Our original plan for Paul's 60th birthday was to spend a week or so in Hawaii then cruise from Honolulu back to Sydney - 20 days on the beautiful Celebrity Solstice.
However, we've decided not to go ahead, mostly because of $$$. The Aussie dollar seems to be in a long and slow but apparently unstoppable slide against the US dollar. And, although the cruise itself was booked and charged in Aussie dollars, the onboard expenses plus of course all our costs in Hawaii would be in USD.
The problem wasn't so much that we had signed up for a fairly expensive holiday (we knew that!) but that it was starting to look like the costs could blow out even further, and not very predictably. Maybe we could have left a final decision until later in 2015, except that flights to Hawaii are also at a premium, particularly if you need to book for a specific time and can't (or don't want to) afford business or first class. And, especially if you prefer to avoid Jetstar :-)
So, we've cancelled that cruise. We haven't totally given up on the idea of Hawaii; it's such a beautiful place. We might do the whole cruise back to Sydney thing another year - although you always have to plan these a long way in advance because there's only a few Honolulu-Sydney cruises each year and they usually book out really quickly. Or, we might just fly to Hawaii and back, and spend a bit of time at a resort there or on a local cruise, rather than cruising back.
But that's all in the future now. For Paul's 60th we're still going on a cruise - we'll be on the Diamond Princess (again) for a 13 night cruise to New Zealand, starting and finishing in Sydney. We leave on 29 September 2015 and we get to celebrate Paul's birthday on the last day before we get back to Sydney.
Of course we have been to almost all of New Zealand's cruise ports before, some more than once. The only city new to us on this cruise is Picton, and we already know what we want to see there - the Omaka Aviation Heritage Center. I also want to see the Waitomo Glowworm Caves and there are a few other places we might try to get to - there's still a lot of places in New Zealand that we haven't seen yet.
However, all the fine detail can wait until later in 2015. The good thing about this one compared to the Hawaii trip is that the amount of planning needed is minimal. Basically, book a return bus trip to Sydney, pack some clothes, make sure we've got our passports and whatever electronic gadgets we want to take, and we're off. No flights, no need for an overnight stay beforehand, no visas, no dramas if the ship arrives back late......
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Thursday, 25 September 2014
Day 43 - 23 & 24 September - the big trip home!
Mind you, we didn't see much of the 23rd. I'm pretty sure it was the 23rd while we were in Dubai, but basically we got on the plane in London on 22 September and arrived in Sydney on the 24th.
The flight to Dubai isn't too bad - it's the short leg on this trip. And, there was a spare seat beside Paul, which always makes things a little more comfortable. We arrived in Dubai about 7:30am local time and had about 2 hours there. You need to take all your carry-on luggage off the plane here, even though you'll be getting back onto the same seat on the same plane - they say it's all about security. So, even though we're only transiting we still had to go through customs and security but it went pretty quickly. As we did on the way to England at the start of the holiday, we went straight to the Emirates business lounge and had a shower and changed some of our clothes so we didn't feel too bad for the start of the long flight to Sydney.
As I've said before, this flight seems to go on forever, although we again had the magic seat71D for the whole trip. There was no spare seat beside us this time. However, I simply kept looking at a nearby young couple to remind myself that I was really having a comfortable flight compared to some people. This couple had two small children with them, travelling on their parents' laps, and the mum was pregnant. I don't think I would ever have been brave enough to try that!
I didn't feel to bad when we arrived back in Sydney - tired, and in desperate need of a shower, but ok. We had about an hour until our bus came, and I have to say this bus trip was almost the most disappointing and upsetting part of the whole trip. We had thought about a few different options for getting home - driving, flying, bus, train - but leaving aside hiring a car which isn't necessarily a great thing after 30-odd hours of travel, the bus was actually going to get us home before any of the other options and was also the least expensive.
We've travelled between Sydney and Canberra quite a few times with Murray's and have never had a problem. This time though - wow. It started badly - the Sydney-Canberra bus starts at Central Railway station and then picks up passengers at the International Airport. Every time I have caught this bus from Sydney, they have sectioned off a set of seats for the international passengers so people travelling together from the airport at least have a vague chance of sitting together. Not this time though - when we got on the bus the Sydney Central passengers had spread themselves one to a seat across almost the entire bus - there was only ONE pair of seats available. So, I had to sit next to this young man who turned out to be quite nice but probably went home horrified at having to sit beside my sweaty smelly self.
