Hello,
Just returned from a seven day trip to England, the second overseas trip this time with my mother. We stayed in London for the whole period and visited the Chelsea Flower Show and Windsor Castle. We flew from Trieste (in Italy, just 55 minutes by car from Piran) to London Stansted Airport. Compared to Italy and Slovenia, London was expensive. While the Italians might have special tourist prices in the tourist places($6 ice creams), London is all round expensive. The weather was mixed, it didn't rain during the day but half the days were cloudy with a cold wind. But according to the weather forecasts on TV, any day in London without rain qualifies as a nice day (sun is just a bonus).
Some observations from the trip....
Airports and Aeroplanes
On the trip to London, at Trieste Airport, they forgot to man passport control and so called everyone back to check passports (the Italians check passports in and out of the country, the British only when you are coming, they don't care if you are going). Obviously the check in people were too efficient (I like the airport because it has hardly any flights and therefore no crowds). Which brings me on to their scrupulous checking of hand luggage. Most airlines don't enforce the size limit but Ryanair do (probably because they allow hand luggage to go on free but charge for checked in luggage). But some people - either through ignorance or playing the system - push the limits with the size of their luggage and so accordingly are asked to put their luggage in the measuring frame. Try as they may some people just don't manage to squeeze their luggage in the frame. The most hilarious incident involved an Italian couple which were moving clothes from one case to the other and in a variety of combinations until after half an hour (after an argument amongst themselves, a tantrum - involving the slamming of cases, the obligatory argument with the check in people, and several attempts) they achieved success and managed to pass the test.
At Stansted Airport, apparently, if you have a child it is quite acceptable for the parents and their friends to stop in the middle of a busy thoroughfare and to all attend to the entertainment needs of the child (causing people to squeeze through the narrow gaps around them). Also at this airport, saw a sign outside the toilets advising that male and female operatives clean the toilets. They certainly take security seriously at the airport when they don't allow cleaners to clean toilets anymore.
On the train back to Stansted - a Slovenian group - of all the carriages and seats, decided to surround us and have their cross seat conversations all around us. It really was like we were invisible .On the trip back we had a foghorn leghorn (aka loud talker, Slovenian again) on the plane - she couldn't stop talking, drowned out the emergency procedure talk, and had this whining voice, only the engines drowned her out and she eventually stopped when her colleagues stopped humouring her.
British Currency
A con man or somebody that hates foreigners invented the British currency. After using Euros the British currency is hopeless, you can't tell what value a coin or note is without a thorough forensic examination. The notes have small numbers in the corner and most coins (and there's a plethora of shapes and sizes of those) don't even have numbers on them, instead they spell out the value in tiny print on one side. At a railway station some desperate tourist even asked me what the value of the coin she had was.
British TV
They must really like Australian TV as they show the cream of Australian TV there: Real Housewives of Melbourne; Home and Away. and Hot Seat (with a very youthful looking Eddie Maguire). They also have a station called Movies4men. I didn't know they made movies specifically for men.
London Transport
London is a big place, so to see all the attractions we went on one of those hop on hop buses - one of the problems in that the traffic is that bad, it takes an entirety to get around on one of these. Particularly when we had to get off the bus and catch another one when the door of our bus fell off. The underground rail system is excellent (if costly) - we had to "detrain" once because of signal failure (they have that in London too!) and I was deducted 3 times the fare off my Oyster card (I am still trying to get that sorted). In relation to traffic management, traffic in Rome flows better than in London. In London there are too many lights which causes traffic buildup. While in Rome you don't have those pesky traffic lights holding you up - you just barge your way through as best you can.
London Hotel
Our London hotel was good and sort of central but was a bit casual in the service department. We were usually promptly served at breakfast and dinner, and were understanding when the person that was supposed to be in charge of breakfast came in half an hour late one day. Others didn't give them the same latitude. During our stay several people walked out waiting for their breakfast order to be taken. On one occasion, an American almost had kittens when she had to wait 10 minutes for her order for breakfast to be taken. Strangely, by the end, we seemed to be given preferential treatment.
Chelsea Flower Show
This was spectacular if overcrowded which made it hard to move around, let alone see all the exhibits (some pictures below). The show is held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and I noticed one area was named the Margaret Thatcher Infirmary. I am not sure whether her political supporters or opponents decided to name it after her. Anyway, there was an Australian connection to the show - with the poppy display (see picture below) - being from Australia. And the person doing spruiking at the display was Ted Baillieu - from Victorian Premier to garden guide.
Windsor Castle
A nice place but you would think she would be able to stop planes from overflying her castle. The stream of low flying planes landing at adjacent Heathrow was constant and loud. I don't know how she puts up with it.
Anyway, here are some photos from London and Windsor...
