London
Hopped on a United Airlines flight to London for the holidays. With the news going crazy about the possible weather shut down for the East Coast, my layover in Houston became a pretty popular option for other travelers. United had allowed for free changes due to the possible storm which made my chances for an upgrade to nil. So I opted to change my flight to go through Newark and guarantee myself the business class upgrade at the same time! At least my flight eastbound had individual TVs and power ports. I'm not convinced I like the plane equipment that Continental Airlines had and less enthused that the new United is embracing these planes. Perhaps it is just a transition period as they absorb all these planes from Continental.
Landed into Heathrow Airport without much ado. In some ways, it reminded me of landing into the US. They don't seem particularly concerned at customs of anyone and I was surprised to see that they don't stamp you when you leave the country.
In looking at my transit options into London from the airport, I decided to take the Underground "Tube." They are implementing plastic transit cards probably to reduce the environmental waste of paper tickets. It is a 5 pound deposit on top of the fares you place in the card but I found it fairly easy to get and use. Once you're done with the card, you just have to make sure you go to the office to get a refund. Although if you are a foreigner, what will a 5 pound note do for you as you leave England? I was actually surprised at how small some of the trains are given the heavy usage but it helps that there are frequent trains.
I chose to stay at the Doubletree Hotel London-Victoria. I did not realize it at the time but Victoria is a fairly large station where the commuter and rail trains come into. The hotel was ideally located for public transportation as well as getting to nearby sites. After being in the hotel and given what I saw available for hotel rooms, I was surprised how nice the hotel was designed. It is undergoing some renovations and I can only assume once it is done that the rates will be as comparable as their local competitors. In the meantime, I was able to enjoy London without breaking too much of my wallet.
I wasn't able to check in right away and opted to have lunch at McDonald's at Victoria Station. There's actually two inside, one in the main thoroughfare and one in the upstairs food court. Since I had some time to kill, I went upstairs where it was roomier. McDonald's was promoting their festive menu and I tried the festive deluxe burger and festive pie. The burger was kind of like a bbq burger which didn't appeal to me since I'm not a fan of bbq sauce in my burgers. The festive pie was interesting as it was a mixture of custard and dried fruit filling. Again, not a fan of raisins so I was ok with the pie too. I was actually sad to miss trying the sticky toffee muffin.
After lunch, checked into the hotel and freshened up. Headed out to Westminster Abbey to find the lines really long at the last hour of opening. Hoping to get the guided tour, the visit was tabled for another time. Unlike the other churches in Italy and Spain, you cannot book a ticket in advance. As an alternative, walked around central London and looked at Big Ben, Parliament House, and Buckingham Palace and strolled through St. James Park.
For dinner, wandered into a Turkish restaurant, Kazan. I really enjoyed the dinner despite the MSG induced headache I had later that night. I only assumed they used MSG because I've never had that kind of reaction of being extremely dehydrated after eating a meal.
The next day, grabbed a quick breakfast at the Doubletree. Unlike the Asian hotels, the breakfast here is not a lavish buffet but a simple one. It was still filling and the staff is extremely friendly and quick. After breakfast, did some morning shopping in the jewelry district, Hatton Gardens. On the way back to the subway station, I passed a bakery that displayed "Duffins." Possibly better than cronuts, these are doughnut cinnamon muffins from Bea's of Bloombury. Wandered around London some more and took in the local scenery. One of the things I thought would be iconic to do was to have afternoon tea. After making a quick pit stop at the hotel to drop off things, headed to the Four Seasons London at Park Lane's Amaranto restaurant. I arrived a little too early for afternoon tea and decided to have a cocktail in the bar before tea time. I really enjoy cider and found that brands in England are pretty tasty regardless. It is too bad cider isn't as popular in the States.