Then, it turned out that the driver was a lunatic - once we got out onto the highway he was constantly hitting the brakes, giving the bus this horrible rocking motion that ended up with me being physically sick. I was very unhappy by the time we got into Canberra and I'm certainly going to reconsider our options in future - I've sent an eMail to the bus company asking them if this was a deliberate change to their seating policy because if so, it's a deal-breaker for me. I got a reply from them apologising profusely and confirming that the seats for the airport passengers should have been roped off and promising that they'll chase up why it didn't happen, so I guess we were just really unlucky.
So, now it's back to work next week and dreaming of the next holiday.....
The flight to Dubai isn't too bad - it's the short leg on this trip. And, there was a spare seat beside Paul, which always makes things a little more comfortable. We arrived in Dubai about 7:30am local time and had about 2 hours there. You need to take all your carry-on luggage off the plane here, even though you'll be getting back onto the same seat on the same plane - they say it's all about security. So, even though we're only transiting we still had to go through customs and security but it went pretty quickly. As we did on the way to England at the start of the holiday, we went straight to the Emirates business lounge and had a shower and changed some of our clothes so we didn't feel too bad for the start of the long flight to Sydney.
As I've said before, this flight seems to go on forever, although we again had the magic seat71D for the whole trip. There was no spare seat beside us this time. However, I simply kept looking at a nearby young couple to remind myself that I was really having a comfortable flight compared to some people. This couple had two small children with them, travelling on their parents' laps, and the mum was pregnant. I don't think I would ever have been brave enough to try that!
I didn't feel to bad when we arrived back in Sydney - tired, and in desperate need of a shower, but ok. We had about an hour until our bus came, and I have to say this bus trip was almost the most disappointing and upsetting part of the whole trip. We had thought about a few different options for getting home - driving, flying, bus, train - but leaving aside hiring a car which isn't necessarily a great thing after 30-odd hours of travel, the bus was actually going to get us home before any of the other options and was also the least expensive.
We've travelled between Sydney and Canberra quite a few times with Murray's and have never had a problem. This time though - wow. It started badly - the Sydney-Canberra bus starts at Central Railway station and then picks up passengers at the International Airport. Every time I have caught this bus from Sydney, they have sectioned off a set of seats for the international passengers so people travelling together from the airport at least have a vague chance of sitting together. Not this time though - when we got on the bus the Sydney Central passengers had spread themselves one to a seat across almost the entire bus - there was only ONE pair of seats available. So, I had to sit next to this young man who turned out to be quite nice but probably went home horrified at having to sit beside my sweaty smelly self.
Then, it turned out that the driver was a lunatic - once we got out onto the highway he was constantly hitting the brakes, giving the bus this horrible rocking motion that ended up with me being physically sick. I was very unhappy by the time we got into Canberra and I'm certainly going to reconsider our options in future - I've sent an eMail to the bus company asking them if this was a deliberate change to their seating policy because if so, it's a deal-breaker for me. I got a reply from them apologising profusely and confirming that the seats for the airport passengers should have been roped off and promising that they'll chase up why it didn't happen, so I guess we were just really unlucky.
So, now it's back to work next week and dreaming of the next holiday.....
Day 42 - 22 September - London
We slept in a bit this morning but there was no risk of us being late, there was no rush to do anything today. We finished packing and then checked out - which amounted to handing back the key and the screwdriver we had been using to hold the bed together (don't ask!).
As planned we took our suitcases to Paddington Station and dropped them at the Left Luggage place. We then decided to go to the Imperial War Museum here in London - so we have now been to all but one of their museums.
