London Calling
On March 10th, 2020, I purchased a ticket from BOS—>LHR for 2 Sep returning via DUB—>BOS on 16 Sep for $245; the same day, a state of emergency was declared in Massachusetts. Seven days later, everything was as close to completely shut down as it’s ever been.
I cancelled that trip because it was the smart, safe thing to do. Since then, I’ve been dying to go overseas again but couldn’t seem to work up the chutzpah (if you will). Cut to Brendon Urie announcing the literal end of Panic! at the Disco. I checked their tour dates and London was calling.. so I said okay, let’s go!
Now, my dog, Bentley, basically goes where I go, whenever possible. Naturally I had him microchipped in preparation for my next #EUROTRIP but unfortunately I didn’t read everything closely enough - the UK is a rabies free island and is therefore quite strict on requirements. Bentley needed to be vaccinated after the microchip placement, and greater than twenty one days prior to departure. Oops. Luckily I made a symbiotic arrangement with a friend from the old neighborhood and he’s on a vacation of his own!
After packing everything but my neck pillow, I set off on the red-eye. I’ve been boycotting neck pillows - the space they occupy could be used for a pair of shoes! The headrests on airplane seats are flexible (go ahead, test it out) and that has suited my needs on my last several flights. That being said, a four hour flight is not quite a seven hour red-eye.. BRING THE NECK PILLOW (I’m still not right and it’s been three days).
Easy train ride from Heathrow to Whitechapel on the Elizabeth line and the hotel had a room ready for me (and I hadn’t even requested early check in!). I was able to shower, change, and spend a bit of time planning - definitely made zero plans ahead of time other than the concert tickets.
Before long I was off for afternoon tea! A place called Roast in Borough Market had a reservation available and at a decent price. Afternoon tea is something I hadn’t done and was suggested to me by my friend Hannah, who also asked her dear old dad if I was okay staying in this section of London (he used to live here). She was supremely helpful because she also threw out a Jack the Ripper tour idea (I followed through and it SLAYED).
Anyway, after some mulled wine in the market I had my first afternoon tea and met four different people! A woman from Singapore, a girl named Emily from Houston doing a study abroad in Prague, and a couple named Shay and Michael from Dallas! Shay & Michael were my age so we exchanged numbers and planned to hang out the following evening.
I was pretty tired so after tea I took a train ride to Kennington to look for Greg Davies, had a few pints at a few pubs, and then headed back to the hotel for a ten hour sleep.