Afternoon tea was delicious as expected. The service was on point and the food given was plenty. You actually can request for additional food if you wanted more. I ended up not able to finish the tea set and the waiter graciously offered to package it to go. He also gave a gift of tea and jam as well. If the weather wasn't so drizzly, I would have stopped in Hyde Park on the way back to the hotel. There seemed to be a winter carnival going on but I was too tired to walk around. Instead, I had another cider and French fries at the hotel bar. I finished the meal with sticky toffee pudding but was not impressed. The second thing I wanted in London was sticky toffee pudding and it seems that I will fail in this endeavor.
The next day, woke up early to get breakfast and headed over to Westminster Abbey. Although the line was still long, it was not a bad wait. I did not get to sign up for the tour as they were already full for the first hour. It was still interesting to see the history of the church. I did not realize that the church's interior housed so many vaults of past monarchs and royalty. After leaving Westminster Abbey, wandered over to the Tower of London. It was cool to see this fortress and hear the history of the executions that occurred here. There are hourly tour guides that are free once you've paid admission. I was not able to explore all of the fortress but it was impressive.
Afterwards, I attempted to shop at Harrod's. I had heard that it was a great place for gourmet foods and high end retail. The crush of holiday shoppers turned me off and I only stayed for half an hour to purchase some food gifts for home before heading back to the hotel. It seems like a nice place but not worthwhile for me to ever really go back.
So another bucket list item was to have fish and chips in London. I found a pub nearby and had my fish and chips and shepherd's pie with cider at The Phoenix on 14 Palace Street, London SW1E 5JA. Initially, it didn't look like they would have room but after a fifteen minute wait a table was found. The fish and chips were a little greasy but the shepard's pie was awesome. After dinner, went to Waitrose to stock up on scones, crumpets, and cider to take home.
The return flight was pleasant. Heathrow must have a lot of morning flights because I was really surprised to see how packed the subway was at 7 am. It was standing room only halfway through the trip. There were also a few inebriated passengers performing their version of Christmas caroling too. For those of you wanting to do VAT refunds, it greatly depends on the type of store you purchase from whether or not you can get reimbursements immediately. Also, if your paperwork requires a stamp it is after security. Luckily, there is a post box inside to drop off any mail and the convenience stores do sell stamps. I was able to score an envelope in the Star Alliance Business Lounge. It is probably the first time I've ever been in a lounge to use its business center functions rather than eat, drink and just plain hang out.
Landed into Heathrow Airport without much ado. In some ways, it reminded me of landing into the US. They don't seem particularly concerned at customs of anyone and I was surprised to see that they don't stamp you when you leave the country.
In looking at my transit options into London from the airport, I decided to take the Underground "Tube." They are implementing plastic transit cards probably to reduce the environmental waste of paper tickets. It is a 5 pound deposit on top of the fares you place in the card but I found it fairly easy to get and use. Once you're done with the card, you just have to make sure you go to the office to get a refund. Although if you are a foreigner, what will a 5 pound note do for you as you leave England? I was actually surprised at how small some of the trains are given the heavy usage but it helps that there are frequent trains.
I chose to stay at the Doubletree Hotel London-Victoria. I did not realize it at the time but Victoria is a fairly large station where the commuter and rail trains come into. The hotel was ideally located for public transportation as well as getting to nearby sites. After being in the hotel and given what I saw available for hotel rooms, I was surprised how nice the hotel was designed. It is undergoing some renovations and I can only assume once it is done that the rates will be as comparable as their local competitors. In the meantime, I was able to enjoy London without breaking too much of my wallet.
I wasn't able to check in right away and opted to have lunch at McDonald's at Victoria Station. There's actually two inside, one in the main thoroughfare and one in the upstairs food court. Since I had some time to kill, I went upstairs where it was roomier. McDonald's was promoting their festive menu and I tried the festive deluxe burger and festive pie. The burger was kind of like a bbq burger which didn't appeal to me since I'm not a fan of bbq sauce in my burgers. The festive pie was interesting as it was a mixture of custard and dried fruit filling. Again, not a fan of raisins so I was ok with the pie too. I was actually sad to miss trying the sticky toffee muffin.