It turns out that going to the IWM was a good decision. First, they have lockers where we could leave our backpacks so we had a comfortable time walking around without carrying all our travel stuff. And, also, the museum has just recently opened a new WW1 gallery which is wildly popular and for good reason - we spent almost 1.5 hours just in that part of the museum. Later today I got an eMail from Ticketek saying that 350 of the IWM's most important WW1 items are coming to Melbourne in April next year and offering me a place on the waitlist for tickets - I don't think I'll need to do this as I suspect I've seen most of them!
Anyway, by the time we had some lunch and then looked at the rest of the museum it was 3:30 and time to start heading for the airport.
I had a minor issue with the Heathrow Express tickets. I ordered them online a couple of days ago, and took up the option of getting them via SMS. The text arrived as soon as I booked the tickets but I didn't try out the link to the tickets until today. So of course, it didn't seem to work, and from the small amount I could see it looked like the tickets were booked for travel two days ago, and not today. However it finally worked out and they were for the right day.
I was a bit concerned that the train might be busy but there were only a few people in our carriage. Maybe the price puts people off because you can actually get a limo to the airport for less than the price for two train tickets, but the flexibility of these trains was the useful thing for me - there's a train every 15 minutes and you don't have to pre-book for a specific train, just for a specific day.
We got to the airport fairly early but Qantas as was happy to check us in. The lady who checked us in was really friendly and helpful, I suppose not in the least because the hordes hadn't started arriving yet - and because her previous customer was a dick trying to convince her that he should be exempt from some rule because he's travelling in first class and so we were also a pleasant change for her!
We managed to have problems at security as usual. Paul's shoes set off the security scanner so he had to have a full body scan. Then, when they out his shoes through the machine separately, somehow his passport and boarding pass ended up going through too, and he didn't pick them up. And, while picking up my stuff, I tried to move one of the trays that you put all your stuff in - which they ask you to do - trouble is, it was much heavier than I thought it would be and I managed to wrench my still sore wrist and elbow. Ouch.
However, since then, no real dramas. I'm writing this in the Admirals Club Lounge which is the American Airlines lounge here at Heathrow and is available to Qantas Club members too.
Unfortunately we have just missed Melanie - she arrived at Heathrow from the USA late this afternoon, but at a different terminal, and it was just too late for us to try to track each other down.
As planned we took our suitcases to Paddington Station and dropped them at the Left Luggage place. We then decided to go to the Imperial War Museum here in London - so we have now been to all but one of their museums.
It turns out that going to the IWM was a good decision. First, they have lockers where we could leave our backpacks so we had a comfortable time walking around without carrying all our travel stuff. And, also, the museum has just recently opened a new WW1 gallery which is wildly popular and for good reason - we spent almost 1.5 hours just in that part of the museum. Later today I got an eMail from Ticketek saying that 350 of the IWM's most important WW1 items are coming to Melbourne in April next year and offering me a place on the waitlist for tickets - I don't think I'll need to do this as I suspect I've seen most of them!
Continuing the theme - Paul with some really big guns - 15 inch naval guns outside the IWM London.
Inside the IWM
WW1 poster encouraging Australians to join up
View of the London Eye taken from the outdoor cafe seating at the IWM
Nose cone of the Lancaster bomber "Old Fred"
Anyway, by the time we had some lunch and then looked at the rest of the museum it was 3:30 and time to start heading for the airport.
I had a minor issue with the Heathrow Express tickets. I ordered them online a couple of days ago, and took up the option of getting them via SMS. The text arrived as soon as I booked the tickets but I didn't try out the link to the tickets until today. So of course, it didn't seem to work, and from the small amount I could see it looked like the tickets were booked for travel two days ago, and not today. However it finally worked out and they were for the right day.
I was a bit concerned that the train might be busy but there were only a few people in our carriage. Maybe the price puts people off because you can actually get a limo to the airport for less than the price for two train tickets, but the flexibility of these trains was the useful thing for me - there's a train every 15 minutes and you don't have to pre-book for a specific train, just for a specific day.
We got to the airport fairly early but Qantas as was happy to check us in. The lady who checked us in was really friendly and helpful, I suppose not in the least because the hordes hadn't started arriving yet - and because her previous customer was a dick trying to convince her that he should be exempt from some rule because he's travelling in first class and so we were also a pleasant change for her!
