England Archives - Wandering North

Europe Oslo weekend 2023 United Kingdom

London Layover in Little Venice

A Swift Exit for a Quick Visit

It was Easter weekend and I had decided to go to Oslo from Vancouver for a long weekend. For reasons that I’ll explain in another post, that long weekend trip became much shorter than I had intended; but this post is about London, and one option for how to spend a layover of about 6 hours.

I love London layover. Heathrow is close enough to the city that even with a short layover (provided you’re efficient about getting through the airport) you can go into London and do something lovely. Usually, I won’t do that unless I have about an 8 hour layover, but on this occasion I had six and a half hours, but I was determined to do something. I just little research and discovered that without venturing too far from Paddington station I could visit a neighbourhood that I had previously ignored: Little Venice.

The key to getting through Heathrow successfully for a quick layover into London is being efficient and planning. I always sit as close to the front of the airplane as possible, without sitting in business class, so I can get off the plane quickly. I travel with carry-on luggage, So I don’t have to transfer any luggage through security. In this case, I was travelling with a very small under seat backpack so I didn’t even need to leave it at the left luggage office at the airport; I could just breeze through and get on the train. Once I’m in the airport, I never for any reason; I just power walk my way right through security (having a Canadian passport helps so I can use the machines instead of having to speak to the guards), and I splurge on the London Heathrow Express ticket (I pre-purchase it online), which is just a little bit faster than the regular train. From the time the plane touched down to the time that I arrived at Paddington station was less than an hour.

The Heathrow Express will take you right to Paddington station in about 15 minutes, and from there you can get the Tube from the Paddington underground station to anywhere. But this time, I thought rather than getting on the tube to go somewhere else, I would just explore the area around Paddington.

Little Venice

When I lived in London, I was unaware of the area around Paddington as being anything special, but it is now apparently called Little Venice due to the fact that there are two canals that converge there. It’s a small but pleasant neighbourhood; relatively affluent with the usual shops cafes and pubs to poke around in, but the real treat is wandering along the canals. There are some small statues and clever bridges and newer buildings; but the best thing are the waterways themselves and the boats on them you can rent a boat or go on a boat tour, and spend your afternoon sailing around the canals, (not something that I’d recommend for a very short layover), or you could just admire them as you sit and have coffee on the path alongside the water, or you can have a fabulous lunch at any one of the of the boats or barges that have been converted into charming restaurants including one that is entirely devoted to cheese. On a sunny day it is a perfect place to wander around.

*Little Venice boat and a group of ladies who brunch*

Beyond the canals

I think even had I had a shorter layover it would have been great to have come there and just walked along the canal and had a coffee and a bite to eat, but I ended up with more time than anticipated so I wandered around a little bit more over to Hyde Park and passed some of the beautiful Regency buildings and smaller parks. It was springtime and the flowers were blooming and the sun shining. I poked into a few of the mewses and tried not to annoy the people that lived there as I took a few pictures of their picturesque streets.

Some shots of a lovely spring day in London

Back to Heathrow

And that was that. I spent a couple of hours walking around, had a coffee and a falafel, and then I made my way back to Heathrow for my connecting flight to Oslo. Going back was equally quick and efficient. I could have stayed longer in London but I’m always a little bit anxious about getting back to the airport with more than enough time. After all, I wanted to enjoy some airport lounge time. It all felt very decadent. And from there I was on to Oslo for what would be the shortest international trip of my life.

Azerbaijan trip 2019 England United Kingdom

One Night in London

I ended my trip to Azerbaijan with a night In London. I lived in London for a bit after high school, but since then I have only visited for daytime layovers. I was thrilled to spend the night.

I stayed in Soho. I spent the afternoon wandering around past the parks, squares, and sights. It was so crowded. The Tube was a nightmare, the streets a sea of people walking slower than I would like, but I loved it. So familiar, historic, and exciting.

I went to James Fox’s for a cigar and then ate some street food, sitting on the steps on St Martins. I decided to see a show and spontaneously bought a ticket to Night of the Iguana starring Clive Owen in the West End.

How amazing that anything is available to satisfy any whim.

After the show I grabbed a falafel and walked around. The pubs and bars will spilling out on to the street with queues and smokers. Everything looked inviting, but I was exhausted, so I went to bed.

