Day 2: Friday, May 25th was a bright, sunny day in London. It
was 7:34 AM London time (1:34 AM Tulsa time), so I set my watch forward
six hours. The stewardess insisted we had to fill out a "landing card,"
whether we bought any duty-free stuff or not. The card was confusing, and
we weren't sure if we filled it out right or not. Getting off the plane
and into the terminal was one big rushing blur. Walking through the Boeing
777, the sheer size of the thing was overwhelming. I'd never traveled on
a plane that big before. You could park several city buses in there. We
filed out of the plane into the passenger bridge. With its white walls
and rounded corners, it had a "Space 1999" look about it. Inside the terminal,
we kept passing windows overlooking the airport; rows of planes of all
colors, radar dishes spinning, airplanes taking off and landing right over
us. We followed the yellow signs for "baggage reclaim" down corridors,
up stairs, around corners... it took so long, I began to wonder if it wasn't
one big loop as a joke on new tourists, and somewhere somebody was watching
us on a security camera going "Ha ha!" The guy behind me with a crewcut
laughed when I said that.
Finally, after many hallways, moving sidewalks and entry galleries, we
came to British immigration. Before us were hundreds of travelers lined
up 10 rows deep waiting to get into the country. There were tables along
the way for people to fill out "landing cards." If the British didn't invent
standing in line, they sure perfected it. When we finally talked to an
official, he checked out our passports and stamped them. It was the first
time I'd ever had my passport stamped. As we got through, I realized it
wasn't like the movies at all. They didn't ask if we had anything to declare,
they didn't search our carry-ons, and they didn't ask if we were there
for "business or pleasure." She did want to know what address we'd be staying
at while in the country, but we were on a tour and didn't have any fixed
place. The address of the first hotel seemed to satisfy her. Donna said
it took us 45 minutes to go through it all. Once we got through immigration,
we still had to find our luggage. Down a short flight of stairs, we found
rows and rows of luggage ramps-- hundreds of bags. We'd tied ribbons on
our luggage, so that we'd be able to find it in messes like that. Unfortunately,
lots of other people did the same thing. Dozens of people were milling
through the bags along with us. I checked with an airline clerk, and we
finally found our suitcases.
The room then funneled us into the terminal proper. The path was lined
with people standing behind barricades. Some held signs with names of particular
passengers, looking for connections. That was how I found the Trafalgar
reps, waiting with tour signs. They directed us to the Hotelink desk, at
the far end of the terminal under some distinctive blue lights. They would
get us to our hotel. There were several other people with Trafalgar bags
already waiting when we arrived. The girl behind the Hotelink desk looked
just like Tericea, with trim glasses and a smooth British accent. The girl
said there would be a bus along for us in 10 or 15 minutes. On the way
to the Hotelink desk, we passed a place that exchanged currency, so I took
the opportunity to trade in my travelers checks. It was sobering that $200
only got me ú89, after the exchange rate and charges. The bus arrived,
and we all filed out to get on. I knew people drove on the left side of
the street in Britain, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to board a
bus from a door on the left side. It was. We drove around the airport,
down highways and through roundabouts to a different terminal, where we
picked up more people. They all had Trafalgar travel bags.
 Once the bus
was full, we headed for London. It was a long ride-- or, at least seemed
long, now that the jet lag was setting in. I was glad the bus driver knew
what he was doing, driving at breakneck speeds through congested traffic
and stopping on a dime. We passed rows of houses I guessed were built after
World War II. London was hit hard during the war. There were modern buildings,
but also lots of older brick structures, with chimney pots on the roofs.
We came to Kensington High Street, and the bus stopped just around the
corner from the Hilton Olympia. It was a gorgeous morning on the streets
of London. The literature we got before we left said we wouldn't be able
to check into the hotel until 2 PM. (It had been a source of concern about
what we'd do in the meantime.) However, the hotel clerk got us into a room
right away. The room and breakfast the next day was already paid for. I
confirmed we had reservations for two nights at the end of the tour, because
we planned to stay an extra day. Up in the room (615), we both took hot
showers and lied down for a nap. It was 10:30 AM London time --4:30 AM
Tulsa time. We'd been going almost nonstop for about 23 hours.
Around 2 PM, we got up, feeling much more refreshed. My back was even starting
to feel better. In the bathroom, the toilet wasn't flushing properly. Donna
figured out the handle had to be pumped like a water pump in order for
it to work. The huge, deep bathtub made up for it. We went for a walk.