We managed to have problems at security as usual. Paul's shoes set off the security scanner so he had to have a full body scan. Then, when they out his shoes through the machine separately, somehow his passport and boarding pass ended up going through too, and he didn't pick them up. And, while picking up my stuff, I tried to move one of the trays that you put all your stuff in - which they ask you to do - trouble is, it was much heavier than I thought it would be and I managed to wrench my still sore wrist and elbow. Ouch.
However, since then, no real dramas. I'm writing this in the Admirals Club Lounge which is the American Airlines lounge here at Heathrow and is available to Qantas Club members too.
Unfortunately we have just missed Melanie - she arrived at Heathrow from the USA late this afternoon, but at a different terminal, and it was just too late for us to try to track each other down.
Monday, 22 September 2014
Day 41 - 21 September - London
Today is our last full day in London.
We started the day by getting on the wrong underground train - well, the right train, but going in the wrong direction. Since the line is called the Circle line you'd think this wouldn't be a problem as you'd end up in the right place anyway - it being a circle and all! But that's not the case - turns out the Circle line consists of more than a circle!
So, we got off a couple of stations down the track and went around to the other platform to get the train going in the other direction. There was a somewhat bemusing incident on the train - they announced the next station was Farringdon, and the train stopped there but then the doors didn't open. This clearly came as a surprise to the people wanting to get off the train, and I was a bit worried that we were being kidnapped. It wasn't ever explained why the train didn't stop there.
Eventually we reached our target of Tower Hill station. First thing we looked at was some remains of the Roman Wall around London.
Then we walked to, and over, Tower Bridge. We thought about looking at their exhibition but decided against it. Here are three of the newer skyscrapers you can see from the Tower Bridge, followed by a few photos of the bridge itself.
Then we went to the Tower of London. We spent a bit more than 4 hours here and saw much of what's on display. As with the Churchill War Rooms the price was steep - £22 each - but in the end I think it was pretty good value.
A few more photos from around the outside:
And some photos of the inside - of course we saw a lot more than these few places but there are only so many photos you can post.
The Tube trip back home was interesting. Our first indication of a problem was that the entry to the platform was really crowded. We eventually managed to get onto the platform but it was also packed shoulder to shoulder. The next train (which wasn't ours) was quite crowded, and I couldn't see how people would be able to get on and off it through the crowds on the platform, but somehow they did. Then, our train came, and it was packed to the eyeballs already. Quite a few people got off but even more got on and in the end we couldn't get onto it. There was actually a fight between a couple of guys a bit further down the platform about wanting to get onto the train; it was a bit concerning but it all broke up fairly quickly. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the next train and this time the crowds on the platform and in the train were nowhere near as bad and the trip home went ok. And, this time Farringdon was officially closed - found out later that it was always intended for it to be closed today for renovations but that certainly wasn't obvious.
Back at the apartment now; we're going to have dinner and then start packing for the long flight home. We will have time in London tomorrow - we're going to drop our suitcases at the Left Luggage place at Paddington station in the morning and then pick them up there when we catch the Heathrow Express to the airport later in the day. This will cost us a fairly outrageous amount - £10 per suitcase since we're leaving them for more than 3 hours - but much better than trying to drag them around London for the day. The Heathrow Express is also quite expensive - £29 each - but it gives us much more flexibility than booking a shuttle or limo transfer.
We started the day by getting on the wrong underground train - well, the right train, but going in the wrong direction. Since the line is called the Circle line you'd think this wouldn't be a problem as you'd end up in the right place anyway - it being a circle and all! But that's not the case - turns out the Circle line consists of more than a circle!
So, we got off a couple of stations down the track and went around to the other platform to get the train going in the other direction. There was a somewhat bemusing incident on the train - they announced the next station was Farringdon, and the train stopped there but then the doors didn't open. This clearly came as a surprise to the people wanting to get off the train, and I was a bit worried that we were being kidnapped. It wasn't ever explained why the train didn't stop there.
Eventually we reached our target of Tower Hill station. First thing we looked at was some remains of the Roman Wall around London.
Then we walked to, and over, Tower Bridge. We thought about looking at their exhibition but decided against it. Here are three of the newer skyscrapers you can see from the Tower Bridge, followed by a few photos of the bridge itself.
