01-25-2008
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#1 (permalink) |
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beachaholic
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: St Louis
Posts: 374
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London--Quick Trip Report
I found out a few months ago that my company was sending me to London for 11 nights for several train the trainer sessions. I am not a trainer, so I wasn't sure why I was the one going, but it looks like that it may be in my future, lol. Was scheduled to go with my boss and our HR manager. Things have been pretty crazy in my life with opening a new business, working full time, and raising my 16 year old boys, so it wasn't the greatest time to leave for almost 2 weeks...but hey, it's a free trip to Europe and I have never been, so I was looking forward to the trip.
A few weeks before Christmas my boss lost her job and was replaced with someone that I knew by name, but didn't really know well. I had only met HR once, so I was going to be travelling with strangers---which is alright with me, if I want some alone time I wouldn't feel bad about going off on my own or feel obligated to spend all of my free time with them. Got to the STL airport and was happy to bypass the LONG check in line since we were flying 1st/Business Class. Got to the counter and the lady tells me that my flight to Chicago has been cancelled and they tried to call me . Let's see, cell phone--no message, home phone--no message, work phone--no message. I am not sure who they called, but is sure as heck wasn't me! Aparently O'Hare was delayed due to President Bush's visit to the Windy City. Luckily she was able to get me on the next flight to Chicago, so I shouldn't miss my connection to London. At this time HR arrives, I fill her in on what was happening. At this point we had not seen New Boss, so they must have gotten a hold of him . We decided to kill some time drinking margaritas and having some chips/guac. I contemplated asking HR if she would rather get on a plane to Playa instead, but figured my company probably wouldn't appreciate the change in itinerary, lol. Our flight to Chi-town took off late (gotta LOVE American Airlines---all of our flights were delayed on this trip). Got to O'Hare and saw that our flight to London was also pushed back, so we would have some time for a few beers . HR had decided to take off her HR hat and it was fun getting to know her. I was pretty impressed with her alcohol tolerance, she ended up being a great travel companion! Boarded the plane where we proceeded to sit on the tarmac for another hour and a half waiting for connecting passengers. Thank goodness for the nice Business Class seats! I did feel a smidge sorry for the folks in coach, because it was quite stuffy on the plane. Soooo nice to be able to stretch out with some drinks and snacks, get settled, etc. Once we took off the flight was fairly uneventful. We did hit some patches of turbulance, you know the kind where you leave your seat. It was kind of comical watching the wine slosh around on the drink cart though. Woke up to us approaching London at 8:00 am! Landed, was through immigration in about 10 minutes thanks to the fast pass, got our luggage and was out to find a cab in another 20 minutes. Wow---no long line to see if your baggage needed to be searched or anything. One thing I noticed was that the security at Heathrow was not tight at all, nothing like O'Hare or Lambert. My first impression of London was exactly what I thought it would be---drizzly, chilly, and noisy. It was nice driving to the hotel and getting to see a lot of the city. We were staying at the Hilton Docklands and it took awhile and $200 to get there. Our cab driver got lost and took us to the Hilton Canary Wharf instead. Looking back I would have just told him to leave us there, then feign ignorance that we were at the wrong hotel. Finally arrived at the Docklands, couldn't wait to take a quick nap, freshen up, and do a little sightseeing since we didn't have to work until the next day. Here is the first room they gave me.....  While taking this picture I was standing in the doorway. There was about an inch of clearance between the door and the bed. I swear the room was not even 10x10. I am not a snob by any means, but there was no way I could spend 11 nights here. We were given much bigger rooms, which was nice. The people at the hotel were really nice.  Bathroom, funniest thing was that you had to step up like 3 feet to get into the tub/shower. Took awhile to figure out how to turn on the water and get the shower working. Probably just me being dumb .   Views from my window. One thing about this hotel is that it is on the opposite side of the Thames from Canary Wharf where we would be spending most of our time. There was a tube station close, but you could also take the water taxi, which was fun at first. Not so fun when you miss the ferry at 9:00 pm when they are on their dinner break, lol.  View of one of the Hilton Docklands buildings. You could tell the hotel was originally something else, the hallways wind around and are kind of maze-like. You could easily get lost. There are also about 4 buildings which are connected by walkways. After freshening up we decided to jump on the Thames Clipper and go to the Tower of London.   One thing I really love about this city is the contrast between new and old. You will be taking a picture of a 900 year old building and in the same shot is a modern building. By the time we got to the Tower it was too late for a tour, so we just walked around and decided to get some fish and chips. Now, I don't want to offend any of the UK peeps out there, but the food just wasn't very good overall. We DID have some awesome meals, but for the most part it wasn't great. I think that is just my palate though. By the time we got back to the hotel we saw that New Manager had arrived and we made plans for dinner. Met downstairs and took the water taxi over to Zizzi, which is an Italian restaurant. We all had very good brick oven pizza with a few drinks. I didn't take any pictures becuase it was so dark, but it was funny when we got our food. We all ordered a pizza with ham, mushrooms, artichokes and pepperoni. The pizza had a piece of ham, a part with mushroom, a part with pepperoni, and a part with artichokes, all seperate. Here we are used to the toppings being all over the pizza, not in sections, so we all thought it was funny. At this point all of us were tired from jet lag so we decided to call it a night. Had to be up and at the office by 9:00, which is late for us, I normally get to work around 7:00, so I was looking forward to sleeping in. Luckily we caught the ferry before the dinner break  .
