We haven't crossed the Atlantic since 2019, which marked our second visit to Vienna. In 2018 we made our previous journey to London, my 16th. Combined with our summer in Madrid/Barcelona and two weeks spent in Denmark, this marked by 20th crossing, and Deb's 17th. Since then flights now cost much more, and leg room in economy has shrunk to alarming levels. One now pays for luggage to be transported, to choose one's seat and to change a reservation, on top of the basic fare. We chose a fare that allowed us one piece of luggage each and an opportunity to change flight times. We did not pay to choose a seat. All this extra money still gives you a seat with a very small personal space, far too close to the seat in front. Deb and I are in the medium small size of human being--there must be others who suffer terribly or pay exorbitant fees for slightly more leg room. We did take out cancellation insurance, a separate expense, on the flights and the hotel.
Clapham Junction, a rail hub, with central London in the distance.
We stayed at the same hotel in Croydon that we like, now called the Leonardo. It is the most convenient hotel anywhere in London with quick access to East Croydon Station, which connects to London Bridge via a direct and very frequent train service, and to London Victoria via Clapham Junction. It also gives full access to the south of England. There is a tram stop right outside the hotel with links to many other areas with connections, and the SL7 bus to and from Heathrow stops 6 minutes walk away. The area near the hotel has a shopping mall, small restaurants, cafes and businesses, as well as five reliable pubs and one craft taproom. In short, the area is perfect for us. The hotel is very comfortable and features a bar/cafe and restaurant. Our room, number 708, featured two beds, a view north, and a four minute walk to the main rail station.
Many things about London have changed. It is more expensive than ever, both ales and food. Transport is expensive but travelers get what they pay for. The service is mostly on time, reliable and very frequent. This includes buses, trams, overground and underground trains and National Rail services, all of which were used on this journey. A sad change was the number of people who are permanently facially buried in their phones. It is disconcerting to see a whole carriage of people on a subway or train or bus staring constantly and scrolling on their phones. They do it while walking, eating during restaurant meals, while talking with others in their company, smoking (there is still far too much of this) and just about any other activity in which they engage. Humanity continues to devolve, everyone transported to their own little world.
The city is more crowded than I can remember. It is a multicultural pot of stew, and some days we heard very little English spoken. Ethnic restaurants abound and people of every conceivable colour, size and shape mix and mingle. London now has 9.1 million people, with a metro area population of over 15 million. At any given time there are likely an additional 1 million tourists clogging up the sidewalks and Zones 1 and 2 underground services. This compares to Detroit's metro population of nearly 5 million, making London not only at least 3x more populous, but at least 10x denser, despite its many parks and green spaces.
We actually hardly spend any time in central London any more, other than passing through it to the outer areas we have been exploring in our more recent trips. We paid a visit to Camden Market, once a favourite area to browse funky shops, but now a hell hole for tourists to simply come and hang out. We visited Stanford's, our favourite bookstore in the world, as it is dedicated to travel books and maps. They have moved (to our surprise) but we managed to find the new store and cafe. We did not visit any of the large museums. Being free, they tend to attract enormous crowds, something we usually choose to avoid if possible. And we spent a day pub crawling in the area of the Strand. The rest of the time was spent in outer zones of London, far from the madding crowds, and twice we left the city completely to explore smaller cities.
We flew from Windsor to Toronto on a turbo-prop plane. Randy G. drove us to the airport and was there to pick us up two weeks later. Thanks again, Randy, for saving us the hassles of parking and having to drive ourselves home after a very long day of return travel. We chose a late night jumbo jet flight from Toronto, leaving at just after midnight. Pearson International Terminal (1) was its usual overcrowded mess. It is our least favourite terminal in the world, and offers a nearly mile long walk from our Windsor gate to our London gate. The flight to London only takes about 6 1/2 hours (8 1/2 for the return), and we arrived on time near noon hour at Heathrow. The SL7 bus is itself another epic journey, and this time it was a bad one. Sunday afternoon traffic was miserably dense, and on top of the 120 minute journey (usually around 90 minutes) we had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus.
We had followed our reliable jet lag program religiously, and it paid off. We were asleep by ten that night and slept through till next morning. We awoke ready to go. Our first big hike awaited.
to be cont'd....
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