... A Digest of Disasters

Or Five Six Days in London

On the morning of January 15 we innocently packed our bags and headed to the airport by bus to catch our two o'clock flight.
On reaching the check-in desk our bag was checked in and we were informed that the flight was delayed 5 hours and then handed some refund forms which implied that we had to cancel the flight to receive any refund. Svetlana was furious at the uninformative nature of the airport staff, and WizzAir for not being able to provide a better option than the huge delay, and was not sure that she wanted to wait that long for a flight that would have us arrive close to midnight.
We spent the next five hours lurking in the airport bar discussing what to do, despairing further as the delay accrued another 45 minutes, and drinking many beers.
Finally our flight arrived. We boarded and were off. A small bright light was being last onto the plane, which used a sit where you want policy, and being upgraded to extra legroom seats for free - take that WizzAir, you just lost 12 Euros!
After a couple of hours we landed at the incorrectly named London-Luton airport after midnight. Luckily the national rail country trains run all night so we could catch a 1:06 train into Kings Cross. Unluckily the tube doesn't so we had to scramble up a taxi to get to our Motel (well a Liscensed Private Driver actually, and they are referred to as mini-cabs for unknown reasons). Our driver did seem a little dodgy but had all the paperwork and punched the destination into his UPS so I wasn't particularly worried.
Arrival at our Motel in the Walthamstow area showed the perils of getting me to book the first cheap available motel that's on the Luton side of the Thames. We completed our 24hr check-in and went to our room to collapse, only to find that it had almost beaten us to it. Suffice to say we had to sleep so we stayed in the room with: tea/coffee fixings but no jug, no tv remote, the window nailed shut, no fan in the bathroom so the steam would set off the fire alarm, excess furniture crammed in the corners, a highly mobile toilet seat, a sheet of thin foam between two sheets as a doona and a distinct smoky aroma.

First thing the next morning, after a short fire alarm (presumably from other guests showering with the door open), I was able to change us into one of their first rate rooms with no trouble and no extra fee. First rate being within the bounds of two star of course. Everything worked and was present in this room and we even had morning sun shining in to brighten up our mood.
The remainder of the morning was spent in rest before we set out to explore the local area in the afternoon - central London would have to wait until the morrow. During our explorations I had my first Indian meal for a while plus, at Svetlana's insistence, beers (but not Fosters Lager!) at several authentic British pubs.

The next day saw our first foray into Central London, after some internet time and an early lunch. We chose to go by double decker bus for that authentic English experience. It was enjoyable but took twice as long as the tube was supposed to take. On arrival we walked over the Tower Bridge and around the Tower of London in the failing light before taking the bus back to our temporary home for an evening meal of take-away Chinese.

The next morning we were up early and already on the tube when LittleBigGirl called to arrange a catch up for dinner. Our first stop was Buckingham palace which was quickly followed by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. Satisfied that we'd hit enough of the icons we began our shopping. Perusing Forbidden Planet for comics and The Orc's Nest for gaming items along the way we hit Oxford street and the Virgin Megastore - strangely renamed as Zavvi.
Shopping was cut short to get to our Turkish dinner with LittleBigGirl and BigBen. We had a great couple of hours catching up. BigBen was a font of information on London and on the gaming he indulged in - although the schnapps shots caused me a few Srpski flashbacks.

Our next day started with a quick tube to Oxford Circus followed by a few hours of girly shopping along Oxford Street. A walk through Soho was followed by a cross town trip to the Tower of London which we actually deigned to enter this time. After seeing the Crown Jewels and a few other parts of the Tower complex the Tower began it's four o'clock closing routine so we decided to head home, stopping to admire the well lit Tower Bridge.
Transport woes reared their head again as our line was closed due to somebody being on the tracks. The closure was still underway after our dinner at a King's Cross pub so we made multiple line changes to reach an overground train that got us home late, and tired.

The next morning we were up early and off to the airport. At least until we encountered a line closure at King's Cross and had to do the tube tango again to catch a different National train out to Luton. Arrival at the airport revealed that our flight had been recently canceled. Apparently a flight to WizzAir's home city had problems so they cancelled our flight and shifted our plane to that flight. Much angst, and calculation of travel times with the track works we already knew about, later we decided to take a flight the next morning from Gatwick and stay the night near that airport. The WizzAir alternative was their Thursday flight and we weren't going to stay another 4 days for that!
Another round of train and tube travel ensued before we were courtesy bused to our Gatwick Hotel. We were greeted with a small room but with nicer fittings. A short walk took us to the Horley main street where we had a nice Chinese meal since the local pub closed the kitchen at 7.

Early arrival at the airport the next morning did us no good as our flight - with a different airline - had a half hour delay. Finally after attempting to spend our remaining British Pounds in the airport we were able to board an actual flight and escape back to Svetlanaland.
We were collected from the airport and hustled back to Svetlana's home town were we promptly hugged the ground.

All this delay has unfortunately removed Venice from my travel menu this trip as I have to flit my way back to Australia in only a few short days.