Our last two days in London were surreal.
We arrived back from Scotland on a nine car train that should have held 500+ people and there were 32 people on the entire train. It was eerie pulling into Euston station, which is usually filled with travelers.
There were literally none other than us on the platform.
Even the ticketing station only had 100-200 people.
We went staring from Euston to the tube platforms for King’s Cross/St. Pancras and when we got off at King’s Cross, one of the busiest transportation hubs in the city, it was rainy, cold and mostly empty. Or at least as empty as King’s Cross would ever be.
Our last night was spent in another YHA hostel that was amazing.
None of the hostels in Europe are selling dorms during this crisis so our private room with en-suite in downtown London across the street from St. Pancrus was £33 per night.
The photo below was taken from the open window of our room.
This was a great hostel, as the all have been. We will definitely return.
Our room in London
Our room in London
Our room in London
Only one hostel didn’t have an en suite but it was still so charming (Belfast), not to mention the facilities were spotless.
Our room in Belfast
Room in Belfast
View from our room in Belfast
On our last day in London, I awoke at 4:30, unable to sleep any longer from the stress and uncertainty of what lay ahead.
Katrina awoke at 6:30 and we decided just to get up and head to the airport just in case we ran into trouble.
It was a great move because dozens of tube stations were closed by government decree so there was some chaos on the crowded trains. We donned our respirators out of precaution ahead of time, also another wise decision.
By the time the tube train pulled into Heathrow, our car was empty. Only Americans are going anywhere at the moment.
Empty train pulling into Heathrow
Ironic poster for Hawking’s last book.
Surprisingly, we didn’t run into any issues checking in or going through security so we arrive at the gate 3 1/2 hours early. I found an unoccupied bench, inflated my travel pillow and donned my eye mask and earplugs before burrowing into my sleep sack for a nap.
Katrina opted to read.
When we finally boarded the big Boeing 767, the flight was completely full and our travel insurance has gotten us two seats in the very back row of the plane, which ended up being pretty comfy except we couldn’t lay our seats back for the 8 hour flight.
We occupied ourselves by watching movies in unison the whole flight. It was fun choosing a movie and then pausing one or the other until they were in sync. We watched Jumanji 2 and Ford vs Ferrari. We made it halfway through the first Jumanji (of the new franchise) before the turbulence that had plagued us across the entire pond became too much for me and it was time for three Ativan and a hard hand-holding from Katrina.
For those of you who have flown with me, you know that I love to travel and LOATHE to fly. I do it despite my fear because the world is too amazing to miss out on.
Once we landed it was fairly chaotic with the health declaration paperwork and customs declarations and they wouldn’t let anyone off the plane until they were all filled out.
Surprisingly, the health screenings went quickly since the airport was virtually empty and we sailed through customs.
Our connecting flight couldn’t be changed from April 6th without routing through several other airports and 20 hour layovers, so we called a client of ours who runs a rental car agency and she was a savior and got us a one way rental without a drop off fee so we’re presently in West Virginia driving to my mom’s house to gather our babies and head back to Myrtle Beach to quarantine.
More than anything, we can wait to see Callie and Norm.
We can’t see my mom because I simply can’t risk exposing her since she’s 77.
So we’re back on American soil ☹️ for the time being.
Though this is the sigh we jus passed:
It’s nice to pretend for a minute.