The next morning I got up super early for a walk before returning to the airport and home. It was kind of incredible. On that early Sunday morning the streets and squares were empty. There was no traffic. No tourists. No buskers. It was almost eerie, like everyone had been the victim of an apocalyptic event, but it was also peaceful.

It was just one night in London but it made me wish that I still lived there, or at least think that I should spend more time there than just a layover.

Azerbaijan trip 2019 England Europe United Kingdom

London Layover

I decided to go to Azerbaijan because I had about 10 days of holiday to use and I had loved a previous trip to neighbouring Georgia so much that I thought it was time I returned to the Caucasus.

There really is no quick way to Azerbaijan, so I flew from Vancouver to London, from London to Moscow, and Moscow to Baku. Mercifully, I had a nine hour layover in London. Any shorter and I would have been at the airport. So I went into London for the afternoon. I wanted to walk a different area from the past few times I was there, so I decided to walk the South Bank of the Thames.

I took the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then the tube to Westminster.

Big Ben’s tower was covered in scaffolding but I caught an over the shoulder look at the parliament buildings as I crossed the bridge. Turning onto the boardwalk, I suddenly thought I had made a terrible mistake. It was so crowded. Like shoulder-to-shoulder, shuffling along crowded. But I didn’t have a bunch of time, so I didn’t want to waste time changing gears and map consulting, so I pressed through. Fortunately it got better.

The worst of the crowds were at the beginning the walk, around the London Eye, Dungeon and Aquarium, then they thinned out. I can’t think of many things i would like to do less than go on the London Eye. Packed i to sealed glass pods with a bunch of sweaty strangers as you move slowly in a circle. My biggest gripe is the slow speed, followed by being sealed up in glass (in the heat), followed by the sweaty strangers. It occurred to me though that I would enjoy a ferris wheel if it was open at the top so you could have a breeze, and there were tables with seating for two in each, then you could order cocktails from your phone and pick then up at the bottom as you circled by. Cigar friendly, of course. This is a great idea. Get on it, someone.

Anyway, once the crowds lessened, it was a perfect walk. There were buskers, a skate park, a book market, street art, and wonderful views.

I got a burrito from a food truck and just strolled along.

I didn’t have time to visit any of the attractions, but just the fact that on one short walk I walked past all the stuff on the street that I did, but could have just popped in to see world class art at the Tate or visited Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, is amazing.

I waled to the London Bridge, catching glimpses of St. Paul’s, the Shard, the millennium bridge, and the Tower of London on the way.

I walked to A nearby Tube station and went to Green Park, where I popped in to the excellent tobacconist James J. Fox and enjoyed a Montecristo Linea 1935 in their upstairs lounge.

Leaving there, I strolled a bit more before returning to the airport, with plenty of time.

It was a perfectly pleasant afternoon and nicely broke up the long flights to Baku.

England Europe Scotland United Kingdom

An Afternoon in London, Or ‘How Solo Travel Has Made Me A Bit Of A Jerk’

Scotland wasn’t on my travel list. It looked lovely, but these days I crave destinations that are more far-flung and a little dangerous maybe. I can’t stand it when I tell people where I am going and they have their own suggestions. “Oh you must go to this restaurant.” Et cetera. Scotland was one of those destinations. Plus, as of writing, it isn’t an independent country, so I don’t even get the satisfaction of going to a new country. Not that that is the reason I travel, but I do like lists.

So when I said to my mother, “Would you like to take another international trip with me?” and she said “Scotland” I was fine with it, but not excited. I stifled the urge to say something like, “What about Algeria? Or Bangladesh?” Instead I got to planning.

Scotland actually has a lot of charming places, green walks, and oodles of castles. It is historic and picturesque. Choosing the right places for a 9 day trip was tough. In the end we didn’t want to spend too much time traveling all over the country, so I just picked a few destinations: a day’s layover in London, a few days in Edinburgh, a day or two in Wigtown, to Stirling, and a day trip to Glasgow.

My mum and I hadn’t traveled together since we went to Peru about 4 years prior and I hadn’t traveled with anyone since. I’m not going to lie: traveling with someone is more difficult for me than traveling solo. There are discussions. Constant discussions. Discussions about where and when to eat, where to walk, when to stop, which train to take, et cetera. Mercifully, my mother pretty much defers to what I want to do, but out of the need to be (or to appear to be) considerate, there are discussions that must be had.

