Our planned trip through Europe would cover 12 days. Flying into and departing from London was the most convenient way to bookend our journey. Having never been to England, I arranged our schedule so we would be able to spend a day here before departing for home.
I was excited to finally visit the country I have been learning about in just about every way since elementary (primary) school, be that through books, television, music, nursery rhymes, movies, tales from people who’ve been here before… And as an American, I wanted to see the land from which our country declared its independence 237 years ago.
Trafalgar Square, red phone booths, Big Ben, pubs, double-decker buses, I wanted to see it all. The challenge was to do this in the few hours we had. Fortunately, the great weather brought on as a result of the heat wave that recently passed over Europe continued; sunny skies with a few wispy clouds graced our entire visit.
A bus brought us up from Dover. Our driver dropped off a couple of passengers along the way. The rest of us were all staying at the same hotel. When we drove past said hotel a couple of times while seemingly circling the city, the grumbling began. The driver overheard and explained he was trying to give us a tour of the city. But he said absolutely nothing to us while he doing this, therefore we had no idea what he was doing, no matter how noble his intentions.
At one point during our impromptu tour, we stopped at a traffic light in front of a church. In front of the church were three of those iconic red telephone booths. Telephone booths are becoming an increasingly rare sight in the city because everyone has a cell phone these days. So it was a pleasant surprise to see these booths still here.
Soon we arrived at our hotel. My wife and I checked in and went up to our room. It was a tiny room with a fantastic view of the wall of the other wing of the hotel. I guess it would be ok since we’d only be in here for a couple of hours. Neither my wife nor I were looking forward to the 4:00 a.m. call time the next morning.
A few minutes later we were back downstairs, anxious to explore London. We talked with the concierge and discussed a few possibilities. He told us about a Hop On-Hop Off bus tour. One of the options with that tour was the Classic Ticket package that includes a cruise along the River Thames. Best part was we were able to purchase the package right there from him. Say no more!
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