London Trip #17: Part, 1 Arrival

This is the first part of a mult-part blog entry.

London is a zoo.  It is a conglomeration of every possible language, country and colour.  At times it seems like the city doesn't make any sense.  How does it function?  How does it feed so many people each day?  How does it supply enough fresh water? How does the road traffic manage to move?  How does the public transport system cope with the millions of people that use it every week?  These questions and many others can keep a thinking person occupied for a very long time.  In 2026 we have spent nearly a month navigating London on foot and using all means of public transport.  We managed nicely, though I will say that this city is not for everyone.  It remains one of our favourites, though I would not wish to live here.

 

Our 2nd trip to London in such a short time is unusual, and the main reason for going again was to get Deb to an annual film festival that has accepted her films five times now.  It was time for her to pay a personal visit.  We also continued our London Loop and Capital Ring project, and I managed a grand hill walk from Lewes to Glynde.  This time we greatly increased our cultural visit time, more normal for us than the previous visit.  We managed some new museums and sites as well as revisiting ones not seen in decades.  It was a very full trip with not a single day off.  As I write this we are still recovering.

 

Deb made her first appearance at this film festival in Lewes. 

 

Getting from Windsor ON to London involves two flights, or a long miserable drive and one flight.  We chose the two-flight option with Air Canada, the sardine can airline.  Both flights were okay and on time.  We left home at 5:30 pm Wednesday and were at Heathrow tube station at 1 pm Thursday (5 hours advance to watches).  I had a great plan to get us to our hotel in Croydon.  We caught a Piccadilly line train heading for Earls Court, where we would change to a District line train to Wimbledon.  From there we would catch the Tramlink service and get dropped in front of our hotel roughly an hour after leaving Heathrow.  Beware of making plans with Transport for London these days.  Our first train ended suddenly at Acton Town and everyone had to get off and catch the next train.  No reason given.  Ten minutes later we were on a very packed train, getting off as planned at Earls Court.  Our next train to Wimbledon got us there as planned.  Then came the tram, a very handy service indeed.  When it is fully operational.  We found out that the tram would not reach our hotel after all.  It was partly closed for repairs.  We would need a bus at the end of its run.  With about a hundred people waiting for a stupid bus, we hauled ourselves, heavy backpacks and suitcases the final half mile to our hotel, uphill.  Quite a large hill, actually.  We were checked in to the Leonardo Hotel in Croydon by 3:30 pm.  Our epic journey from home was now concluded.

 

Since our flight to Denmark in the mid 1980s we have used a reliable and easy to use jet lag program.  It involves a feasting/fasting cycle beginning three days before the journey and ingesting carefully timed caffeine.  It has only failed us once (Vienna) and that was entirely our own fault.  On arrival day no napping is allowed.  We rested briefly, got cleaned up and headed out to take care of some business.  A £15 phone card from Lyca was purchased, inserted into our home phone, and we were set for a month.  Next we went to East Croydon Station to top up our Oyster cards.  Then a cash withdrawal from an ATM.  All set for the week.

 

The next hurdle was to try and stay awake until at least 9 pm.  That is one challenge that is very tough to overcome.  While Deb had only half a night's sleep that night, I awoke Friday morning refreshed and raring to go.  It was time for the first of two Capital Ring segments.  Segment #12 begins at Highgate tube station, where we left off in May (incidentally our two trips both began on the 26th (April and then August) and ended on the 9th (May and September).  Today was the 28th of August, and it was the Friday of a long weekend over here.  It was the final weekend before school resumed, and it was still high tourist season for the rest of the world.  Join me in part 2 of this new blog series for our first major walk.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

London 2026: Part 1--An Introduction

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 my 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.  In addition, while there is an indoor smoking ban, smokers are allowed to stand right in front of open doors and puff away, their second hand smoke very noticeable from within.  This is clearly wrong.  Also, a lot of outdoor seating allows smoking, so we do not often sit outdoors.

 

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.  And Detroit's tourism, while quite impressive, has a long way to go to catch up with almost any European city.

 

We actually spend very little 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 thousands of 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 prefer to be as far from central London as possible.  This is a view from our first hike.
 

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 Air Canada 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.

 

Brief Itinerary 

 

April 25th:  Flew to Toronto from Windsor.

April 26th:  Flew to London Heathrow from Toronto.  SL7 bus to Croydon.  Checked in to the Leonardo Hotel.

April 27th:  London Capital Ring segment 10 walk.

April 28th:  Rochester Cathedral and Castle.

April 29th:  London Loop Segment 10 Pt 1.

April 30th:  Fleet St. pub crawl.

May 1st:  London Loop Segment 10 Pt. 2.

May 2nd: Camden Market and The Albert, near Victoria Station.

May 3rd:  London Loop Segment 10 Pt 3--solo walk.  Local pubs.

May 4th:  Croydon day.  Rest and local shops and pubs.

May 5th:  Capital Ring Segment 11 Pt 1.

May 6th:  Lewes and Seaford day.

May 7th:  Capital Ring Segment 11 Pt. 2.  Stanford's books and Dovetail pub.

May 8th:  Bethlem Museum.  Local pubs.

May 9th:  Croydon to Amherstburg via Heathrow and Toronto.

 

to be cont'd....