Off to London to visit the Queen - 23rd January 2006

Our final morning in Egypt began like so many on this trip – EARLY! At the gentle hour of 4am, we set off for the Cairo airport with two others from our trip. We had independently organised a taxi-driver to take us, but the doorman was very insistent that we use a different taxi-driver (he wouldn’t get a cut from the other driver). At that hour of the morning, it’s not really worth arguing, so we gave in and took the hotel’s taxi.

We were out at the airport a bit early (the other girl’s flight was an hour before ours) and we had to sit outside for half an hour before they would let us in. However, we were the first to check in, got excellent seats, and spent the rest of our time in the coffee shop waiting for the flight to depart.

The BA flight was uneventful and we arrived at Heathrow 40 minutes earlier than expected. We had psyched ourselves up for a difficult immigration experience and in the end it was a piece of cake. We had our bags and were outside Heathrow within 20 minutes of landing.

We caught the tube into London, which we paid for with £12 of small change – 1p and 2p pieces. We’re not sure how we came to possess £12 in small change, but when we moved our stuff to Caboolture we discovered a bag of coins amongst my possessions, although I’ve no memory of collecting them. Anyway, we’ve been carrying these (heavy) coins around for the past month and the tube was our first opportunity to dispose of them. The ticket vendor smiled and said “of course” when I asked if we could pay with change: the smile changed somewhat when he realised it was copper. He took the money but told us for future reference that the vendors only have an obligation to take 20p in copper. We dashed off with our tickets before he could change his mind.

The tube ride was smooth sailing, the only disappointment being that they have changed the ‘mind the gap’ recording to something more banal. We went first to Oxford Circus to open our bank account and then headed to our youth hostel. It was in a slightly rough area of London and we were not put at ease by the 6ft signs telling us that a man was beaten to death there a few days earlier. Unfortunately, the hostel wouldn’t refund our booking fee on the basis of murder, so we took a private room and then headed out to do a few more chores and some sightseeing.

In the end, the chores took longer than expected (don’t they always!) and it was dark before we had a chance to start seeing the sights. We opted to eat dinner first, so we went to a pub called ‘The Shakespeare’, which is near Victoria station. Fletch was really looking forward to trying some authentic British beers and was very disappointed to find that the offerings were all imported. He forced himself to have one anyway and we then walked down to Buckingham Palace. It is lit up at night and looks quite lovely. We walked around the Palace and along the Mall for a while, seeing Big Ben in the distance. When it became too cold for further adventures, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel.

Fletch’s tip for new travellers

When we left Australia, many of our family members wanted to know why we were choosing the most dangerous places on earth as holiday destinations. Having visited London I now understand what they meant. The paranoia in London is so palpable, one wonders whether it is actually counter-productive to scare people so much.

Seriously though, I felt really secure and safe in Syria and Jordan. I also felt quite safe in Egypt, though I never took my hand off my wallet. London feels much more dangerous than the middle-east, and the ambient chatter is no less difficult to understand.

So until next time insha-Allah, shokran and ma salama.