Farewell London

The time came to say goodbye to London, the City I love, and it comes only second to Melbourne in my favorite cities list. It’s the ‘other’ place I feel most at home and it both enthralls me and frustrates me. So there is always a pang of sadness when I leave London but all holidays come to an end.

I checked out of the hotel but left my bags so that I could hop on the Tube into Embankment Station and do the short walk up the alleyway that is Villiers Street (where Rudyard Kipling lived no less) onto Charing Cross, over the road and onto Trafalgar Square to pop into the National Gallery. There is a knack to working out whether there is a point to jumping the lines on the Underground to get to a station or stay on one line and walk the often short distances to your destination. The illusion of the

geography of the streets being aligned with the layout of the Tube as depicted on Beck’s map is a great deception. You can spend ten or fifteen minutes getting off a train and changing lines, traversing the labyrinthine passageways and tunnels only to find when you emerge from the other train that your destination was exactly halfway between the station you changed at and the station you ascended from. Leicester Square Station on the Piccadilly Line for instance is about five minutes’ walk from Charing Cross which is a changeover to the Northern Line (and one of the least regular of the Tube lines). Doing this changeover would take about six minutes plus a three minute ride and then a couple of minutes to get out of the station.

Anyway just a tip for you.

Did a quick round of the Gallery checking out the range of Constables then the Monet’s, a Van Gogh or two before hopping on the bus to St Paul’s to grab a little knick knack I’d spotted on my visit earlier. I was surprised by how quickly time was getting on so did a quick wander to the Millennium Bridge for some photos and back to grab the bus back to Paddington.

Tip number 2: If baffles me how many people fork out a minor fortune (or at least the price of a reasonable meal) to hop on the ‘Big Bus’ in London (currently about $60AUD)and whisk around all the tourist traps, sorry interesting spots. OK there is the ferry cruise and a couple of other ‘gems’ thrown in but really it’s a waste of money frankly. My tip is on your first morning get yourself down to St Paul’s and have a squiz around the area (the Cathedral – sorry ridiculously priced admittance but worth it just once. Come out and take the little stroll up to Postman’s Park and be touched, amused and enchanted by the plaques to unsung everyday heroes. You can walk about six minutes to the Tower and/or the Monument from here but I’d save those up for a day of their own and include the Museum of London and the Roman Wall. From Postman’s Park walk back through St Paul’s garden and have a look at the Millennium Bridge, walk over it if you like and see the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe). After completing your squizzing there is a bus stop across from the Cathedral where I recommend hopping on the Number 23 bus. This bus takes you along Fleet Street, past the Inns of the Court and the former newspaper headquarters, onto the Strand, passing Aldwych, Kings College, Australia House, Somerset House, the Savoy eventually getting to Charing Cross. We move on from there passing Trafalgar Square around the Haymarket up to Piccadilly Circus and onto Regent Street turning into Oxford Street, out past Marble Arch and onto Paddington Station. It’s a great trip and for forty minutes you’ll see just about all you need to see to orientate yourself…and all for about three pounds! There’s even a chance of getting a front seat upstairs which is a bonus for photos and thrills (oh those dumb pedestrians playing chicken with the traffic).

Anyway I was back at the hotel around 12.45 and collected my bags for the Heathrow Connect to the airport. Another tip for you: Both the Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect run to Paddington. The Express runs direct and takes about 15 minutes and costs around 20 pound; the Connect stops at four or five stops on the way in , takes forty minutes and costs 9 pound 50p. You can also take a Tube District Line which is about an hour trip stopping at all stops and you have a selection of stations to get off at which might take you close to hotels or friend's/family BUT it's also likely this option will mean a change at Earl's Court where you'll need to negotiate stairs to get to the line you want. If you're changing to Piccadilly Line I'd suggest Hammersmith to changeover as it's the same platform, no stairs.

Check in all went ok and eventually I was on the fairly full Dreamliner and off to Brunei. Again good fortune gave me a seat in a three seat row and the middle one empty. The way to go, trust me. The Dubai stopover gave us a bit more time to explore this round but I was most surprised by how expensive the Duty Free shops were.

I was just on the point of being royally frustrated by the flight when we touched down at 5.00 local time in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei Darussalam.