After lunch, checked into the hotel and freshened up. Headed out to Westminster Abbey to find the lines really long at the last hour of opening. Hoping to get the guided tour, the visit was tabled for another time. Unlike the other churches in Italy and Spain, you cannot book a ticket in advance. As an alternative, walked around central London and looked at Big Ben, Parliament House, and Buckingham Palace and strolled through St. James Park.
For dinner, wandered into a Turkish restaurant, Kazan. I really enjoyed the dinner despite the MSG induced headache I had later that night. I only assumed they used MSG because I've never had that kind of reaction of being extremely dehydrated after eating a meal.
The next day, grabbed a quick breakfast at the Doubletree. Unlike the Asian hotels, the breakfast here is not a lavish buffet but a simple one. It was still filling and the staff is extremely friendly and quick. After breakfast, did some morning shopping in the jewelry district, Hatton Gardens. On the way back to the subway station, I passed a bakery that displayed "Duffins." Possibly better than cronuts, these are doughnut cinnamon muffins from Bea's of Bloombury. Wandered around London some more and took in the local scenery. One of the things I thought would be iconic to do was to have afternoon tea. After making a quick pit stop at the hotel to drop off things, headed to the Four Seasons London at Park Lane's Amaranto restaurant. I arrived a little too early for afternoon tea and decided to have a cocktail in the bar before tea time. I really enjoy cider and found that brands in England are pretty tasty regardless. It is too bad cider isn't as popular in the States.
Afternoon tea was delicious as expected. The service was on point and the food given was plenty. You actually can request for additional food if you wanted more. I ended up not able to finish the tea set and the waiter graciously offered to package it to go. He also gave a gift of tea and jam as well. If the weather wasn't so drizzly, I would have stopped in Hyde Park on the way back to the hotel. There seemed to be a winter carnival going on but I was too tired to walk around. Instead, I had another cider and French fries at the hotel bar. I finished the meal with sticky toffee pudding but was not impressed. The second thing I wanted in London was sticky toffee pudding and it seems that I will fail in this endeavor.
The next day, woke up early to get breakfast and headed over to Westminster Abbey. Although the line was still long, it was not a bad wait. I did not get to sign up for the tour as they were already full for the first hour. It was still interesting to see the history of the church. I did not realize that the church's interior housed so many vaults of past monarchs and royalty. After leaving Westminster Abbey, wandered over to the Tower of London. It was cool to see this fortress and hear the history of the executions that occurred here. There are hourly tour guides that are free once you've paid admission. I was not able to explore all of the fortress but it was impressive.
Afterwards, I attempted to shop at Harrod's. I had heard that it was a great place for gourmet foods and high end retail. The crush of holiday shoppers turned me off and I only stayed for half an hour to purchase some food gifts for home before heading back to the hotel. It seems like a nice place but not worthwhile for me to ever really go back.
So another bucket list item was to have fish and chips in London. I found a pub nearby and had my fish and chips and shepherd's pie with cider at The Phoenix on 14 Palace Street, London SW1E 5JA. Initially, it didn't look like they would have room but after a fifteen minute wait a table was found. The fish and chips were a little greasy but the shepard's pie was awesome. After dinner, went to Waitrose to stock up on scones, crumpets, and cider to take home.
The return flight was pleasant. Heathrow must have a lot of morning flights because I was really surprised to see how packed the subway was at 7 am. It was standing room only halfway through the trip. There were also a few inebriated passengers performing their version of Christmas caroling too. For those of you wanting to do VAT refunds, it greatly depends on the type of store you purchase from whether or not you can get reimbursements immediately. Also, if your paperwork requires a stamp it is after security. Luckily, there is a post box inside to drop off any mail and the convenience stores do sell stamps. I was able to score an envelope in the Star Alliance Business Lounge. It is probably the first time I've ever been in a lounge to use its business center functions rather than eat, drink and just plain hang out.
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