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Barb  http://www.playa.info/playa-del-carm...-3-10-8-a.html Link to my girls trip, Oct 07, Luna Encantada |
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01-25-2008
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#5 (permalink) |
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Licence to kill
 Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Shifting Sands
Posts: 5,644
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London is a fantastic city and also a tiring and intense city.
Make sure you get to the museums and galleries. V&A. Britsh Museum, Tate, etc. As for the food, we keep the best for ourselves and serve the rest to foreigners  I've travelled a lot. The UK has great food and bad food like everywhere. I've been to the US and eaten well and also been served total junk. Have fun. |
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01-25-2008
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#6 (permalink) |
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aņejo
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: between the devil and the deep blue sea
Posts: 2,094
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Am loving reading this - seeing as though I live here, work in London a lot and actually used to live down there. Nice work.
Agree with Mindbender though... the food is hit and miss everywhere you go. And trust me, the touristy areas will NOT be where you find the best stuff - that might have been a joke but actually is true! lol |
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01-25-2008
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#8 (permalink) | |
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aņejo
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: between the devil and the deep blue sea
Posts: 2,094
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01-25-2008
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#10 (permalink) |
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beachaholic
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: St Louis
Posts: 374
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Ok, I have to say that I am a VERY basic eater. I do not eat anything with mayo or curry...
 . That left out about 90% of the sandwiches they brought in for lunch during the training classes, lol.We woke up Wednesday morning to a howling wind and light rain, which I found to the norm the first week we were there. We were pretty much tied up in training classes from 9:00 am until 5:00 or 5:30 everyday , so I knew our sightseeing in terms of landmarks was going to be limited to Saturday and Sunday. After the ferry ride and a 10 minute walk we arrived at our office building in Canary Wharf. These were taken a different day--the next week was nice and sunny.    I had to include this third picture because I absolutely loved the cabs! I love that you could fit 5 comfortably using the jump seats. I won't bore anyone with the details of the training class , but I will comment on the lunch they brought in for us. The first three days they brought in sandwiches, which we were unable to identify, lol. It actually went from bad to worse, so we made a habit to running out to the underground malls in the area, which were very cool. They have little sandwich shops, pubs, restaurants, and Starbucks everywhere, it was really neat. This area is fairly new and all of the buildings are really modern. It is where all the big banks are located, HSBC, Citi, BOA, etc. so there is a lot going on.That night we went with a group of 15 to a restaurant called Royal China, right on the Thames River. The food was served family style and was delish! I don't have a lot of pictures from these evenings. That night we came back after many cocktails and got lost in the maze of hotel hallways...here is one by my room..  The next day was pretty much the same, although we had to wait for the ferry because of some fog. At this point we were contemplating moving hotels over to the other side of the river. Our colleagues from Sydney were staying further away and our hotel couldn't accomodate all of us, so we found a different hotel that was within a 7 minute walk of our office. This ended up being a stupid decision because the hotel was a total dump---but more on that later .The two from Sydney were awesome and all 5 of us got along great---by the end you would have thought we had known each other for years! That evening we went to Gaucho, an Argentian steak house, which was also great. My steak was wonderful! They also had some very tasty cocktails  . HR and I at Gaucho, at this point both of us were tired, but seemed to be catching up from our jetlag. The next morning we checked out of the Hilton Docklands and into the Britannia International. Now, I have to say that the Britannia is probably one of the most rundown, dumpy motels I have ever had the displeasure of visiting. I am not picky or snobbish about hotels, I just want good value for my money and cleanliness. We do a lot of traveling for my boys USA Swimming, and in some of the towns we stay in Motel 6, Super 8, and Red Roof Inns, none of which are luxurious by any means. Those