Then we went to the Tower of London. We spent a bit more than 4 hours here and saw much of what's on display. As with the Churchill War Rooms the price was steep - £22 each - but in the end I think it was pretty good value.
A few more photos from around the outside:
They're still setting out the poppies
Paul and guns, of course
Traitors Gate - the way you entered the tour after your conviction as a traitor. If you sailed in through here you didn't have long to live
And some photos of the inside - of course we saw a lot more than these few places but there are only so many photos you can post.
Recreation of a room in the medieval castle
The White Tower - among other things this includes the Royal Armoury and Line of Kings displays
Paul and a hat
Which reminded me that I hadn't yet posted a picture of another new hat.
Paul standing in front of some French guns captured at Waterloo. Wellington insisted that all the captured guns must be kept.
Part of the Line of Kings display. This is a display of armour and weapons of Kings, and is the longest running visitor attraction in the world - it was set up in 1652.
The Tube trip back home was interesting. Our first indication of a problem was that the entry to the platform was really crowded. We eventually managed to get onto the platform but it was also packed shoulder to shoulder. The next train (which wasn't ours) was quite crowded, and I couldn't see how people would be able to get on and off it through the crowds on the platform, but somehow they did. Then, our train came, and it was packed to the eyeballs already. Quite a few people got off but even more got on and in the end we couldn't get onto it. There was actually a fight between a couple of guys a bit further down the platform about wanting to get onto the train; it was a bit concerning but it all broke up fairly quickly. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the next train and this time the crowds on the platform and in the train were nowhere near as bad and the trip home went ok. And, this time Farringdon was officially closed - found out later that it was always intended for it to be closed today for renovations but that certainly wasn't obvious.
Back at the apartment now; we're going to have dinner and then start packing for the long flight home. We will have time in London tomorrow - we're going to drop our suitcases at the Left Luggage place at Paddington station in the morning and then pick them up there when we catch the Heathrow Express to the airport later in the day. This will cost us a fairly outrageous amount - £10 per suitcase since we're leaving them for more than 3 hours - but much better than trying to drag them around London for the day. The Heathrow Express is also quite expensive - £29 each - but it gives us much more flexibility than booking a shuttle or limo transfer.
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Day 40 - 20 September - London
We started the day with a walk to the British Museum - it's only about a 15 minute walk from where we're staying. This is an amazing place; we could have spent days here and still not have seen everything. However, we did manage to see the stuff that's of particular interest to us - their display about the Sutton Hoo ship, and other displays about historical England - particularly their Roman and Anglo-Saxon stuff, plus also a small but interesting (and very hard to find!!) display about the German view of WW1. We also looked briefly at a number of the other displays. I don't have any photos - all the really interesting things are behind glass.
We then caught the open top bus to Trafalgar Square. There was a large police presence here and we discovered it was because the idiots of the "England Defence League" were having a protest about wanting to kill all the Muslims. We walked towards Westminster and discovered the same morons protesting around there as well. However, we found our way past them.
We also had to find our way around the huge Open House queues - we had no idea that this was on until we started seeing the queues and signs. Basically it means that this weekend there are around 800 separate free events on in London, mostly giving free access to architecturally interesting buildings, walks and talks. Some of the queues were enormous; I saw one that was at least 250 metres long.
We then decided to go to the Churchill War Rooms. There was quite a queue here too, but it was moving relatively quickly. I was surprised when we got near to the top of the queue to discover that unlike some other Imperial War Museum sites, this doesn't have free entry. And in fact the price is quite significant - £17.50 each. However we decided to go ahead anyway and it was absolutely worth it. I had no idea that the tour was so detailed, and more than that there is also a Churchill Museum which is an amazing museum covering anything you'd want to know about Churchill. We spent a long time here.
After this we walked around to Westminster for a good (external) view of the Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament etc. By this time most of the attractions were closing, and we decided to make our way home.
We're staying in North Gower Street in London, but the building is on the corner and our room actually overlooks Drummond Street. Drummond Street is known for the number of Indian restaurants in the street and tonight we decided to try one of them. We went to one called Taste of India and all I can say is wow - this was just an excellent meal.
