Spring in London. KB = 1, Tube Strikes = 0

Day 1

My flight was a date crossing, so I arrived into Heathrow around 9pm and sled through the e gates. There was a bit longer then usual wait for luggage, but nothing crazy and then I was off to catch the Elizabeth Line to Tottenham Court Road and then the Northern Line to Charing Cross. From there it was a short walk to the hotel. As it was a Sunday night, nothing much was open, I just went to bed.

Note: I don’t typically pay the « breakfast included rate ». The room had a kettle and I brought oatmeal with me and just used the supplied mug as a bowl. There was also a reusable water bottled supplied and that was to take home at the end of the stay. I appreciated this and its size and weight. Those ones by Stanley and Owala weigh a ton. There was a water filling station near the elevator on every floor.

Day 2

This was the only day where no tube strike was scheduled. I actually decided to go to Richmond today as I wanted to see the Isabella Plantation.

I walked to Waterloo train station. It didn’t take too long and I wanted to get an idea of how long it would take as I would be going to the theatre in the same area later in the week. I started to purchase tickets, but a message popped up saying Oyster might be cheaper, so I just used it. It was no problem when they came around to check tickets. They just scanned it. I guess to make sure I had tapped in when I went to the platform.

It was a pleasant half hour or so out to Richmond, if that. I went early so none of the shops were open yet.

I have to digress here and state that I discovered Ted Lasso here. I’d heard of the show, but had never watched it, didn’t know what it was about and had no idea it was filmed in Richmond. I’m not putting you on. I really don’t watch much tv. Anyway, there was a Ted Lasso shop.

Back to regularly scheduled trip report.

I wondered the town and had my camera out. It’s very picturesque and the flowers and wisteria were out in full force. I wondered up to the entrance if Richmond Park. I was too early for the first shuttle bus of the day by an hour so I would be walking to the plantation. I was hoping to see some deer along the way, but no such luck. It was probably a 40 minute walk to the plantation from the entrance, but it was worth it.

The Isabella Plantation is the place to be in early spring. The azalea and rhododendron were out in full force and there was colour galore. I had a field day with my camera. Another gentleman was there with his bengal getting photos of it amongst the flowers. I feel like I’ve now seen it all. lol! The area is extensive as well and the best part; it’s free.

I did get the shuttle to leave the plantation. I wanted to go to Ham House, but the very friendly driver advised he had just come from there and it would be an hour before he would be back there. He proposed dropping be off at the main entrance to the park where I could get a local bus. That was fine with me. He took the time to tell me which bus I needed and where to get off. There was still a bit of a walk when I got off, but certainly not like the walk would have been had I done it from the plantation. Hats off to volunteers who run this service.

The entrance ticket to Ham House includes the house and gardens. It is part of the National Trust, should you have a membership. By this point, I was starved,so had some lunch in the little cafe in the gardens. They have a very nice selection at reasonable for London prices.

Then I toured the gardens, which are lovely and then finally the house. For its size, not many if the rooms are actually open to see, but what there is is beautiful. The main gallery hall is spectacular.

From here I did take an Uber back to the main part of the town. I wondered into the Open Book and had a look in the Ted Lasso shop. I found one a post box with one of those crochet toppers, which I thought was pretty neat. I had a drink in a pub and by this point, was very tired and headed back to the train station and London. I walked back to my hotel from Waterloo station.

I had a little break and then wandered into Covent Garden for some dinner. I had a nice meal at Steak and Co. After, I wandered the area a bit and then called it a day.

My feet were screeching at me. I did over 33,000 steps today.

I also sent an inquiry to London walks about the end point of a walk I was considering. They replied and I reserved for the next morning.

Day 3

The tube strike was due to start at noon, but I figured I could walk in the same amount of time the tube would take. I was off to Green Park to meet up with London Walks for the Queen Elizabeth 100th Birthday Walk. It was April 21 after all. The guide was Claire.

The start of the walk was a little disorganized as Claire stated the walk was capped at 25 people and there were more then 25 there. Some of these were for another walk also departing from the same area, but the website doesn’t say you must prebook. Further, one person said they booked 15 minutes prior but she didn’t have his name. Payment was another faff since everyone had cards and she preferred cash. It’s been a while since I last did a walk, but I didn’t remember it starting out like this.

