London Day 1

Well we arrived at Kings Cross Station about 15 minutes late. The countryside, towns and cities passed by at incredible speed but despite the speed we got a good view and saw some pretty interesting things; rolling hills and farms, fishing ponds surrounded by weekend fisherman (each with their own fishing stand) and allotment after allotment. The trip was comfortable and relatively stress free except for a few problems with the internet trying to send an email to Mornington School and updating the blog. But then having Wi Fi on the train was pretty good! I can’t understand why you would fly when you have access to such a good and fast train service although I may be being slightly romantic.

Before arriving at Kings Cross the train rolls through suburbs and small stations for about 10 minutes so you do not get a sense that you are coming into a big city. However once off the train the station is all bustle and noise then you walk out onto Euston Road!

After wandering around looking for a tourist information centre and failing we decided to set off in the direction of our hotel and stop for food on the way. Once again Jeeves came to our rescue (he has a walking mode that we haven’t quite mastered yet) and we were pleasantly surprised that our Hotel in Cartwright Garden was 500m from Kings Cross Station and a 10 minute walk from Trafalgar Square. So we booked in and then went off eating, exploring, more eating, more exploring and then some drinking. Although we need to admit that we still haven’t found the tourist information Centre :-)

Tomorrow we are going to explore London from the Big Red Bus. London is a bit different from what we imagined it would be mainly because it is hard to see the whole city at once and the narrow street and 3 – 4 story building enclose you so you are only aware of your immediate surroundings.

Had a look on the net and have just found out that “flights are cancelled at all BAA airports until 19:00, Monday 19 April at the earliest. This is due to volcanic ash spreading across the UK from Iceland which has caused restrictions to be placed on the use of UK airspace by the air traffic control service (NATS). Passengers due to fly should not travel to BAA airports but should contact their airlines for re-ticketing information.” So a 16:30 Tuesday departure is looking more and more unlikely. On the upside BA, Lufthansa and Berlin Airlines have had test flights up today and the data is being assessed and then the EU Ministers will met (by video conference of course) to decide on next steps. The British Gov't are considering using the Navy to bring stranded Brits home.

I did ring the travel insurance people to check up on our insurance, what we are covered for and the process for claiming should the worst happen so we are now happy that we will be looked after.