Africa Great Migration, Ireland, England 2019: 3 - Carrickfergus to London

Saturday, July 6, 2019

Patrick and Mickey were at the hotel in the morning to drive us to the station, and then they rode with us on the train to Belfast, ensuring we were in the right line for the train to Dublin. It seemed as long as we had the cousins around everything went smoothly, but as soon as we parted things started coming apart.

Our 11:45 AM train finally got underway at 12:35. We had planned to eat lunch on the train, so when the cart came by it turned out everything I wanted had to be purchased in the bar car, four coaches ahead. I asked the girl if she could push her cart back to I could get by, but apparently the carts only roll one way so I had to wait until she had served everyone else in our car. By then we had stopped at another station and hundreds of people swarmed aboard. Every seat was filled, some who were quick found enough floor space in the aisle to sit, but most were crammed together standing. There was no way to leave our seat for food, drink, washrooms or anything else. One of the people sitting in a previously empty seat beside me looked as me curiously as I photographed the mob, so I explained I was taking photos to compare to the trains in India, however the trains in India were much less crowded!

The air conditioning was not holding up against the mass of humanity and it was hot and sticky. People had brought food and drinks and the smell was not pleasant. I have never been so anxious to get off a train.

After a long walk we found a taxi stand, however there were no taxis and the line waiting for them was a block long. As soon as one stopped there was a surge towards it. Apparently main streets are tied up because of a demonstration of an offshoot of the gay rights movement and vehicles, including taxis, can't get around.

We made our way across the street where I had seen taxis turning, but no more came so Marilynn wanted to go back to the taxi queue. It was still not moving so we finally made the sensible decision to cross the street again where there was a pub. After a couple of drinks the world seemed a better place, and the taxi line had only a few people. We finally got a ride to the Maldron Hotel, near the airport. The hotel turned out to be a mistake. Tiny rooms, terrible service in the pub, tables not cleaned, and dinner was mediocre but expensive. It is a medium low end hotel charging like it was five star.

Sunday, July 7, 2019

We caught the hotel shuttle at 4:40 AM to the airport. Security was fierce, they took everything apart. We missed the BA lounge, and by the time we got directions we were too far from it to walk back. The flight was on time and they serviced a good breakfast. Heathrow was quick and efficient for arrivals, and we then settled in for a 3 hour wait for Pat Martin, flying in from Canada to join us. She arrived on time, and a taxi got us first to a money changer to buy British Pounds and then to our very nice two bedroom apartment near Canary Wharf.

Our first mission was to walk to the shopping centre in Canada Place, about three blocks away to buy breakfast food at Tesco. It was a long haul back with three heavy bags. Once settled we were told it was about a 10 minutes walk to the Grape Pub, however we finally got a taxi. We learned that for a 10 minute walk, figure half an hour. It was a cute little pub with a small rickety wharf over the Thames. The only problem was they don't serve food on Sunday.

They recommended another pub "10 minutes" away, so we called a taxi. The Providence was a much larger pub, with a number of seats along the river, and yes, they had food – but the wait would be at least an hour. We were not about to search further, so drank the time away. The food was pretty good when it finally came, however Pat got served first and was completely finished before ours appeared after several appeals to management. A taxi then got us back to the apartment.

Monday, July 8, 2019

After an easy start we made our way to the train. There were no employees in the station, and we could not figure out how to buy tickets so we just boarded. A train employee came on the train and explained to us that we had to buy an Oyster Card to use trains and the tube. We rode to the end of the train line at the Tower of London and right across the street found the hop on hop off bus. Apparently we had to have our tickets validated at Victoria Station, but the fellow was kind and let us ride there on the bus. The tour was great.

We finally found the place to get the proper tickets, and in the station the ladies found a shop who got Pat's phone working on her local number before we had a pub lunch. Another ride took us to Trafalgar Square where we wandered around for awhile then hopped another bus to go the the wheel (called the "London Eye"), which we finally got on after interminable lines to get our prepaid "fast track" tickets validated. We were lucky, as there was a large group of young people following us, so we had one of the large bubbles to ourselves and about 4 other people – there was loads of room to sit, or to wander around a take photos.

Another bus got us back to Tower Station, where we had drinks at a pub. Pat was tired of pub food so Marilynn made a reservation at what was to be a nearby restaurant. It turned into a major hike – my replaced knee was giving me problems so I had to rest often. We walked across Tower Bridge, and after asking directions finally found the place. We had a great bottle of wine, but no one liked the food, and the price was very high. In spite of this, the place was packed.

Their reception refused to call a taxi for us because we were in a no vehicle area, but after our chorus of complaints got very loud the manager went a got a taxi, came and got us and led us back to where the taxi was parked. I was too tired to take the train, so instead of going back to the station we went to our apartment. One good side effect was that the taxi driver knew someone who would pick us up at 4 AM to take us to the airport on Friday for a flat rate of 80 pounds – 35 pounds less than the taxi into the city on arrival.

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

The women headed out after a late start to see the crown jewels in the Tower of London. I opted not to go, still sore from the long lines and the walking yesterday and have been there previously anyhow. They spent hours in the tower and loved it. Apparently with the new internal tours it is easy to make a day of it.

In the evening we took the tube to Victoria Station, which is across the street from the Apollo Victoria Theatre where the musical Wicked was playing. We had great seats, three rows behind the orchestra pit. The performance and intermission was three hours – there was a standing ovation from the audience at the end. The singing was very good.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

This morning we phoned the Kenya embassy, as we had all paid for our Kenya visas on line and although credit cards were instantly charged no visas were sent. We were told it was probably a scam, although it was on the official Kenya website. We were instructed to buy them again on arrival in Nairobi.

I chose to stay in the apartment, as I have had the runs for the last while. Marilynn and Pat headed off on the hop on hop off bus and had a great day in Carnaby Street, Buckingham Palace and walking through central London. I walked through the giant mall where we first bought food – there must be a thousand stores plus a train station. After picking up some essentials and a couple of books I tried a duck burger, first food in two days, and got through half of it. My computer crashed in the afternoon, not great news.

We all got together to walk to a delightful riverside Chinese Restaurant called Royal China, right on the riverbank, for dinner. The food was superb and the service excellent. The ladies went for a walk along the riverbank, finding a shortcut to the pub we took a taxi to the first night.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

I let the battery die on my computer and was delighted to see it boot back up this morning. We went through the last of the breakfast food, laundry was done and other preparations for our departure tomorrow. We took the tube to Victoria Station to get Pat ticketed for the tube trip to the airport tomorrow, then took a bus to the Wellington Pub in front of the famous Savoy Hotel. After eating we walked to the Gillian Lynne Theatre, where School of Rock was playing. It wasn't at all what we expected, the cast was largely very talented children, but the music by Lloyd Andrew Webber was not up our expectations.

We found our way to the Covent Garden tube station to get back to our apartment. Tomorrow we will be picked up 4:30 AM for our flights to Nairobi, Kenya.