We made our way along to various stops. Some of these buildings no longer exist, but we stopped at Garrards and the Hartnell building, ran into the King on his way to an event to mark his late mother’s birthday, strolled through beautiful St. James Park and finished up at Parliament Square. We even stopped for some free chocolate at Charbonnel et Walker. The stories were interesting and overall, I enjoyed the walk.

The walk ended with confirmation that the tube strike had started. I walked across the bridge to the Southbank area and had lunch at a Pret. I just had a water, protein bowl and cookie. I didn’t find this inexpensive, but perhaps it wasn’t part of a normal meal deal. Also with the Canadian Dollar, everything is essentially double the price. I also sat in there patio and there may have been a charge to « eat in » as opposed to take away. Not sure though, but they did ask whether I intended to eat in or not.

After lunch, I went to this really cool exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. It’ called Threads of Life. I had seen someone post about it on Instragram and the photographer in me thought it would be great to see. I was not disappointed. Strands of rope engulf ordinary objects and transform them into the extraordinary. It’s well worth seeing this and other exhibitions at the gallery. Sadly though, this one ends May 3.

I wondered inti to the Foyles at the Southbank centre and picked up some books and then headed back towards the hotel. I had a 5:15pm dinner reservation on the Southbank side and needed to allow for walking time and to change into a nicer outfit.

I had dinner at the Archduke. Thank you to the person who recommended it. This place was by far my favourite dinner place of the trip. There was a piano player, it has a lovely ambiance and I had a window seat. The menu is reasonably priced I though and they have a two or three course pre theatre menu. I had the steak frites.

After dinner, I made my way to the Lyttleton Theatre to see Les Liaisons Dangereuses. There was an exhibition on there two with a number of maquettes of previous productions. The play was phenomenal. The minimalistic mirrored set really added to the atmosphere of the play. A rousing standing ovation ended the night and I walked back across the bridge to my hotel.

Day 4

This was the day I was most excited for. I headed straight to the Kings Gallery for my 10am ticket time. This exhibition of the Queens dresses, hats, jewelry and other accessories is well worth the price of entry. Prepurchase is essential as many dates are sold out and they don’t have walk up tickets for sold out dates.

I was the third one in the door and after going through security made a bed,une to the Queen’s wedding dress. I wanted to see it in all its glory and photograph it before crowds of people came. It is a magnificent piece and the detail.

The other dress of importance to me was the coronation dress. The designs and detail on it are just spectacular as well.

With those pieces out of the way, I went on to take my time and enjoy the rest of the clothing. The ticket comes with an informative audio guide and you can convert the ticket to an annual pass if you wish. I soient a couple of hours going though everything. The Queen had a lot of outfits. I can’t say enough about it and the best thing is most of the dresses aren’t behind reflective glass or any glass so you can get a good look at them.

After I went to Whittard and picked up some coffee and tea and then wandered around Victoria and found d a pub for some fish and chips for lunch.

After lunch, I wandered St Janes Park again. The blossoms on the trees were beautiful and they were also starting to put up the rostra for the London Marathon. I walked up to Piccadilly to go to the Waterstones and Hatchards and picked up some more books.

Interlude: I am a reader and find books cheaper in the UK even with the exchange. The buy one get one fifty percent off deals are not offered in Canada as an example. There also aren’t 8 floor bookstores where I live. So I often come home with quite a stack of books. I check luggage so it isn’t a problem.

I wandered down to Charing Cross and popped in to a few more bookshops and then headed to Covent Garden to go to Stanford’s .

Then I returned to the hotel. For some reason they had noted that I didn’t want cleaning service. I don’t recall noting this, but it wasn’t a problem. I can reuse towels and they gave me replacement mugs/spoons each evening when I asked at the desk. In return for this I had thank you cards under my door which could be used for 7 pounds 50 off a drink at the hotel restaurant. You could combine two of them to get 15 pounds off. So I had a drink there and there was another woman there with a book doing the same thing.

The tube strike had ended for the day, so I grabbed a train to St Paul’s area as I wanted to go to the free rooftop view point at One New Change. But, to be honest I was disappointed. It’s glassed in and the glass was dirty. I actually thought the view was best from down on the ground at that location. I wandered around St, Paul’s for a few minutes as the gardens were lovely and the wisteria was still in bloom.

