London 2004

I made three trips to London in 2004, and here you will find short reviews on those three trips (one with my Dad, one with my Mum and one on my own).
I'd like to apologize about the photos though - first of all, there aren't that many of them, and second of all, the quality is not good. I didn't take that many photos (hadn't quite gotten into photography the way I have now back in 2004) and they are not digital, meaning I had to do a bit of extra work to get them on my computer - hence the not-so-great quality. Hope you'll find this page interesting anyway!

LONDON WITH DAD

My Dad and I went to London in April 2004. This wasn't a great time in my life, so I was quite stressed out about the trip, but it turned out to be fantastic! Well, not all things on the trip was fantastic, but it made me discover London and I fell in love with the city instantly!


Day 1 - April 27

We drove to Malmö Airport early in the morning and the drive went well, as did the check-in and security check. We had a little wait at the airport but once our plane arrived things went smooth and we were boarding in no time. I was a bit nervous about flying, it had been about 5½ years since my last flight (to Morocco), but the flight was pretty uneventful. We did buy tickets for Stansted Express on board and landed at Stansted Airport about 20 minutes late.

We took it easy going through the airport but still took a train to Liverpool Street Station in fairly good time. Upon arriving at Liverpool Street with had some problems locating the buses, and once we did there was a bit difficult to buy tickets - but after a while we were on our way with Bus No. 23.

We went to Picadilly Circus where we had lunch at Pizza Hut, and then we went in search of theatre tickets. My Dad and his partner had been in London in January 2004 and they found a store where they got musical theatre for half price, so that's where we were heading. It was an amazing walk up Shaftesbury Avenue for the first time with all the fantastic theatres. And when we reached Queens Theatre with all the Les Misérables signs, I nearly fainted! :-)
When we got to the store I immediately asked for Les Miz tickets and after a discussion and a telephone call to Queens Theatre we got half-price-tickets ... and I was in seventh heaven!

We were supposed to take a "short-cut" from the store to Regent Street, where we would take a bus to the hotel. We ended up walking forever and ever with all our luggage! Instead of arriving in the middle of Regent Street, we came up at Oxford Street, way east of Oxford Circle! It took quite a while before we found our bus stop but finally we were on our way toward Bayswater.

In retrospect, I think we did get off at the right bus stop but it still took us a long time to find the hotel - the streets in Bayswater are kind of confusing, aren't they?
We relaxed a little at the hotel, once we finally found it, but the TV didn't work so Dad had to get it fixed while I took a shower.

We changed and took a bus to Picadilly Circus, and it started to rain. A lot!! And then thunder! Yikes! We slowly made our way up Shaftesbury Avenue, had a burger at Burger King but by the time we got to Queens Theatre we were completely soaked! Luckily we were early, so I had the chance to freshen up before we took our seats.

Les Misérables, first time in London - what can I say?!? At the time I knew nothing of the performers but I enjoyed myself more than I can ever express - it was absolutely magical!! (Will try to make a separate review!).
We went for a short walk after the show before we took a bus back to the hotel.

Day 2 - April 28

We got up around 7 a.m. and went for breakfast. I wrote some post cards and then we went over to Queensway to buy bus passes.
We took a walk through Kensington Gardens, went past Kensington Palace and Round Pond, and all the way down to Royal Albert Hall and Albert Memorial. We followed the south end of Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park toward Harrods - we did go in but it truly is overwhelming to say the least.


Then we took a bus to Picadilly Circus and walked up to Queens Theatre where I took a bunch of photos, before we had coffee at Starbucks.
We walked to Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall, past the Horse Guards and down to Parliament Square - fantastic!! We checked out the outside of Westminster Abbey and decided to try to find New Scotland Yard! We did go a bit too far, but I think we found it in the end! :-)
By then we were quite hungry, so we took a bus to Trafalgar Square and had a meal.

We then did some (window)shopping at Oxford Street, went down New Bond Street to Sotherby's (James Bond, Octopussy). Headed back to the hotel where I took a rest while my Dad went for a short walk.
When he got back we headed out again, took a bus from Porchester Road and went to Covent Garden. Unfortunately most of it was closed as it was rather late. We went down Drury Lane and into the theatre district, also took a walk in Chinatown and headed over to Saville Row (according to tradition, all James Bond's suits come from a tailor on Saville Row!) before we took a bus back to the hotel.


