All four of us - John, Susan, Tara and myself, all had to fly out this morning. John and Susan from Heathrow, Tara and I from Gatwick. They went north from Streatham Common station, we went south. We left the platform around 8 AM, and with a 10:30 flight we figured we'd have plenty of time to get to the airport, right? Nope. Delays on the South Central line held us up for 30 minutes or so and we got the airport check-in at 9:45, where we were informed that all international flights close an hour before takeoff. Close. As in, "if you're not here at 9:30 you are fucked." So we were told we could come back at 7 AM and try to fly standby.
How Not To Travel Tip #6: Never Trust a Train to Get You Anywhere On Time, And Always Get to an International Flight Two Hours Ahead of Time.
We left the airport and found a guesthouse not far away, the Gatwick House, operated by Tony and Linda Field. Linda picked us up at the airport and took us in. She even drove us back to the airport train station so we could go back to town to goof off for another day's vacation. Very nice people - if you're ever stranded at Gatwick, I highly recommend them.
So on the train back to London, Tara says, "does London have any castles?" Boy howdy they do - so we went to the Tower of London.
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| We walked along the Thames after that, back to the Millennium Bridge. |
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| It was getting late already, so Shakespeare's reconstituted Globe theatre was closed, and the Tate Modern didn't seem like it was even open on Mondays. |
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| The gate at the Globe was ornately decorated with a variety of animals. Look close. Since we were in the neighborhood, I recommended we visit St. Dunstan's, one of my favorite places in London (as featured in the first installment of my European adventures). This time I had a lot more room in the camera: |
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