August 18 – London, UK

28 degrees (so it said, but I don’t buy it) and cloudy 

As it turned out…today was arduous, grueling, hard, trying, demanding, frustrating, for sure, but we were on vacation and really in the grand scheme of life…it wasn’t, so bad…and more than a few curses were thrown.

It all started when the cab driver in Lisbon wanted to charge us a premium for picking us up at night…whaaaaat? I know we’re not from here, but 6:45 AM is NOT NIGHT. So we had a bit of a ‘discussion’ at the airport and in the end we likely paid more than we should have, but at least knew enough to call major BS on his BS, before we walked away saying…cab drivers the world over…they truck you…no…wait…I don’t think we said truck, maybe it was duck…no…cluck…who knows…I’m pretty sure it was something that rhymed with buck!

sink in the middle of hotel room

Next was the usual checking in and getting through security…seamless. Other than the guy checking us in thinking that as we were Canadian that we needed to communicate in French…I was charmed that he would even have a thought, so I smiled.

Next we waited and waited in a warehouse type area…some shopping, duty free, coffee etc – not palatial, but just fine.

The plane was the usual Westjet type thing, but again…just fine. I was seated between Chris and a woman who didn’t take over my space and didn’t give the impression that she hadn’t seen a shower in a few days – like the guy I waited in line in front of to board the plane!

finally!!!!!!!

The plane was the usual Westjet type thing, but again…just fine. I was seated between Chris and a woman who didn’t’ take over my space and didn’t give the impression that she hadn’t seen a shower in a few days – like the guy I waited in line in front of to board the plane – lovely!

3 hours later we were on the ground in London…well not exactly IN London. We came into one of the smaller airports that services London about an hour away. We had arranged a car transfer to get us to London – similar to how we got to Southend at the beginning of this trip…certainly not as economical as a train, but similar to a cab, the price is agreed upon up front, the cars and drivers are slick, they have water and there is someone waiting with a sign for us as we come out from baggage. That sign thing…that’s the theory.

Firstly, between passport control and getting our bags (which took FOREVER) we lost the driver we were meeting – he had to go back to his car. Then, trying to find him was next to impossible. Luton airport, which is where we arrived into is ‘under construction’. So…it took us a looooong while to find our driver…we texted, talked on the phone and visited all outside areas of the airport. We kept saying to each other…”thank God it wasn’t raining!” Finally we found each other and were at the hotel about an hour later…2 after the plane landed.

 The hotel is right in the thick of London’s West End. We are staying at the W Hotel. We’ve stayed at a W before and we know it is ‘mod’, ‘cool’, ‘funky’ and ‘hip’ – everything we are of course! However…sometimes function is sacrificed for cool. The bathroom sink is in the middle of the room, at least the toilet isn’t.

After unpacking we ventured out for a well-deserved pint (cider again.) We then picked up our theatre tickets for tomorrow night, and found dinner. We decided against a Lobster Roll at our hotel restaurant for 50.00…WOW, not sure about that! I know London is pricy and am not expecting to be able to pinch pennies here, but again…WOW.

Before one last pint (10.00) we found a Whole Foods Market for some provisions and made it an early night.  

BTW…we can’t escape Chris attracting the attention of A Streetcar Named Desire fans. The world over, when he says his name people inevitably ask “isn’t that Marlon Brando’s character from A Streetcar Named Desire?” Yes, we answer…Stanley Kowalski. That was the only question of the passport woman who looked at his passport. Maybe someday we should actually see that movie.