london

The day I traveled to London was stressful, to say the least…one of the most stressful travel days I’ve had in a long time…I was flying air asia, and they’ve recently set up online check in, as well as check in kiosks at the LCC terminal in Kuala lumpur…howeva, when you check in online, they send you one of those barcodey looking squares…you can have it sent to your phone, or to your email, which I guess you’re then supposed to print…not very helpful if you don’t have a phone, or access to a printer…anywho, I was checked in…I got to the airport and discovered that the kiosks would only work to print boarding passes for people already checked in if you had that barcodey thing to put in front of the laser…obviously, I didn’t…what kind of kiosk doesn’t let you search by name, or flight number, or something along those lines? Argh…so I got in line…

The lady at the check in counter wanted proof that I had plans to leave the UK before allowing me to check my bag and get my boarding pass…never mind that I was already officially checked in…this whole system of showing proof of planning to leave is the dumbest thing ever…just because I bought a ticket doesn’t mean I will actually leave, and if you allow people to check in online, there doesn’t have to be proof of anything…so those of us who can’t do it properly online are more likely to overstay a visa in the UK? Argh…anywho, I had a ticket purchased, but I didn’t have it printed out… (isn’t one of the reasons for e-tickets is to save the environment and stop printing out so many sheets of paper?)…she insisted, so I had to go hunting for an internet connection…I had a laptop, and the airport has free wifi, but I needed to print…there was a VIP lounge area, and it had internet…for the obscene price of $8 for half an hour!!! Can you imagine? Not surprisingly, I didn’t have that much money left in my wallet…I’m leaving the country for goodness sake, why would I keep that much money in a currency I won’t need? The guys running the desk of that lounge were quite insistent that that was the price, though by that point I was crying…my thought process was this: seriously, you’re not going to let me print, and even though I’m already checked in, I won’t be able to leave the country because I can’t pay $8 to print one sheet of paper? Really? You can’t make any exceptions? Aaaaaaaargh… I had some money, just not that much…I was really lucky that some gentlemen who had paid the fee took pity on me and let me print my one sheet of paper…

Then I went back to the check in lady who looked at my ticket to leave the UK as if it were in another language completely…she looked at it, put it down, looked at it again, read her way down the page using her finger, etc…then asked what it said…if you’re working a computer system at an international airport, I presume you can read English, why is it so hard to read my ticket? Argh…finally, she took my baggage and gave me my boarding pass…the flight left over an hour late, but was smooth and easy…

Because of the late arrival of the flight into London’s stansted airport, I was able to catch a bus into the city, but I was too late to take the tube…so I had to catch a cab…it’s London, so that wasn’t cheap…at all…my friend brie had said I could stay at her place, even though she was out of town, traveling for work at the time…so her flattie lynsey greeted me, after explain to the cabbie exactly where to go…at that point I was thrilled to finally be in London, but not thrilled with how my day had been…expensive and stressful…argh…sometimes I hate traveling…

I ended up staying up most of the night due to jet lag, my body clock was completely screwed up…this same thing had happened the last time I flew this particular flight, so I wasn’t keen on the next day…only two or three hours of sleep wasn’t my idea of fun, especially since I hadn’t had tons of sleep lately anywho…

I got up the next day, wasted more time online, then finally walked out of the flat…the last time I flew to London from asia, I didn’t see much of the city…by that point in that trip, I was completely traveled out, and didn’t care if I saw nothing…this time I wanted to see something, even if it wasn’t much…especially as I’d bought a London guidebook…I found my way to the tube, and made my way to the area the book calls “the city”…

My first stop was st paul’s cathedral…it’s huge, an Anglican church…not only is the church huge, so is the entrance fee…argh…but I wanted to see it, so I paid…almost as soon as I walked in, I knew I’d never want to get married in that type of church…(not that I’d be eligible to do so…while members of the public can get married in Westminster abbey – provided you can afford it and follow their rules – you must have an OBE or be closely related to someone who does in order to get married at st paul’s…at least, that’s what I was told)…it’s beautiful, but it’s also really complicated…there is all sorts of stuff going on…amazing decoration, really intricate…you could spend a day walking around, and not see all the decoration…part of that is because it’s a cathedral, and huge…your eyes can’t see the tiny details that far away…which is a shame…you’re not allowed to take photos inside…I have mixed feelings about that, but I followed the rule…it was crazy crowded with tourists, I haven’t felt that crushed in a long while…there were free audio guides, I listened to every track…in addition to the religious stuff, there were also tombs and memorials galore…since churches used to be a much bigger part of daily life, both life and death took place in the building…

One of the niftier aspects of the church is the whispering gallery…up top, it’s said that you can speak in a whisper to someone on the other side of the gallery, and they’ll hear you…as I was by myself, I didn’t have the option of trying this out…the view down was fun…there are plenty of stairs to get to that gallery…then, there are way more stairs to get up to the cupola (I can’t think of the right word, someone help me) on top of the church…when you get all the way up, you go outside, and you can see all across London, all the way around…way cool…heaps windy up there, but I liked it anywho…as I look at my London photos, I took a LOT of photos of st paul’s exterior…