We then caught the open top bus to Trafalgar Square. There was a large police presence here and we discovered it was because the idiots of the "England Defence League" were having a protest about wanting to kill all the Muslims. We walked towards Westminster and discovered the same morons protesting around there as well. However, we found our way past them.
We also had to find our way around the huge Open House queues - we had no idea that this was on until we started seeing the queues and signs. Basically it means that this weekend there are around 800 separate free events on in London, mostly giving free access to architecturally interesting buildings, walks and talks. Some of the queues were enormous; I saw one that was at least 250 metres long.
We then decided to go to the Churchill War Rooms. There was quite a queue here too, but it was moving relatively quickly. I was surprised when we got near to the top of the queue to discover that unlike some other Imperial War Museum sites, this doesn't have free entry. And in fact the price is quite significant - £17.50 each. However we decided to go ahead anyway and it was absolutely worth it. I had no idea that the tour was so detailed, and more than that there is also a Churchill Museum which is an amazing museum covering anything you'd want to know about Churchill. We spent a long time here.
After this we walked around to Westminster for a good (external) view of the Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament etc. By this time most of the attractions were closing, and we decided to make our way home.
We're staying in North Gower Street in London, but the building is on the corner and our room actually overlooks Drummond Street. Drummond Street is known for the number of Indian restaurants in the street and tonight we decided to try one of them. We went to one called Taste of India and all I can say is wow - this was just an excellent meal.
Day 39 - 19 September - London
As a couple of people suggested, we booked an open top bus ticket for today. It cost £29 each and when we found we could extend it to a second day for only another £6 each we did that too.
So, we caught the Tube to Trafalgar and jumped on the first of their buses that came along.
This was a really good idea for giving us a good general look about London.
We stayed on the bus until the London Eye, and then got off and had a ride on the Eye. It was a good time to do this; the queue was quite short and we only had to wait a few minutes. The wait can be a lot longer; we were told later that the Eye was only meant to be in place for 5 years but it's still there 14 years later because its such a huge money-spinner - on a good summer's day they can apparently make £300,000 for the day! You can even get married in the Eye these days - prices start from £2,800
Unfortunately today there was a lot of mist / smog today and so many of the usual sights were unclear or not visible at all:
Regardless of this though, I thought it was well worth the money. This is our view of another pod when up high in the Eye:
After the ride on the Eye, we walked across the Westminster Bridge and got onto one of the free river cruises that comes as part of the bus ticket. We only went a fairly short distance - down to the Tower of London. We had some lunch there while trying to decide whether or not we'd go into the Tower and in the end we decided not to, not yet anyway; today was going to be a day for general touring around and we decided to stick with that.
So, we got back onto the bus and went back to Leicester Square, near to where we originally started. Then we thought we'd do another of their tours, this one their tour of Museums. I wasn't quite sure where to catch this bus, and while waiting to talk to one of their staff members a lady came up and started berating her about the apparent failure of this particular bus to arrive - she just kept shouting about waiting for 40 minutes. This was a bit of a concern but we thought we'd go and wait, and it actually only took about 10 minutes until one turned up.
Unfortunately, a few minutes into this ride, the promised "thundery showers" in today's weather forecast hit us, big time. And, this was the only bus we got onto today that didn't have a partial cover over the upper deck - we all had to dive downstairs.
It was pretty much a lost cause after this - first the downstairs started flooding from all the water pouring down from above, and then once the rain stopped it got really hot and steamy. So, we hopped off and decided to come back to the apartment to regroup.
I didn't go out again, but Paul did; there was a game shop not too far away that he wanted to visit and I took the opportunity to have a rest and start some serious looking at tomorrow's travels. However, in the end, we decided to leave the final decision until tomorrow.
A couple of other photos from today:
So, we caught the Tube to Trafalgar and jumped on the first of their buses that came along.
This was a really good idea for giving us a good general look about London.
