Oh, London. I’ve actually been to London four times now, but only on very long layovers to other countries and I have interesting memories of each of them. The first time was when I went to Laos in 2001. I was flying from Ottawa to Toronto to meet up with my family and then we were flying London to Bangkok, and then on to Vientiane. I missed my connection that night because I thought I lost my boarding pass in the Ottawa airport (I won’t go into details, Faye lol). When I finally got on the flight out the next morning, I got to Heathrow by myself, and just remember being hungry. This was about a six hour layover if I remember correctly, and the one thing that stood out in my mind was that the sandwich I bought was freaking expensive. For some reason I didn’t expect to have to have pounds on me, so I took out some cash from a bank machine. Twenty pounds (at that time almost $40 Canadian!!) got me literally a sandwich and a bottle of iced tea. I think it came to about 18 pounds or something crazy like that. On the way back from Laos, (same itinerary in reverse), for some reason, Jack and I were not confirmed on the flight out with the rest of our family. There was already a four hour layover and the Air Canada rep put us on standby for the flight after that but could not guarantee anything. I angrily said, “So, we could be here for days on standby? You can’t just book and confirm us on the next flight, even though we already confirmed the flight we were supposed to be on days ago?” She looked at me straight and said, “Yes.” Thanks, Air Canada! So Jack and I were stuck there for what ended up being about eight hours. And again, not thinking I needed pounds, I withdrew money from a bank machine to feed us. Fun, fun.

When I went to Rwanda in 2008, I had a 12 hour layover at Heathrow and this time I decided to venture out of the airport. I was sooo tired after the six hour over night flight that when I got out, I took the Underground to the Westminster stop (Picadilly line, I’ve discovered!) and found a park to sleep in. I had my carry-on luggage under my legs and my purse hugged tightly very close to my chest and took a nap on a bench in that park. About an hour later, I was good to go. I went to a pub to get a good English breakfast, then off to the Parliament buildings. I was happy I got to go inside. It’s much smaller than Ottawa’s but very similar architecture. I then walked around some more in the area, taking in the sites and then went to a coffee shop for some food. After that I walked to the London Bridge and London Eye which were pretty beautiful. I then took the hour or so subway ride back to the airport where I then waited for another overnight flight to Addis, Ethiopia and onward to Kigali. And that was my mini tour of London! I loved everything about it, from seeing the stereotypical telephone booths and double decker buses!

This time on my way to Delhi, I had another 12 hour layover at Heathrow. Before I left I told Ian that I was going to go to Buckingham Palace this time since I didn’t go last time. He said I should wait for him to see it. I ended up watching a “secrets of London” show in flight and it talked about the Tower of London, which I had heard of vaguely and knew nothing about. I decided to go there and to Trafalgar Square instead. When I arrived at customs, the officer asked me what I was doing there and I told her I was in transit and wanted to see some parts of the city. She asked me where I was planning to go, and I told her Tower of London, Trafalgar Square (which I pronounced Traf-al-ger to which she said, “Close, Tra-fal-gar”) and an English pub. She said, “Yes, you definitely have to go a pub. It’s Sunday, so it will be busy. You can get a nice afternoon drink. And you should also get a Sunday roast dinner. It’s very traditional.”

The Tower of London is pretty amazing historically and architecturally. And it is gigantic! I got an audio tour guide and I didn’t even finish it. I was there for about three hours, walking around the grounds, walking up various towers, and taking in the scenery. It’s kind of amazing that on the inside, there were buildings constructed in 1280 and when you look out at the landscape it’s completely modern with high rise buildings in fun modern shapes. The contrast was kind of unexpected although it shouldn’t have been because obviously London is a super old city. In any case, I learned a lot from the trip there. For instance, King Henry VIII built the tower for defensive purposes, and built various gates and towers for a variety of things. One of them was to coronate Anne Boleyne as queen at one side of the tower, and then a few years later at the “traitor’s gate.” She was killed because, well, Henry could not impregnate her with a son. 😛 There was also an exhibit of the entire royal line there which I walked quickly through showing the armour and weaponry of the times. There was also a huge building which houses the crown jewels. I wanted to go to see it, but there was a gigantic line up and I didn’t want to wait.

When I left the tower, I went for lunch. On my way in, there were fish and chip stands near the tower entrance so I thought I would try it, since they were offering it for five pounds. I remembered though that I wanted to go to a pub, so I walked around a bit and found one called The Hung, Drawn and Quartered. Nice. I went inside, and there is a noose hanging from the ceiling. I ordered fish and chips (sooo yummy, they definitely know how to do their fish and chips!) and a cider. It wasn’t extremely busy, but there was some traffic. I only drank half the pint though because I was falling asleep in the pub!! I promptly left and almost didn’t go to Trafalgar Square, but I’m so happy I did! It is actually quite beautiful, and I found myself thinking, ‘Why do we not have public spaces like this in Ottawa?!’ It is flanked by the National Gallery, lots of statues, two gorgeous fountains, AND the Canadian High Commission!! That was a nice surprise to see, with flags promoting two Canadian icons: Alice Munroe and Edward Burtynsky. Yeah! Go Canada Go!! 🙂 That ended the mini tour of London. It cemented my love for the city and now I actually have to go back and spend some real time there. It’s on mine and Ian’s to do list I think for next summer. I took the subway back to Heathrow and luckily for me, it was an hour ride so I got some sleep in on the subway car rather than on a park bench!

Originally I was dreading this layover, as 12 hours just added so much unnecessary time when the total flying time was 14 hours, but now I’m appreciating the ability to get out and see at least part of the city. When I went to Rwanda, the return flight was an eight hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany, which I took the opportunity to see as well. On my return flight from this trip, I have an overnight in Doha, Qatar which I’m really looking forward to as well! That’s like five countries in one trip. It’s not too bad, and super fun (minus the fatigue!) 🙂

–Bea