Day 3 - April 29

Again we got up around 7 and had breakfast. We packed our stuff, check out and put our luggage in the lounge.
We walked to Queensway and bought bus passes, then took a bus to Oxford Circus, where we changed and went to Madame Tussaud's! It was a bit expensive but we decided to go anyway, and that was amazing!! I had not expected it to be as cool as it was, but it is definitely something I recommend!
We saw tons of cool celebrities, and I got my photo taken with "Sarah Michelle Gellar" and sitting in "Steven Spielberg's" director's chair! :-)

At the end we were supposed to go through "Chamber of Horrors" which included a "Chamber  Live", with live actors. We were told not to get upset, not to touch anything or anyone, nobody would come close or touch us. At one point, this "insane prisoner" comes straight at us. Dad gets passed him, but he got right up in my face. I got quite upset, and when we came out it turned out he'd been so close to me, some of his theatre make-up rubbed off on my face! Eww! Not nice - in fact, quite scary!
At the very end there was another exhibition called "Spirit of London", which we went on after they had managed to solve some technical difficulties - it was basically a tour of England's history, which was quite interesting!

When we were done we took a bus to Oxford Circle, did some shopping and then went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We had dinner near Picadilly Circle and went to Liverpool Street Station. It was a bit chaotic when we got there but eventually we ended up on the right train, and arrived about an hour later at Stansted Airport.

Checking in went well, but when we went through security I got a bit of a scare. Dad went first, nothing happened, he took his bag and left. But my bag went to the side! Yikes!! I had to call Dad back and they searched my bag, checked it for explosives and God knows what else!! Nothing happened of course, and it is good they check thoroughly - but it wasn't that pleasant...

Our flight was a bit late but once we took off things went very smoothly. We went to the Airport in now time, and after a bit upset regarding our parking ticket we collected the car and drove back home - quite exhausted!

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LONDON WITH MUM

After having been in London with my Dad in April 2004, I was so taken by the city, I convinced my Mum to go with me in July the same year! :-)


Day 1 - July 27

We drove to the airport (Malmö Sturup) and parked the car without any problems. We checked in and went through security and had to wait a while for our flight.
Everything went very smooth, we bought tickets for Stansted Express during the flight and we landed at Stansted Airport after only about 1½ hours.
Went through passport checks and collected our bags, and took the 1.15-train to Liverpool Street Station, where we arrived at 2 p.m. We had lunch there, and I tried to cure a killer headache!
We bought bus passes and took a bus from Liverpool Street, but the bus went on a diversion past Hyde Park Corner to Marble Arch, so we had some difficulties knowing when to get off the bus. It took a while for us to find the hotel but we checked in without any problems - though the room wasn't that great (especially the bathroom ...).

We had some coffee before we went out, took a bus from Paddington Station to Regent Street and had a meal at McDonald's. We walked to Picadilly Circus and up Shaftesbury Avenue - and checked out Queens Theatre of course! :-) Walked through Chinatown and down to Leiscter Square before we went back to the hotel.

Day 2 - July 28

We had breakfast at 7.30 and bought bus passes at Lancaster Gate. Took a bus to Regent Street and went to get Les Misérables tickets at Shaftesbury Avenue. It didn't work out as we had hoped and planned and we ended up having a talk about how to plan for the next few days.
In the end we took a bus to the Tower of London, which is very impressive! We sort of followed a guided tour, although not all the way, we walked around a lot on our own as well. It was absolutely fantastic but I did wish I knew more about England's history, I have a feeling the experience would have been even better had I studied a bit beforehand! :-)

After we were done with the Tower of London we went on this really cool bus that went over Tower Bridge and along the river, past London Dungeon and on to London Eye, before crossing the river again, and finally it finished at Aldwych/Covent Garden.

We went to Shaftesbury Avenue from there, and managed to get cheap Les Miz tickets - yay! :-)
After we had dinner we went back to the hotel, though I managed to get us off the bus way to early so we had to walk for quite a while - oops! We had a shower and changed before going to Queens Theatre - and naturally Les Miz was AWESOME! (yup, will try to post a review at some point!)

Day 3 - July 29

I was completely exhausted when I woke up but after having had breakfast and two cups of cofee I felt human again! We bought bus passes at Lancaster Gate and went by bus to Waterloo Station (with a change of buses at Regent Street).

After some talks and discussions with this really nice guy at the Ticket Information, we ended up getting train tickets and entry tickets for Hampton Court Palace - and it was really cool to go by train in England! :-)
It took about half an hour to reach Hampton Court Station and we crossed the river Thames before reaching Hampton Court Palace. We did make a bit of a mistake regarding the entry tickets, but it worked out fine in the end anyway (as these things tend to do ...).

It was absolutely amazing to walk around Hampton Court Palace, the actual palace of Henry VIII! Among other things we saw a very detailed model of the Tudor Kitchens, and we also saw recreated areas such as a Bakery and a winecellar.
We checked out a little bit of the park on the back, I really wanted to see the Maze, but it was extremely hot and quite a bit to walk, so in the end we just checked it out from the outside, we never went through it.

We took a train back to London around 2 p.m. and I was thrilled that the train actually passed through Vauxhall, which is where the MI5/MI6 building is - and I saw it!! Totally cool!! Unfortunately I didn't have time to take a photo of it ...