We stayed on the bus until the London Eye, and then got off and had a ride on the Eye. It was a good time to do this; the queue was quite short and we only had to wait a few minutes. The wait can be a lot longer; we were told later that the Eye was only meant to be in place for 5 years but it's still there 14 years later because its such a huge money-spinner - on a good summer's day they can apparently make £300,000 for the day! You can even get married in the Eye these days - prices start from £2,800
Unfortunately today there was a lot of mist / smog today and so many of the usual sights were unclear or not visible at all:
Regardless of this though, I thought it was well worth the money. This is our view of another pod when up high in the Eye:
After the ride on the Eye, we walked across the Westminster Bridge and got onto one of the free river cruises that comes as part of the bus ticket. We only went a fairly short distance - down to the Tower of London. We had some lunch there while trying to decide whether or not we'd go into the Tower and in the end we decided not to, not yet anyway; today was going to be a day for general touring around and we decided to stick with that.
So, we got back onto the bus and went back to Leicester Square, near to where we originally started. Then we thought we'd do another of their tours, this one their tour of Museums. I wasn't quite sure where to catch this bus, and while waiting to talk to one of their staff members a lady came up and started berating her about the apparent failure of this particular bus to arrive - she just kept shouting about waiting for 40 minutes. This was a bit of a concern but we thought we'd go and wait, and it actually only took about 10 minutes until one turned up.
Unfortunately, a few minutes into this ride, the promised "thundery showers" in today's weather forecast hit us, big time. And, this was the only bus we got onto today that didn't have a partial cover over the upper deck - we all had to dive downstairs.
It was pretty much a lost cause after this - first the downstairs started flooding from all the water pouring down from above, and then once the rain stopped it got really hot and steamy. So, we hopped off and decided to come back to the apartment to regroup.
I didn't go out again, but Paul did; there was a game shop not too far away that he wanted to visit and I took the opportunity to have a rest and start some serious looking at tomorrow's travels. However, in the end, we decided to leave the final decision until tomorrow.
A couple of other photos from today:
Tower Bridge - we were told later that because the bridge contains parts that move over water, Lloyds of London insists it must be insured as a ship and so must always be manned by a captain and a number of other standard maritime crew members. This actually appears to be a true story!
Day 38 - 18 September - Travel to London
Had a slow and relaxed start to the day - finished packing, checked out, walked up to Manchester Piccadilly Station, had a coffee and then got onto the train. No trouble with seats or with finding space for luggage; our carriage was nowhere near full.
The guy at the hotel really put the hard word on us to do a Tripadvisor review. I'm torn about this; although it was still pretty good value none of the irritating things from last time have been dealt with - eg although they're all very pretty, none of the wet areas are in the slightest bit practical - and to be honest the room we were in at least was in need of a bit of maintenance. I'm not sure they'd be happy about an honest review.
I booked our train tickets in advance; they were for that specific train and Virgin Trains claimed we were getting a bargain at £38 each for a first class ticket. So, while we were waiting, I did a check to see how much a first class would have cost if we just rocked up to the station today. The answer - £229.50. Each!! So, either we really did get a bargain booking in advance, or the 'same day' ticket prices really are a total ripoff!
We got off the train at London Euston and started off to our hotel - apartment block actually. It's only a couple of minutes from the station but when we got to the street we couldn't find the place - there's actually no number 182 in this street. I was beginning to have a panic that we had been ripped off although I was quite careful to check for legitimate sounding Tripadvisor reviews etc. Turns out it was totally my fault - if your apartment building is at number 192 then looking for number 182 isn't going to help!
Also, another lesson learned today; don't rely on horrified American / Australian Tripadvisor reviewers to tell you when a hotel doesn't have lifts! I expected the B&Bs earlier in the trip to be lift-free, but not an apartment hotel in London. The receptionist said that she didn't want to change our room because it would have to be to a lesser value one, so I dragged both our suitcases up three flights of really narrow stairs. I'm glad I did though, because of course, no air-conditioning. And, up here there is a nice breeze which we're going to need, I think. Between the breeze and the fan - which we had to ask for - we should be ok.
Also, don't ever book a room in England without checking that they'll be able to give you two room keys - it goes without saying at home that you'll be able to get two keys but here this wasn't the case (and this wasn't the first time this happened to us either). We had hoped to go our own separate way for one day on the weekend but that's really difficult to manage when only one of you has a key!