I grabbed the tube to Leicester Square and wandered to what turned out to be the worst meal of my trip. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but there was a street with several restaurants with outdoor areas and I was at an Italian one. I had a glass of wine, a carbonara with far too much bacon and a pistachio dessert and it was over $70 Canadian. I wouldn’t pay that much at home for that. I know not to eat on that street again.

After I headed back towards the hotel. At this stage I was leaning towards Bletchley, but hadn’t decided as I was worried about getting home from Euston with the tube strike. As it turned out, this wasn’t going to be a worry but something else was and some of you let me know I was too impatient. Lol!

Day 5

I got up and decided I would go to Bletchley even with the tube issues. As the strike wasn’t due to start until noon, I took the tube from Charing Cross to Euston and then made my way to the train station. As it was peak time, I had to pay peak prices for a ticket. I chose an open return so I wouldn’t be tied to a time.

I chose a quick train that was about a half hour to Bletchley Station. While on the train I looked up the site and discovered they had 15% off tickets if purchased online. Unfortunately they didn’t have any more availability for that day. This caused me a slight panic that there were no tickets at all for the day, but I thought people had said you didn’t need to pre purchase. In the end, there was no worry, I just missed out on the spring discount by not pre purchasing, but there was no worry about not getting in. Entry comes with an audio/video guide and I spent hours here.

There is so much to see and many interactive exhibits, films and walking areas. The on,y thing I skipped was the AI exhibit as I am not a fan. The cafe has loads of selection and you can picnic by the lake. There were no crowds either.

FYI, there is now scaffolding up on the mansion for refurbishment work.

I was so happy with my decision to spend the day here. It is definitely an easy day trip from London and its great for kids too.

Getting back to London, however was a different matter. I decided to get the 3:10 train back to London. The park is only a five minute walk to the station. When I arrived there were some trains marked as cancelled and mine was delayed. I went to the platform and waited and waited and waited. The train was finally cancelled as were many others. They kept announcing there was an incident on the line but no other info was mentioned. I went back to the main part of the station and inquired. That’s when they said a fatality had occurred on the line. I asked about a replacement bus and was told it was just pulling out now. I didn’t know it was there as they didn’t announce that out on the platform. I was directed to a lady who handles the coaches to inquire about another one. At the time I asked, she did not know when or if further buses were coming. Not being familiar with how situations like this work and being told there could be no trains for hours and needing to get back to London, I asked about another station for a different line. I was told the closest station was Bedford and that would be an expensive cab ride. I went out to the taxi stand and inquired and the driver said about 45 to 50 pounds. Not wanting to wait for hours, I took it and headed to Bedford. They accepted my ticket and there was a train already there for me to hop on. All I saw was St. Pancras and then was mildly panicked as that is quite far to walk from, but then I realized it called at Blackfriars. I ended up getting off there and was hoping to get the tube to Embankment as that line was running, but I waited 20 minutes and watched as the time of the next train went from 6 minutes to 8 minutes to 12 minutes etc. I just walked back to the hotel in the end.

I needed a drink by the time I got back and then I made my way to the Ivy just 5 minutes walk from the hotel where I had the best shepherds pie I’ve ever had.

Day 5 Continued

I applied for delay repay since it took me over 3 hours to get back from Bletchley and you know what, they refunded the entire train ticket for both directions. I didn’t think they would refund any of it given the circumstances, so I was very surprised when they actually did. I know it was a difficult day for all the people working the trains and at the station.

I headed back to the hotel to pack up for my flight the next day. As the tube was not due to start until 7:30 am I the next morning, I booked a car service to take me to Heathrow. I didn’t want to walk to Tottenham Court with my luggage and Uber wanted, I kid you not, 175 pounds just to take me there. I figured if it was that much to go 10 minutes, I might as well take the car to Heathrow. Addison Lee charged 96 pounds for the service.

Day 6

My car arrived as scheduled and it took a bit of time to get to Heathrow due to extra traffic, but we got there with lots of time to spare and my flight left on time. Guess what I watched on the way home?