Trafalgar had its own desk in the hotel lobby. We checked in with the rep,
who got us some special tags for our luggage. The tour was set to start
early Saturday morning. We took off walking down Kensington High Street.
It was a pretty day, and comfortable enough for short sleeves. Donna thought
we were near where Princess Diana's first apartment. We passed places that
looked like where John Lennon used to live. There was some very expensive
real estate around there.
We found a gate for Holland Park, and decided to explore it. From the street,
it looked like a small park, but once inside we found a green expanse at
least ten acres big. There were trees and bike paths and a huge area for
kids to play in. We saw soccer teams practicing, parents playing with their
children, and a cricket coach teaching "bowling" to a group of kids in
uniform. (I still don't understand cricket. It always looks like they're
just making it up as they go.) We sat on a bench and enjoyed the sunshine
and the fresh smell of the park. College kids were reading under trees,
mothers (or nannies) were pushing baby strollers, and couples snuggled
in the grass. The grass was safe to roll around in thanks to sandy "dog
toilets" strategically placed around the park.
Higher up the hill, we found a walled garden, and an auditorium preparing
for a concert. The garden was charming, filled with lavender, climbing
roses, sculptures... and a peacock. The beautiful bird had his feathers
all spread out, trying to spook away some intrusive pigeons. We saw two
more peacocks running wild in a bushy enclosure further on. I kept smelling
mimosa.
A sign advertised a Victorian house on display nearby. The sign noted visitors
should call ahead for open times "so as to avoid disappointment." Dogs
were not allowed on the playgrounds, and a sign reminded that dogs had
to be kept on "a lead." In the west, we could see lines of jetliners headed
for Heathrow. Walking back down Kensington, I found a plaque mounted on
a brick wall. It commemorated a young man who had died on that spot on
his 24th birthday. Back at the hotel, we decided we were hungry. It was
still light out, though the wind seemed to have picked up a bit. We went
to a Thai restaurant down the street called the Blue Lagoon. There was
a lunch special from 11 to 5, and even through it was 4:30 they went ahead
and let us order it. We had prawns on toast, with chicken satay to start,
then rice with beef curry as well as yellow curry with chicken. The yellow
curry was spicy, but the beef snuck up on you. My glass of water had maybe
3 cubes. That's kind of what I was expecting. We had a window seat, and
had fun watching London pass by. We saw buses (I mean-- "coaches") heading
for places like Victoria Station and Chalk Farm, tourists walking, students
on folding bicycles, police officers mounted on horseback, people on scooters
carrying  backpacks,
workers heading home from a hard day in neighborhoods they couldn't afford
to live in... We had to ask for a bill. I think they would've let us sit
there all night if we hadn't. I had my British funny money, but the American
Express card worked, too. We stopped in a news agent store –not a newsstand--
and looked over the newspapers and tabloids, surrounded by snacks I'd never
heard of. We returned to the hotel. The lobby was full of arriving tourists.
Many had Trafalgar bags. We got special tags for our luggage. We spoke
to one girl, who was on a different tour than us, heading for Scotland
and Ireland. When we said we were on the Amazing Britain tour, she said,
"Everybody's on that tour!" I couldn't get a signal at all on my cellphone.
Back in the hotel room, we relaxed. I tried to find some news on TV.
There were about 15 channels. The British news seemed all "local" -- almost
no international news, except for brief crawls at the bottom of the screen.
The top story of the day was about a lady who died after being passed over
by eight different government doctors. CNBC Europe was mostly business
news. I couldn't find any weather reports. I guessed most folks in England
still got most of their news from the daily papers. It was only 7 PM, but
we were still tired from the plane ride and dozed off. Donna woke up at
9 PM, frantic. It was still light out in London, and the clock said nine,
so she thought we'd overslept and missed our coach. She couldn't believe
her internal clock could be so screwed up. That must have been why the
travel company gave people an extra day to recover from their incoming
flights. I couldn't stand not knowing the weather. I went down to the lobby
and asked for a newspaper. The clerk gave me a copy of the Friday London
Times. The weather forecast had clouds and temperatures in the 50's (Fahrenheit).
It was the 40th anniversary of "Sargent Pepper's." We got to sleep about
midnight. |