We planned to eat at Waterloo Station but we couldn't find a decent place anywhere and it was rather chaotic, so we ended up taking a bus to Regent Street and ate at McDonald's! :-)
After the meal we went  back to the hotel for a rest but after about an hour we went out and headed down Oxford Street, took a bus to Parliament Square to check that out and walked up to Trafalgar Square - where we saw the Les Misérables bus!!! We had previously seen The Lion King, We Will Rock You and Phantom of the Opera, but Les Miz?!? Awesome!! Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to take a photo ...
We did some shopping on our way back to the hotel.

Day 4 - July 30

After breakfast we packed our stuff and checked out, and put our bags in the luggage room.
We went to Paddington Station and bought bus passes, and then went to Oxford Street. We did some shopping and had lunch at Pizza Hut before shopping some more! :-)
Went back to the hotel and got our bags and took a bus to Liverpool Street Station. We ended up getting off the bus way to early so we had to walk for a bit - and when we got to the station a Stansted Express train were due to leave in a few minutes. For some reason we both started rushing and in the end we made it on board, literary in the last minute!
Then we both got a bit upset - how closely had we checked? What if we were on the wrong train? As soon as the conductor came and we found out we were on the right train we could relax!

There was a bit of a mix up when we got to the airport but it was nothing major and we went through the check-in without problems. But at the security check, my bag went aside again, just as it had on the previous trip!! This totally nice guy handled the extra search and nothing happened - but it's still kind of nerve racking!

Our plane was a bit delayed but once we got in the air things went smooth. It was awesome coming in over Denmark and Sweden in the dark, we saw Copenhagen, the bridge, Malmö - really nice!!
We went through the airport without issues and collected the car -but we weren't home until 1 a.m.!!

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LONDON ON MY OWN

My first trip to London on my own - well, my first trip on my own, period. And I do need to say something before my review on this trip.
The trip came at a very sensitive time in my life and while I don't want to be too explicit here, in retrospect I have to say that this trip came way too soon!! I am truly proud of the fact that I went, but this was not a great trip ... Therefore, the review of this trip will be rather brief.

Day 1 - September 20

I took a train to Lund and from there a bus to the airport. The check in went smooth but at the security check I was so nervous it did become a bit awkward.
I had to wait a while at the airport but no incidents, although we were a bit late. When we arrived at Stansted I went through passport checks and waited for my luggage - and there came a huge surprise as I bumped into an old friend! I went to senior high school (grades 10-12) with her, and we basically hadn't seen each other since graduation! Cool!

I took the 1.30-train to Liverpool Street Station with a killer-headache, had lunch when I got there and bought a bus pass. Took the bus to Paddington Station and went to the hotel (I stayed at the same hotel my Dad and I stayed at in April, so I had no problems finding it).  I checked in at the hotel without problems, but my room was at the end of a giant maze...
I relaxed a bit before I headed out again ... there were some incidents which I'd rather not get into, but things ended up really complicated and rather difficult! I went for a short walk but didn't stay out very long.

Day 2 - September 21

There were lots of noise around my room but I did manage to sleep ... sort of.
I had breakfast around 7.45 and then I took a walk through Hyde Park - and I learned something about the park! :-) Apparently the area east of the river Serpentine is Hyde Park, the area west of Serpentine is Kensington Gardens! Cool!
I also went to Marble Arch and down Oxford Street, onto Regent Street where I visited Hamley's - for the first time! Quite impressive! :-)

I had lunch and walked a bit more at Oxford Street before I took a bus to Parliament Square and across the river. I got off the bus a bit late and it was a bother to get a bus back, but it worked out in the end. After having photographed around Parliament Square I took a bus to Oxford Street to do some shopping - some books, souvenirs, presents! :-)

Then I went back to the hotel, and I did most of the packing for the trip home.

Day 3 - September 22

I finished packing and checked out in the morning, and I left my bag in the luggage room.
I bought a bus pass at Lancaster Gate and took a bus to Parliament Square, got off just after Westminster Bridge - at a traffic light (gotta luv the old Routemasters!!). Took some photos there and went back to Oxford Street to do some complimentary shopping.
I had lunch at McDonald's and went for a walk in Hyde Park - where I saw this guy feeding the squirrels, they were eating from his hands! :-)

It started to rain so I went back to the hotel and waited for a while before collecting my luggage. I took a bus from Paddington Station to Liverpool Street Station and from there the Stansted Express train to the airport.

A little chaotic at the airport, but I checked in my bag without any problems - and at the security check my bag went aside for the third time!! I tried to find out what in the bag alerted the security people, but the lady who searched my bag wasn't exactly forthcoming ...

My flight ended up changing gates four (!) times, but finally we were on our way, though rather late - and I was a bit worried about the airport transfer bus - but we made great time and weren't that late when we landed.
I got my bag and went on an "early" bus to Lund, and from there I took a train home!