Well, I am both behind and out of order here, but such is life. In July, Honey and I went to the land of his birth, for a very quick, whirlwind visit. He is decidedly a Somerset country boy, and has long despised London, so I was determined to show him another side of the city.
The first day was very hectic, as we landed at Heathrow, and immediately drove into the madness that is London traffic, to make a quick stop at Bentley Skinner. They had done some repair work to a jewelry piece for me, and picking it up was a top priority. We them drove out of the city and on to Bournemouth. We met up with all the Olds, for a lovely dinner out. There was bizarreness about that experience though, we got a tickets once we were home, for parking in the parking lot of the restaurant we ate at! Apparently we were supposed to register our car with the greeter in the restaurant, and did not. There were no signs about this at all. Welcome to England! I swear they would tax the air you breathe if they could!
We had decided to make an overnight stop in Oxford, to do some exploring there, and stayed in a beautiful converted barn complex that is now a luxury hotel and spa. We were just outside the city proper, but we are walkers and immediately set off for town, once we were checked in. I think we did about 8 miles that evening, really only stopping to have a drink at a pub down a tiny little alleyway. We took off to see more the next day, before driving back to London.
Now, Honey and I differ in our preference of conveyance. He likes to have the freedom that having a car brings. In a large city that has good transportation, I find a car to be a nuisance. You sit in traffic, and spend forever looking for parking spaces. It is inefficient. I won that battle this time, and made sure there was a parking garage at our hotel in Kensington, so we could leave the car and hop on the Tube. I highly recommend the Millenium Glouchester Hotel, and have stayed there twice within the last year. It is an excellent location, and service is consistently very good.
Time was a challenge on this trip, as we only had two nights in London, and much on the list. The first night we mostly walked. I seem to recall our mileage count for the day, between Oxford and London, was somewhere in the range of 10-12 miles. Like I said, we are walkers! It was at the end of the evening, when we were tired, that one of us mentioned grabbing an Uber. Honey saw a taxi though, and flagged it down.
Always chose the London taxi when you can. Talk to your taxi driver, they are super nice, and often hilarious! You will get social commentary, politics, car knowledge if you are a gear head, and great stories. If you invest in the experience, you will get out of the car feeling like you are parting from a friend. Forever after, the only time I will chose an Uber over a Taxi, in London, is if I am in an area where taxis aren’t zipping by, and calling an Uber to my location is the only way to get a car. Some cities in Italy have an app for the taxis, so they work just like Uber, but London hasn’t done that yet.
Our one full day in the city was very packed, and we zipped from location to location by taxi, just to make it work. We did a canal boat cruise from Little Venice to Camden Market, saw the ruins of the ancient Roman wall, found the amazing duck confit burgers Annabel and I had at the food market outside Waterloo station back in 2019, went to a drag supper show at The Vaults that evening, and 101 other things that I have misplaced in my memory.
In the end, Honey saw a side of London he had never seen before. he saw peaceful parks and green spaces, we walked along the river Thames and watched the boats, cruised a peaceful canal in a flat-bottomed boat, and braved the throng of people in the very colorful Camden Market. I won’t say it will ever be his favorite city, but he perhaps looks on it a little more fondly now. The thing about that whole trip that really stands out though, are the London taxis. We thoroughly enjoyed every driver we had, and chatted with them all. If you are in London, don’t pull up that Uber app on your phone, just hail a cab.
Vagabond.Belle 