The room itself is tiny; probably smaller even than the B&B room in Hastings. However, we've managed to get ourselves and all of our stuff into it, so we should be ok.
Once we recovered from the unexpected cardio routine of getting ourselves and our bags upstairs, we went out for a walk. Basically we wanted to get an Oyster card each and try out the Tube, and also to check out the starting point for the open top bus tour we're doing tomorrow. This was mostly easy - they sell Oyster cards via vending machines and the stations are all really well sign-posted. The real trouble I had was before this, in finding which station to go, and which train to get. The 'planner' on the official website is just useless - it assumes you know which is the best station to go to but of course not knowing that was part of my problem! However, eventually I found an app for the iPad which told me exactly what station to go to, what train to catch, in what direction, and where to alight. Once I knew that, the rest was a doddle.
We had a quick look at Trafalgar Square and took some photos, and then we walked all the way back to our apartment - about 2.6 kilometres according to google maps. Paul's pedometer said we did more than 25000 steps today; one of our better days. Unless of course he forgot to reset it this morning in which case not so good :-)
The guy at the hotel really put the hard word on us to do a Tripadvisor review. I'm torn about this; although it was still pretty good value none of the irritating things from last time have been dealt with - eg although they're all very pretty, none of the wet areas are in the slightest bit practical - and to be honest the room we were in at least was in need of a bit of maintenance. I'm not sure they'd be happy about an honest review.
I booked our train tickets in advance; they were for that specific train and Virgin Trains claimed we were getting a bargain at £38 each for a first class ticket. So, while we were waiting, I did a check to see how much a first class would have cost if we just rocked up to the station today. The answer - £229.50. Each!! So, either we really did get a bargain booking in advance, or the 'same day' ticket prices really are a total ripoff!
We got off the train at London Euston and started off to our hotel - apartment block actually. It's only a couple of minutes from the station but when we got to the street we couldn't find the place - there's actually no number 182 in this street. I was beginning to have a panic that we had been ripped off although I was quite careful to check for legitimate sounding Tripadvisor reviews etc. Turns out it was totally my fault - if your apartment building is at number 192 then looking for number 182 isn't going to help!
Also, another lesson learned today; don't rely on horrified American / Australian Tripadvisor reviewers to tell you when a hotel doesn't have lifts! I expected the B&Bs earlier in the trip to be lift-free, but not an apartment hotel in London. The receptionist said that she didn't want to change our room because it would have to be to a lesser value one, so I dragged both our suitcases up three flights of really narrow stairs. I'm glad I did though, because of course, no air-conditioning. And, up here there is a nice breeze which we're going to need, I think. Between the breeze and the fan - which we had to ask for - we should be ok.
Also, don't ever book a room in England without checking that they'll be able to give you two room keys - it goes without saying at home that you'll be able to get two keys but here this wasn't the case (and this wasn't the first time this happened to us either). We had hoped to go our own separate way for one day on the weekend but that's really difficult to manage when only one of you has a key!
The room itself is tiny; probably smaller even than the B&B room in Hastings. However, we've managed to get ourselves and all of our stuff into it, so we should be ok.
Once we recovered from the unexpected cardio routine of getting ourselves and our bags upstairs, we went out for a walk. Basically we wanted to get an Oyster card each and try out the Tube, and also to check out the starting point for the open top bus tour we're doing tomorrow. This was mostly easy - they sell Oyster cards via vending machines and the stations are all really well sign-posted. The real trouble I had was before this, in finding which station to go, and which train to get. The 'planner' on the official website is just useless - it assumes you know which is the best station to go to but of course not knowing that was part of my problem! However, eventually I found an app for the iPad which told me exactly what station to go to, what train to catch, in what direction, and where to alight. Once I knew that, the rest was a doddle.
We had a quick look at Trafalgar Square and took some photos, and then we walked all the way back to our apartment - about 2.6 kilometres according to google maps. Paul's pedometer said we did more than 25000 steps today; one of our better days. Unless of course he forgot to reset it this morning in which case not so good :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)