London, UK
Disclosure: The websites mentioned in this post are based on my own, truthful experience and I was not paid to write about them.
Leaving Glasgow, we took the bus to the airport from the Queen Street station (again, so easy and cheap: £8.50 vs. over £20 for a taxi). The bus ride was about 30 minutes, and we had plenty of time prior to our flight.
In spite of our great experience with the train system in Scotland, we decided to fly to London (about 1.5-hour flight) versus take a 4-hour train ride there (in hindsight, I would take the train in favor of seeing more of the country).
We flew with British Airways and had a great experience, however a bit bewildering. Because we were flying within the UK, we didn’t go through security, nor had to show our passports to anyone, including when boarding the plane, which was incomprehensible to us.
We flew into Gatwick Airport, and because it was quite far from the city, we planned and used the Booking.com Airport Taxi Service to take us to our hotel (price is about the same, but with the tip already included, so cheaper). The main reason we decided to book our taxi this way was because we read too many stories of tourists being scammed or overcharged for their taxi rides, by either being “toured” around the city, instead of taken straight to the destination or by the driver “altering” the taximeter (it happened to us in the city we visited next, and I’ll get to it, later on, how and why).
Our driver was courteous, even offered us some insights about London and we arrived at our hotel safe and sound. Our hotel was in the best location, IMO, near the Tower of London. We knew we’d be close to it but did not expect to literally be across the street from the Castle. The famous Gherkin, the Shard, and the Thames were so close to us, that they became our “guide”, whenever we didn’t know where we were or how to get to our hotel, but about that later.
After checking into our hotel, in our tradition, we went out to explore. We arrived on a dark, cold day, which was also a Bank Holiday, meaning, a lot of businesses were closed, including department stores (yup, to the Americans in us, that was shocking).
Remember about our money-exchange situation in Glasgow? Well, on our way to get familiar with the area, we found a Sainsbury’s and decided to stock up on some snacks. When entering the store, I asked if they accept Scottish pounds, to which the clerk said yes. We went about our shopping and when it came to paying, we handed the cashier the money, he looked at us, looked at the money, and said that they don’t accept such bills. Unhappy about it, we left our groceries behind (as we only had Scottish pounds) and left. We were starving at that point and went back to our hotel. Thankfully, they accepted the Scottish banknotes, and we ended up eating there; it so happened that we made it a tradition to have our first meal at CitizenM’s locations we stayed at (which was not bad since the food was delicious).
Now that our bellies were full and happier, we decided to head to the Tower of London; the first thing on our list for the next day was exchanging our money (like we were advised in Glasgow) into whatever pounds they use in London. Tip: If you find yourself in the situation to exchange money, stay clear of any paper banknotes, as Londoners will not accept those either (except the banks). The new banknotes are made of plastic, while old ones made of paper still circulating, but not accepted anywhere other than the banks… yeah!
First, we visited Trinity Square, a tiny park right outside our hotel, explored a bit of the Tower Hill Monument (and the names imprinted on it - we again found possible ancestors on that list).
We walked around Trinity Square (admiring the impressive Four Seasons Hotel architecture) and crossed the street towards St. Katharine’s dock on the Thames. From the dock, we saw the HMS Belfast, the famous Second World War surviving ship and iconic London landmark, and the aforementioned Shard and City Hall along with the skyline of the “city on the other side” of Thames. After a few minutes, we decided to go to Tower Bridge. We walked by the Castle, amazed at the stark contrast to the modern buildings surrounding it.
The Tower of London Castle, a stark contrast to the modern buildings in the background
The feeling of being in London becomes real when sighting the iconic red double-decker bus
Once we reached the bridge, we were enveloped in a crazy rhythm of traffic, tourists, and locals alike going back and forth; it was an incredible feeling.
We crossed the bridge and walked by the riverside to catch the beautiful sunset light hitting the bridge towers. The area was bustling with people, all trying to catch the view. Feeling the energy, we followed an alleyway towards the Shard, taking notes of the restaurants nestled in between. We stumbled upon the Shipwright Arms Pub, a very bright-blue building, but due to our money-situation, we turned around and headed back to our hotel. To be continued…