The first of those discussions happened when we had our layover in London. I’ve been to London. I lived there. But Luba (my mother) had not, so I was excited to show her around the places I used to work and hang out.

I planned a walk around some of the main sights. We got a bit into the walk, though St. James Park, past Buckingham Palace, down the Mall, through Trafalgar Square, to Covent Garden and Soho, and there were plans for more, but we ran out of steam. She hadn’t slept on the plane (a red eye flight from Vancouver) and, while I had, I was tired and cranky. Then it started to rain.

Weirdly happy to see these phone box sex adverts are still a thing.
I remember them from the 90s – back when people still used pay phones

We went to a cute little patisserie in Soho, unable to agree where to go next. If I were alone, I would have kept walking, ceaselessly, until it was time to go to the airport, but Luba wasn’t up for that. Neither of us wanted to go back to the airport early, and the rain didn’t want us to sit in a park or on a patio. Day one and we were on the verge of a quarrel. This does not happen when you travel alone.

But then the perfect solution struck me. What is my solace and comfort? My favorite way to pass a quiet and contemplative time? Cigars. I said, “Well, we could walk over to St. James Street and go to the Dunhill cigar lounge. I could smoke and you could read.” Success! We were both happy. As we walked there the clouds parted. I had an extraordinary limited edition Bolivar and Luba read her book.

Both restored, we went for a bit of a circuitous stroll before going back to the airport.

In the end, we didn’t stick to my plan and cover all of the ground in London that I would have had I been alone, but I got to show my mother a bit of London and we ended up having a nice afternoon.

Solo travel has taught me a lot: how to be strong and self-reliant, how to be content with my own company, how to meet people, and how to constantly step out of my comfort zone. But solo travel has also made me a bit selfish, resistant to compromise, and bossy. I want to do what I want to do. I’m not proud of those things, but I am pleased that I can set them aside (more or less) to still enjoy traveling with my mum.

We went back to the airport and took a short and sleepy flight to Edinburgh.

England Ethiopia Trip 2015 Europe United Kingdom

No Place Like London

When i was booking my flight to Ethiopia, i chose the one with the longest possible layover, which was through London. I had about 10 hours. Not a leisurely visit, but more than enough for a good afternoon.

I lived in London briefly from 1994-95 and loved it, but have not been back since. The idea of being back there was exciting and actually being there was awesome. In some small way i was able to tap into the excitement of young me arriving in London for the first time. I couldn’t stop smiling and i just wanted to walk around and see everything.

Of course though, i didn’t have time for everything, so i planned a strategic walk past some key sights and old haunts. I took the train to Westminster and caught a glimpse of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, before walking up to Trafalgar Square.

I was struck by how lovely everything was and how thoroughly British everything is. Almost to the point of cliché. The architecture, monuments, flags, black cabs, red phone booths and double decker buses, chip shops, mind the gap, and every wonderful variation on the British accent you could imagine. Delightful. Trafalgar Square was teeming with people, but the inside of St Martin-in-the-Fields was serene.

The streets were busier than i remembered and there seemed to be more advertising and you can’t smoke everywhere anymore, but all of the stuff i cared about was the same. I wandered in all of the squares and parks i passed, enjoying the flowers and sculptures and meandered through the streets, enjoying the bustle.

Then, i turned down a street and was met with the Dunhill shop. For those of you who don’t smoke, it is a famous tobacconist shop. I went in and it was beautiful and i suddenly became very conscious of the fact that i looked very shabby. I apologized for my attire and immediately began prattling on about cigars and Dunhill and the man working there – with a posh accent and nattily dressed in fine tweeds – could not have been nicer. I picked a Partagas from the walk-in humidor and settled into the lounge, for a smoke and espresso.

The only other guys there were two very handsome and super fancy looking young men, smoking Cohiba Behikes and playing cards, immaculately dressed. We chatted a bit and then i was on my way and discovered that there are in fact 3 more cigars stores on that block. If i hadn’t had a plane to catch i would have spent all day there, but instead i walked past Buckingham Palace, through Piccadilly Circus, the theatre district, Leicester Square, Soho, and Chinatown, before ending at Covent Garden. I didn’t really do anything; i just walked and took everything in. Finally it was time to head back to the Airport.

Tag: England

A Swift Exit for a Quick Visit

Little Venice

Beyond the canals

Back to Heathrow