Just returned from a seven day trip to England, the second overseas trip this time with my mother. We stayed in London for the whole period and visited the Chelsea Flower Show and Windsor Castle. We flew from Trieste (in Italy, just 55 minutes by car from Piran) to London Stansted Airport. Compared to Italy and Slovenia, London was expensive. While the Italians might have special tourist prices in the tourist places($6 ice creams), London is all round expensive. The weather was mixed, it didn't rain during the day but half the days were cloudy with a cold wind. But according to the weather forecasts on TV, any day in London without rain qualifies as a nice day (sun is just a bonus).
Some observations from the trip....
Airports and Aeroplanes
On the trip to London, at Trieste Airport, they forgot to man passport control and so called everyone back to check passports (the Italians check passports in and out of the country, the British only when you are coming, they don't care if you are going). Obviously the check in people were too efficient (I like the airport because it has hardly any flights and therefore no crowds). Which brings me on to their scrupulous checking of hand luggage. Most airlines don't enforce the size limit but Ryanair do (probably because they allow hand luggage to go on free but charge for checked in luggage). But some people - either through ignorance or playing the system - push the limits with the size of their luggage and so accordingly are asked to put their luggage in the measuring frame. Try as they may some people just don't manage to squeeze their luggage in the frame. The most hilarious incident involved an Italian couple which were moving clothes from one case to the other and in a variety of combinations until after half an hour (after an argument amongst themselves, a tantrum - involving the slamming of cases, the obligatory argument with the check in people, and several attempts) they achieved success and managed to pass the test.
At Stansted Airport, apparently, if you have a child it is quite acceptable for the parents and their friends to stop in the middle of a busy thoroughfare and to all attend to the entertainment needs of the child (causing people to squeeze through the narrow gaps around them). Also at this airport, saw a sign outside the toilets advising that male and female operatives clean the toilets. They certainly take security seriously at the airport when they don't allow cleaners to clean toilets anymore.
On the train back to Stansted - a Slovenian group - of all the carriages and seats, decided to surround us and have their cross seat conversations all around us. It really was like we were invisible .On the trip back we had a foghorn leghorn (aka loud talker, Slovenian again) on the plane - she couldn't stop talking, drowned out the emergency procedure talk, and had this whining voice, only the engines drowned her out and she eventually stopped when her colleagues stopped humouring her.
British Currency
A con man or somebody that hates foreigners invented the British currency. After using Euros the British currency is hopeless, you can't tell what value a coin or note is without a thorough forensic examination. The notes have small numbers in the corner and most coins (and there's a plethora of shapes and sizes of those) don't even have numbers on them, instead they spell out the value in tiny print on one side. At a railway station some desperate tourist even asked me what the value of the coin she had was.
British TV
They must really like Australian TV as they show the cream of Australian TV there: Real Housewives of Melbourne; Home and Away. and Hot Seat (with a very youthful looking Eddie Maguire). They also have a station called Movies4men. I didn't know they made movies specifically for men.
London Transport
London is a big place, so to see all the attractions we went on one of those hop on hop buses - one of the problems in that the traffic is that bad, it takes an entirety to get around on one of these. Particularly when we had to get off the bus and catch another one when the door of our bus fell off. The underground rail system is excellent (if costly) - we had to "detrain" once because of signal failure (they have that in London too!) and I was deducted 3 times the fare off my Oyster card (I am still trying to get that sorted). In relation to traffic management, traffic in Rome flows better than in London. In London there are too many lights which causes traffic buildup. While in Rome you don't have those pesky traffic lights holding you up - you just barge your way through as best you can.
London Hotel
Our London hotel was good and sort of central but was a bit casual in the service department. We were usually promptly served at breakfast and dinner, and were understanding when the person that was supposed to be in charge of breakfast came in half an hour late one day. Others didn't give them the same latitude. During our stay several people walked out waiting for their breakfast order to be taken. On one occasion, an American almost had kittens when she had to wait 10 minutes for her order for breakfast to be taken. Strangely, by the end, we seemed to be given preferential treatment.
Chelsea Flower Show
This was spectacular if overcrowded which made it hard to move around, let alone see all the exhibits (some pictures below). The show is held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and I noticed one area was named the Margaret Thatcher Infirmary. I am not sure whether her political supporters or opponents decided to name it after her. Anyway, there was an Australian connection to the show - with the poppy display (see picture below) - being from Australia. And the person doing spruiking at the display was Ted Baillieu - from Victorian Premier to garden guide.
Windsor Castle
A nice place but you would think she would be able to stop planes from overflying her castle. The stream of low flying planes landing at adjacent Heathrow was constant and loud. I don't know how she puts up with it.
Anyway, here are some photos from London and Windsor...
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