Friday, 16th June- Arrival in London
I look to my left, to see a splash of different shades of green and brown dots and I knew we are closer to a beautiful sunny England. We arrived around 8:10 at Luton Airport, my parents absolutely exhausted as we slept 2 hours maximum. On the other hand, I was filled with joy, adrenaline and all kinds of emotions. I was finally in the place I feel like home, the only thing that was missing was a cup of coffee and i was ready to explore it all.
When you arrive at the airport, you are gonna wait for the EU/UK passports control around an hour. I recommend going to London by train from Luton Airport Parkway and checking the prices on Train Pal a day before to see which ones are cheaper. You should allow around 2 hours between airplane arrival and train departure. A direct train to St. Pancras International takes around 24 minutes. (cheapest was 11.91 pounds for person)
We arrived in London at 10:27, and walked to the ‘Royal National Hotel’ for 16 minutes, if you have a heavier luggage you can take the tube (Picadilliy line) from St. Pancras station, 1 station to Russell Square (10 minutes) or bus 91 (13 minutes). As you arrive to the hotel, you can try to check in if the room is available or leave the luggage and check in later.
It was 11:40, we were already behind on my initial itinerary so we hurried our way to the Russell Square station (you can pay the transport with a contactless card, no need to buy a ticket but make sure when you get out you check out with the same card so you don’t pay more) to go to Wimbledon. IMG_5718
To go to Wimbledon we took the Piccadilly line to Gloucester Road (9 stops) and then changed to the District line until Wimbledon Park station (8 stops).
From Wimbledon Park, you can walk for 25 minutes or walk and then take bus 493 and make your way to GATE 4!
WIMBLEDON TOUR
As we got lost a little bit, 35 minutes later we made our way to the guided tour where we met other fellow tennis fans and a lovely tour guide. Before heading to the tour, you have to enter the museum and shop to check in with your pdf tickets and they’ll give you a bracelet.
The tour starts at Court 1, where you get filled with history, knowledge and selfie souvenirs to share with your friends. The courts have security 24/7, to make sure nothing happens with it. As seen in the picture there are at least 2 bodyguards:
We then made our way to Henman Hill, which is a grassed banked area where crowds of fans watch the tennis matches on a giant screen next to Court 1.
The famous, Court 18: Where the longest match ever was played, it lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes contested in over three days (22-24 June 2010) between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut: 6-4 3-6 6-7(7-9) 7-6(7-3) 70-68. We sat very close to the grass which honestly at first look, we thought it’s fake…not one string was longer than the other.
Wimbledon has only one event, the one that takes around 2 weeks at the beginning of July and then the grass is taken out and replanted seed by seed in August and trimmed everyday during the Championship. I don’t recommend visiting after the championship! May-June is perfect as you can see the fresh grass and flowers that over the winter are being stored in an indoor garden, or sold to the general public (money go to charity). That reminds me of the tickets, if you leave the tournament the tickets are being resold at the entrance near Henman hill, where you can also purchase the ground passes if you go there in the morning. From resale, Wimbledon made last year around 400.000 British pounds which were donated through the Wimbledon Foundation.
I could go on and make a separate blog about the things that I learned there but I’m gonna leave that to the tour guides…you can book the tour and museum at: https://bookings.wimbledon.com/stadiumtours/booking/default.htm if you book the tour, the museum ticket is included.
P.S the museum is an absolute dream, very interactive for all ages, so you can have fun while taking a trip down to the tennis history! Also as we purchased something from the store, we got a 10% discount at the cafe next to Centre Court where we enjoyed some sandwiches and soda.
*Me and my parents in front of the centre court.
BACK TO LONDON
We made our way back to London at around 17:00, waiting for the bus we made some new Romanian friends that gave me a lot of useful advices about living in London, working, the chances that you an get there and really how well developed and industrialised beautiful England is.
To get to South Kensington, where we were meeting my dear friend, Irina. We took bus 493 (from GATE 4) to Southfields, and from there we took the District Line.
Behind the station, there is a great pub called ‘Hoop and Toy’ where you can savour the traditional Fish and Chips and a pint of (as my dad recommends) Camden Hells while watching sports on the big screens. P.S absolute great customer service, they were very welcoming and at the bar they let my dad try 2 Camden Hells before choosing!!
We met with Irina and then headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum because on Friday’s most free museums are opened until 22-23:00.
At VA museum, some artists were sitting on a chair with an iPad or simply paper and a pencil. Some were enjoying dessert and drinks in the wonderful cafe you can see in the left picture.
Then we had a little bit of fun in the museum’s shop:)
Running in London
Around 21, we finally made our way to the hotel! We checked in, and honestly for the first time ever a hotel doesn’t offer slippers. The hotel is amazing, the location is superb, very close to the St. Pancras International, Euston, Russell Square, a lot of buses.
We stayed at Royal National Hotel in a triple room, view to the street with breakfast included. The hotel is split in two buildings North and South with a garden between them that hosts an Italian Restaurant and ‘The London Pub’ that has 2 outdoor TV’s where people are enjoying football matches and where I enjoyed some Diet Coke, Chips and watching Formula 1.
IMG_6007The hotel has 1600 rooms, in the room you can find complimentary tea, coffee and a kettle, tissues, towels, shower gel, soap and hair wash. Here comes the adventure! As we wanted to save space in the luggage for presents and new clothes we didn’t bring any slippers! So around 21:30, there I am in a English Football Shirt running for 10 minutes to get to the closest Primark, I arrive at Tottenham Court Road, and even though it was almost 22 the streets were full of life, music, dancing, shops still opened. Occasionally, people screaming after me ‘C’MON ENGLAND’, (which btw won 4-0 that very night).
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Anyways, thank god for Primark and their small prices. I found slipper 1 pound per pair which is 5.5 Romanian Leu:)