My U.K. Adventure – Part Three, Going to London

I woke up in Bristol after a day of exploring the nooks and crannies of that town super excited to start the day. I was relieved to see that it wasn’t pouring rain for the moment as I intended to walk the mile and a half to the bus stop. I jumped in the shower, got repacked, checked out of the hotel, and got on my way. While heading to the bus stop, I got to walk through the shopping section of town – which made for some interesting window shopping while I walked. Usually, actual shopping is out of the question when I’m traveling because I like to travel as light as possible. This trip, I only had a carry-on roller bag and my laptop backpack with me and even that felt excessive after a previous two-week trip that I did out of standard sized backpack.

I had pre-booked a MegaBus ticket from Bristol to London Victoria station for only 5 pounds, which I thought was a hell of a deal. Although I love taking trains, I couldn’t pass up that price. The MegaBus doesn’t use the central Bristol station but instead loads/unloads at a lay-by off of a main road. It was pretty easy to find and I was glad I had left the hotel when I did because as soon as I got to the bus, it started raining pretty hard again. The bus driver got my suitcase stowed and I climbed aboard. I was a ball of nervous energy. I couldn’t believe that after decades of dreaming about it, I was finally going to London.

I think every traveler, when they’re just starting to dream about destinations of journeys they want to take someday, has a touchstone that occupies most of the daydreams. For some people, it’s Paris, others New York City. For me, it had been London from a very early age, ever since I saw a photo of a double-decker bus in front of Big Ben. The more I read about London, the more it grew in importance in my mind until it was one of the last big cities in Europe that I hadn’t been to. I don’t know of any other reason why I hadn’t gone other than I was worried that having built it up in my mind for so long, that it wouldn’t live up to my exceedingly high expectations (and the high exchange rate of pounds for dollars probably didn’t help, especially when you’re a traveler of limited means).

The bus pulled away and we were off into the countryside before I knew it. I gazed out the window, silently baa’ing every time I saw sheep (seriously, what is with that? Do other people baa when they see sheep?) and delighting in seeing tiny villages. In the States, we often don’t have compact little villages but endless sprawl of suburbs so the scenery was particularly “foreign” to my eyes. The weather improved dramatically the further east we traveled. Soon, it was sunny and clear. Although the journey was scheduled to take three hours, I was surprised when we pulled into the western fringes of London two hours in. I thought we would be early. I was wrong… As we wound through the streets, we suddenly were in more traffic than I had seen since I landed. But the route that the bus took to Victoria Coach Station gave me glimpses of Pimlico neighborhoods and finally, the Thames as we drove parallel to it for a few miles.

We pulled into Victoria Coach Station right on schedule and I jumped out, grabbed my suitcase, and walked like I knew how to get to the Tube Station (I didn’t know where I was going but followed the herd figuring that there was a good chance they knew where they were going). A month before my departure, I had purchased a Visitor Oyster Card, which was probably one of the best decisions I could have made. I bought it pre-loaded with 30 pounds and the way it works is that you swipe your card at the entrance and exits of the Tube stations to pay for your ride. You can also use it on buses as well so you don’t need to fumble around with coins. The other cool thing about the Visitor version of the Oyster Card is that it sets a daily cap on what you have to pay. You can travel unlimited number of times on the Tube or buses in Zones 1 and 2 (the zones most tourists will never leave – I never left Zone 1) and you will only be charged 6.60 pounds on your card. The daypass that you can buy is over 12 pounds, so you can save nearly half.  There’s some other discounts and stuff that come along with it. The best part is that you can hit the ground running as soon as you arrive.

I swiped my Oyster Card and entered the Victoria Tube station. My last action before leaving my hotel wifi in Bristol was to see what I needed to do to get from the Victoria station to my hotel. Fortunately, it was super easy – jump on the Victoria line to King’s Cross, which is what I did. I was actually really excited to ride the Tube, which sounds hilarious that I’m all excited about public transportation. But it’s pretty rare in the U.S. to have decent public transportation options. Very few cities have a network like London – New York City and San Francisco being the most obvious examples of good transit options in the States. Austin’s public transportation caters to neighborhoods that you, as a visitor, wouldn’t necessarily want to travel to. Our train line doesn’t even go to the airport. And we certainly don’t have a melodious female voice telling us to “mind the gap”.

At King’s Cross station, I walked underground for what seemed like a few miles before making it to the street exit. Despite my amazing sense of direction, I walked a block in one direction before I felt like I was going the wrong way. The lovely thing about London is that they have maps on poles that show you the surrounding area and which direction you are facing. I ended up turning around and after a very short walk, was quickly standing in front of my next hotel, Point A King’s Cross.

I had arrived… in London, no less.