, the London Eye caught our own, then Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. By the time we crossed under the footbridge we found where the (other) tourists were at and joined the throng. There are so many people moving about this city. Posing for photos in front of Big Ben, lining up to pose in front of phone booths for that iconic shot with Big Ben in the distance, tracking the King's Guardsmen with their selfie-stick mounted cameras. I sometimes wonder if people take time to absorb the space they're in while they're in it. Exploring a new space is a big mindfulness journey for me. Photos and videos, yes, but also what am I hearing, smelling, feeling and tasting? In the warmth of the morning sun under the dappled light from the tree canopies is a memorial to the thousands of lives lost to COVID. Each small red heart represents a life lost during the pandemic and must have stretched for at least a hundred metres. The sounds of boats powering along the river and the smell of fresh air. I've already forgotten the aroma of recycled aircraft air.
We walked back up to street level and crossed the river, walking past Big Ben and into Westminster. St James's Park was nature-filled with ducklings and goslings bobbing around the pond, accompanied by protective parents and a squirrel, unsuccessfully working the crowd for food. The crowd was thickening, including a bunch of pre-school kids, tethered to their teacher with leads, like a cluster of Pomeranians out for a walk. Horses were parading in a quadrangle across the way at the back of what we later discovered is the King's Mounted Guard quarters. They were setting off for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
Walking towards the Palace, people lined the streets. It's amazing to think this is a daily occurrence in which the streets are closed for the procession of horses and the marching band.
The best part about Air BnB'ing this trip is we can buy some groceries and have a nice night in, albeit without our boys, but I think they'll enjoy getting pampered by their guest. I've clocked up nearly 30,000 steps today. I'm ready for the sandman's visit and another adventurous day ahead. Today was Friday. I know because my Fitbit told me so.
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