In the end the days of tube strikes didn’t really affect me at all.

Lesson: Perhaps don’t do a day trip relying on trains the day before a flight.

Thank you for the trip report. I especially appreciate your insights on navigating around the tube strikes as we will be in London during the May strikes. Like you, we have arranged to have a hotel close to the activities we are doing (Chelsea Garden Show) when the strikes are on, being able to walk sounds like the right plan.

On the hotels, I too have seen more asking for at least one night payment as a deposit even if the rate is refundable.

On Delay repay the cause doesn't matter. You get the relevant refund.

With some train companies (notably Northern) you sometimes get over 100% refund, if the delay extends to 2 hours or more. I've had up to a 300% refund in the past from Northern (or to be more exact three complimentary tickets to anywhere on the Northern network, for a fare of well under £5- an intentional track fatality involving a member of the public) . Only the other week (again from Northern) I got an £80 refund on a £12 fare for a 3 hour delay.

Thanks for the great trip report! Thanks for the heads up about the Isabella Plantion and Ham House! I see a return visit to Richmond in my future to see them - they sound right up my alley. I hope you enjoyed Ted Lasso on the way home - lol.

Sounds like you had a great trip! I was there but left on the 19th as you were on your way. I had one day the week before you arrived (the day I changed hotels because two friends were arriving to meet me) where I had tube trouble (District line closed) and after two failed attempts to get across town, I gave up and took a cab. Lol.

I didn’t see anywhere close to what I had wanted to, so I am sure there will be another trip at some point.

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. We were in London this past September. We did not have glorious weather, but we had a very nice time. I had booked a fairly well located hotel near the Waterloo train station. We were effected by a tube strike the first couple days of our time in London. There was some good advance notice. People thought it would be settled by the time I got to London, but, alas, it wasn't. Because of the advance notice, I structured my first day to not need any transportation. We did a lot of walking but at least we got to see what we wanted to see that day.

I have to wonder how often there are tube strikes?

In terms of hotels, I found them so expensive that I booked a nonrefundable rate with Premier Inn. It did save me a lot of money and I used a credit card that did offer some protection for cancellation.

there may have been a charge to « eat in » as opposed to take away. Not sure though, but they did ask whether I intended to eat in or not.

The price is the same, but they'll put the food on a tray rather than in a bag if you're eating in.

edit; I doubted myself after I wrote this and found it's not strictly true, on reminding myself with a Google. Some takeaway cold food is not subject VAT (tax) at 20% so the price may indeed be different.

What a great trip report, thanks so much!

Thank you for a great trip report. Next year I am taking my 50-year old sister to Europe for her first time. Since I have been to London a lot, your report gave me some great new places to see that I think my sister would enjoy.

Thanks for sharing, glad you had such a nice time here!

Regarding different prices for takeaway food, what Gerry says is correct- VAT is charged when you eat in but not takeaway, so you will see the eat-in price is always 20% more. You'll find this at all chain restaurants where you can eat in or take away, even coffee shops- e.g. if you get a muffin they will charge you 20% more to eat it in due to tax regulations.

KB, sounds like a lovely trip! My friend and I were in London April 20-22, so we also had to navigate the Tube Strike. Funny enough, my friend was actually on the London Walks Tour (Queen's 100th birthday) that you were on the morning of April 21. I got her to Green Park and made sure she was situated with the group and then left. When we met up later that afternoon, she also said that Claire was a bit disorganized, didn't want to take credit cards, and that one person signed up 15 minutes prior and she didn't have their name. My friend bought chocolates at the shop you all visited and the box they came in was so cute! Luckily our London Walks tour that evening (pub walk in Covent Garden) with Andy redeemed my enthusiasm for LW tours as we had a lovely time with our small group (only 7 other people) and chatted with them.

While you all were on that walk, I actually was at the King's Gallery seeing the Queen Elizabeth II fashion exhibit. I thought it was absolutely fantastic! I was stunned by the level of detail and beauty seeing them so close-up. I'm glad you really liked the exhibit as well!!

I'm not sure what my friend spent to get to Heathrow in a car (she left before I did), but my Uber was $97 USD. It seemed worth it to not have to figure out how to get to Paddington for the Elizabeth Line or Heathrow Express.