listed above put this place to shame. My pictures are still on my camera, but I will say from the outside and when you first walk in the lobby you are thinking to yourself "this place is nice, it's not too bad". We had been semi-warned by a co-worker about this place. Unfortunately the 2 hotels our Sr. VP recommended were out of the budget for the global group that was paying our expenses. Now, I know good and well that any of the upper management would not stay here, nor do they. They stay in luxury at the Hilton Canary Wharf or the Waldorf  . The hotel itself is very rundown and is in serious need to a total rehaul and refurbishment. Worn carpets, tarnished big light fixtures, peeling wallpaper, dark, dank hallways. In its day I am sure the place was a palace. Judging by its decor I would say that when it was new it was a place that Liberace would have fancied. You could tell at one point it had been gaudy and over the top....now it was just shabby, and not in a chic way. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk--we decided to make the best of the situation. It had a great location and free wireless internet, so that was a plus. It was close to the DLR and Jubilee line, so we could get into central London in just about 15 minutes. It was finally Friday night! We had a few drinks in the hotel lobby while waiting for the Aussies, Shannen & Riaz, to get settled. We had decided to go to Covent Garden and eat at Cafe Pacifico. I absolutely LOVE Mexican food!!! So I was very excited to try it out. Covent Garden is so great---in fact, the whole area is awesome. I love how alive it is late at night, with everyone walking around and doing things. Where I live it is Generica USA and everything in the city of STL closes down unless there is a Cardinals game or some other sporting event.   We had the most amazing lychee maragritas!! I have never had this fruit before this trip, so if anything I can say that the UK introduced me to a wonderful fruit . Also had some wonderful guac and salsa. For dinner I had a chicken quesadilla and a few more drinks. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their food.  This is Riaz (Aussie HR), STL HR, and New Manager at Cafe Pacifico.  Me and Shannen  All of us in front of some of the cute phone booths. That night we walked around Covent Garden and had a few more drinks. We checked out a lot of the theaters. I think it is like NYC in that these shows are on a permanent run. Here we only get the traveling version and if you don't get your tickets right away you may not get any at all! We were trying to decide which show we wanted to see the following week. 
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01-25-2008
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#11 (permalink) | |
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Non-aggressive Dutch dude
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Posts: 8,167
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I've been there on one of my trips to London. I just had to visit that Pacifico while there 'cause I'm a frequent visitor of Pacifico Amsterdam.  Now carry on!
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01-26-2008
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#13 (permalink) | |
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commie pinko
 Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: The Kremlin (when not at my dacha in Houston)
Posts: 15,520
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London (as you know, David) is my favorite city in the world. I'd be HAPPY to offer anyone my food tips for London. My TOP suggestion is the Baker and Spice bakery! But I digress... |
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01-26-2008
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#14 (permalink) | |
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commie pinko
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: The Kremlin (when not at my dacha in Houston)
Posts: 15,520
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Quote:
, etc.) and some international (Indian [obviously], French, Afghanastani, African, Russian). And of course, London ALSO has Yo! Sushi, which is VERY gimmicky, but has decent enough food and is a MUST DO when you are in town!!! (Sushi on conveyor belts, robots serving drinks, etc!) And if you REALLY want to find a LOT of REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good food in one place at one time, you need look no further than the majestic food halls at Harrods of Selfridges! (Kelli and I have been debating another trip to London this fall... We used to go twice a year, but haven't been in a LONG time! Can you hear me trying to convince myself!  )
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01-26-2008
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#15 (permalink) | |
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commie pinko
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: The Kremlin (when not at my dacha in Houston)
Posts: 15,520
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Quote:
)I love this city and I'm loving your report! I miss London!!! |
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