london 2009 October

After a successful trip to Manchester, I felt London deserved a second chance. Sometime in August, I gave it a second chance by booking my return for 2009 October 15-20. The trip would be half the length, would include no planned afternoon doings, would have targeted places to do, and would, hopefully, have some input from acquaintances from Facebook. With each passing day at work, the ultimate aim of the trip was simple :: RELAX & HAVE FUN.

The worst part of traveling is the actual traveling bit. To that end, nothing was that bad, really. Continental took me between EWR and LHR easily enough. Transport for London took me between LHR4 and near the hotel as easily as expected. [Save the interchange, and carrying the bags up and down stairs.]

The hotel where I stayed was featured a travel blog I read. Indeed, the place was quite nice. The room was about the right size for me and was neatly appointed. The staff seemed nice enough, and was mostly accommodating to me during my stay . Things did not start off so well. Check-in was 14h00, I got there about 11h00. No problem, check the bags, explore the city, and return in three hours. Room was still not ready until 14h45. On a Thursday? I was not the only guest waiting past check-in time. The hotel did not seem *that* large. My only other concern was the bath. It would have been swanky had I not noticed two things :: no shower curtain and grout missing from around the tiles. I hope they are ready to repair the ceiling in the restaurant in the lower ground floor, below me. At least, the shower produced hot water quickly and the bath had a towel warmer. It is not to say I would *not* recommend the place. I would. I would ask you to mind your expectations.

I had a plan for the evenings, based on what I read in the mainstream travel guide ‘TimeOut’, based in London, to visit the Vauxhall neighborhood more often than I did. While not largely a bust, it was a change not always worth taking. Royal Vauxhall Tavern was OK on Thursday, when there was no cover, but dismal Friday, when there was. The Eagle was quiet on Thursday, save someone calling me ‘daddy’, but comfortably busy and plenty fun Friday. The Hoist was quiet Sunday. This probably made it seem more ‘stand-off-ish’ than I felt justified the crowd. Though, seeing as much as I did of as few as I did certainly made the scene nicer. RVT was the only place in which I chatted with no one at all.

Soho was where I predominantly hung-out evenings. Primarily, it was in two places, Compton’s and Duke of Wellington, both within half a block of each other. Compton’s was my primary haunt last time. The facility changed in the past 6.5 years, but the crowd did not. It was still a mixed crowd. The Welly had a similar crowd, though in a much smaller space. It was more intmate. I enjoyed being in both places.

The feature event of the weekend had to be XXL on Saturday. The place as a bit to find, being it was not exactly near a tube station. Once found, it was incredible. I describe it as a typical club night with a disproportionate number of very non-twinky people. My kind of crowd.  There was all sorts of dancing and all sorts of spaces. I made sure I was in as many as I could. I was a happy-happy fatty. ^_^ A definite go-to on the return visit to London.

The Welly I visited for only one reason :: ‘free’ Wifi. It was the only place I got Wifi. as they charged for it at the hotel. This meant the Welly was the only place I could check email, Facebook, Grindr, et c. on a regular basis. There were only a few times I engaged data roaming while in London, often to try finding my way through Vauxhall, though tossing the occasional tweet was in order. I tried limiting my Wifi usage at the Welly proportional to the amount I was drinking, to be fair to them.

Did I do anything in the afternoons? Not really. I pretty much walked aimlessly through the city centre, trying to find every nook and cranny I could. This trip was not about the museums and galleries. I probably was down every street in Soho, and found shops where I did not think there would be. I made only three trips out of the centre. I tried finding the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC, for which I failed, since I went one stop too far, thinking I could not get the stadium from the original stop. I could, as the map outside that station described. I still got a jersey at the fan shop next to the station. I tried finding the construction site for the next summer Olympics, London 2012. While there is alot of advertising for it at the station, there is not much to see other than the shell of the new Olympic stadium, since it is in a former industrial estate. From what I see, it is going to be huge. The east end neighborhood seems like a nice, working-class neighborhood, at least. The last of them was a visit to Harrod’s. I visited the Oxford Street department stores last time. I knew of Harrod’s reputation. It did not disappoint. It is certainly the all-encompassing menagerie advertised, and a bit over-the-top. It was what I expected.

The only drama of the trip came ‘courtesy’ of a foreigner, claiming to be Brazilian, in London working long hours, who became entirely too aggressive. I tried being nice. I tried making a run for it. He approached me trying to relieve myself. I told him, ‘ NO!, you are too aggressive!’ He sulked away. Thankfully, I did not see him again. I checked to see if he did not ‘mark his territory’, and he had not. The rest were minor dramas. Even the hotel stuff was minor.

Overall, this trip went as well as I expected. It would have been nice to meet some one my Facebook friends, or connect more socially with someone I chatted with while there, or find more different places to hang out, or had a plan to do something more mentally-engaging afternoons. Or, heaven forbid, received instead of given. On thing is for certain, the trip was just long enough, and was just what I needed. It also gave to me a much better perspective on London. It may warrant a return trip. I just wish I had enough money do make a return trip more often to more places I already visited.