From Scotland we drove back to Central England to return the rental car. We spent a night at a unique AirBnB, on a small boat in Midlands. We chose this spot in part for its uniqueness, but also because it was very close to Midlands airport, out of which we would be flying early in the morning on our way to London to wind down our tour of Europe.
London was fascinating, with a lot to see. It’s a large city, but reasonably easy to navigate via the subway (the “tube”), buses and on foot. With a week to explore on our own, we felt that we got to see all the highlights we wanted to.
It was mid-October when we were in London. Although the number of tourists typically starts to dwindle in September after the summer high season, we still found many places crowded. I like to tell people the photo below was our only view of the Changing of the Guard. That’s not entirely true, but it does illustrate the crowds we encountered.
We enjoyed visiting museums in London, especially since many offer free admission. Of course they are also nice because as well-known museums in a large city, they are able to acquire some of the most sought-after works of art. Van Gogh is consistently one of my favorite artists, and I enjoyed seeing a number of his works.
In an unscientific survey of costs during our travels, we would say that Copenhagen and Zurich were the most expensive cities we visited in Europe. Prague was the least expensive. Berlin was somewhere in between. London was not as expensive as Copenhagen and Zurich, but is was certainly not inexpensive. One thing that seemed expensive in London was transportation. In order to visit my cousin on the outskirts of London, we took a public bus plus a train for a portion of the trip, and the total cost was the equivalent of about $72 US for two of us to make the round trip. Many people make this commute daily to work in the city, so this must be quite expensive on an annual basis.
A note about traveling in London – if you ever find yourself flying to or from the Stansted area, I highly recommend the Hampton by Hilton London Stansted Airport for its convenience. You could almost say it is located inside the airport. Actually it is across the street, but it is within easy walking distance, mostly via a covered walkway that protects you from the weather. We had an early morning flight, and staying at the Hampton Stansted ensured that we would be on time. I would also give a shout out to the hotel staff, who were some of the best we’ve encountered at Hampton Inn. They made it a truly great experience for our brief stay.