From there I followed one of lonely planet’s walking tours, and proceeded to get lost…not all that surprising…but getting lost in London isn’t at all like getting lost in a country where I don’t speak the language or read…I figured out where I was not too much later…I ended up in front of what used to be the royal exchange I think…another imposing building, but I don’t think it was anything inside…I didn’t go inside, so I’m not all that sure…whoops…there is a memorial/tiny little park out front, I watched people for a little while…

From there I kept walking, back to st paul’s…I wanted to attend the daily evensong prayers…the service takes place every day, and anyone can attend…I was curious…it’s basically a church service w/out the singing or the sermon…short and sweet…around 15 minutes later, it was over…

On the way home, I picked up fruit…green grapes, strawberries and raspberries…a couple bananas as well…that was dinner, and I was thrilled with it…

I managed to keep myself awake until almost 2100, which was way better than the last time I’d flown to London from asia…that time, I kept falling asleep in the evening around 1900, which meant I woke up early early early in the morning (around 0400) and couldn’t get back to sleep, and had a really hard time adjusting to the new time…staying away till 2100 meant I slept until 0500 or so, and it felt good…still too early to be waking up, but at least it was a full night of sleep…

The next day I got up and to the tube to the “west end” of the city…the area full of places Americans have been hearing about all their lives, even if they haven’t been paying attention…parliament and big ben…Westminster abbey…Trafalgar square…downing street…Buckingham palace…Piccadilly circus…I saw them all…

I started my day by joining the ridiculously long queue for Westminster abbey…another huge Anglican church…the sight of William and Kate’s royal wedding, in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past year…again, the entry fee was ridiculous, but again, I wanted to see the church, so I didn’t have a choice…the public entry fee is different from where Kate entered the church…again, there were audio guides, which was nice…the guide talks you through many of the tombs and memorials of the church, as well as some of the history and architecture of the church…just like st paul’s, I enjoyed walking around and looking, but I wouldn’t want to get married there…way too much going on in there that isn’t religious…when the current queen was crowned there yonks ago (next year is her diamond jubilee) they somehow managed to put in 6000 seats…(by comparison, the recent royal wedding had 1500 attendees I think? - which apparently was “small” - and it looked crowded on tv, you could see that most of the people there couldn’t see much of anything)…I ended up spending around two hours in the church…again, no photos are supposed to be taken inside…I saw a few people surreptitious (sp?) breaking that rule, but I followed it…

I continued my walk around a tiny little park with tents and political posters set up, I’m sure someone could tell me what that is all about…the signs seemed mostly to be about land…Korea claiming dokdo in particular…and I saw an aboriginal flag from aussie…

I kept walking, and saw a crowd gathered by a gate…I looked at my book, but there was nothing labeled at that point on the map…then I saw the street sign…downing street…10 downing street is the residence of the prime minister of great Britain, I suppose people were hoping for a glimpse…I only took a self portrait with the street sign in the background…more as proof that I was in London than anything else…I haven’t paid enough attention to British politics to know what the prime minister looks like now, though I know I should know…

I kept going and got to Trafalgar square…there is a very tall statue of (admiral) lord nelson (I think? Please correct me if I’m wrong)…it’s a wide open area, again great for people watching…I didn’t stay there though, as you can also see a huge gate entrance to st james’ park right there…this was the path followed by the royal couple after the wedding, on their way to Buckingham palace…gjillions of people were there (and even more gjillions watched the whole thing on tv) and there are still union jacks on every pole all down the street…

At the end of the street is a monument, and behind it, Buckingham palace…which, though it’s quite famous, it’s all that to see…it allegedly has 1500 rooms, or something along those lines…what on earth anyone needs all those rooms for is beyond me…I had my photo taken by one of the gates, and I took a photo of the first kiss balcony…architecturally, the outside of the palace isn’t very exciting…

From there I followed the street to the end of st james’ park, there is an area with military memorials for various countries of the commonwealth…Australia, New Zealand, India, etc…then I walked up Piccadilly…there is an area in the street called Piccadilly circus, it’s described as the times square of London…an open-ish area, with heaps of people…buildings on the edge have lots of signs and advertising…a fantastic place to people watch…also a fantastic place to be overwhelmed by the numbers of tourists…I thought I’d been some touristy places over the past few years, but none of them were like London…whoa…

I made my way to covent garden, watched a few of the street performers and bought some shampoo from lush…the shops there didn’t otherwise grab my attention…

A bit more walking, a few turns and I ended up along the river…I decided to cross the river, in order to get the southside view of parliament and big ben…lots of folks were doing the same thing…I walked past the London eye, a huge ferris wheel that was set up in 2000 (I think) and was supposed to be temporary…since London is set to host the Olympics next year, I guess it isn’t so temporary…I like walking along rivers…

That was the end of my sightseeing for the day…on the way home I stopped for more fruit, and takeaways…yum…

The next morning lynsey told me how to get to luton airport…I packed up, hopped on the bus, took the train, took the bus, and flew out of the country…security was a long line, but at least checking in was an easy processJ…where I was going, not only do american’s not need a visa, I didn’t have to provide proof of plans to leave…(which was a good thing, since I didn’t have any of those plans!)