London 2023 - My first trip abroad after the pandemic

My first post this year was about my stay in Terni, which was part of my trip to see Bruce Springsteen live in Monza. But this wasn't actually my first trip of the previous year and the first after the pandemic. That honour goes to my trip to London three weeks before that to see Bruce Springsteen (twice) and Billy Joel live at Hyde Park which was actually my first trip abroad after the pandemic (There had been another domestic trip within Greece the previous year but we'll talk about that in a future post).

 

I did wear  a mask during the flight (apart from when I was drinking my juice), and that was because in the pre-pandemic era I had caught some serious common colds during flights.

My trip came with an added bonus from booking.com. All these years with all these trips I have been a regular customer of that side, but, understandably I hadn't used it for three years. So, they gave me a special gift. A free taxi ride from the airport to my hotel! Now that can cost more than 70GBP! And the first thing I noticed when I arrived at my hotel was a Ukrainian flag at a window of a nearby building.

My hotel was close to New Oxford Street. That meant that it was a 5 minute walk to Tottenham Court Road, and from then onwards the beginning of "proper" Oxford Street. That meant I was right there in the city centre. But that also meant something else : I could save a lot of money because I wouldn't have to use public transport. Because as early as 2016 I had noticed how expensive the London Underground had become. But from my location, I could actually walk to Hyde Park where I would have to go on the days that I would be attending the BST Hyde Park festival.

I didn't have to go to Hyde Park on my first evening there, but I took a walk along Oxford Street to catch up on London life.

 

 

Imagine my surprise when one of the kiosks I encountered was selling Greek food!

The next morning, after having breakfast I started walking towards Hyde Park. I tried to spot the shop where I was working back when I was a student. It was a record shop called "Buzz Records" and it could have been one of those two. Or maybe the Ann Summers one next door.

 

 

It was on that day's walk that I discovered Takis. I saw this particular display and was intrigued because in Greek "Takis" is a male name. They have nothing to do with Greece of course. I bought one out of curiosity and when I tried it, even though I realized that they might not be a very healthy snack and they might contain plenty of artificial colours, I loved them because they were extremely spicy!. So I do eat them, but in moderation...

After the concert (it was Bruce Springsteen on that night) I walked back along Oxford Street towards my hotel

 The next day, I made my way to Hyde Park again, to see Billy Joel this time.

It was on my way there that I discovered it had become almost impossible to buy a magazine in London. There are no newsagents anymore! So I found a WHSmith's inside Selfridges and went inside to explore. The reason? On that month, both MOJO and UNCUT had Bruce Springsteen on the cover and I wanted to buy both. Unfortunately I only found MOJO there.

After the concert it was time for my walk back to the hotel. By this time my feet hurt after standing up for so much time. This time it was a Friday night so there was more life on Oxford Street.

The third day of the festival was completely different. We had been lucky so far with hot and sunny weather, but finally the rain came. It had rained a bit before I set off, but when I started walking it had calmed down. I had arranged to meet one of my Facebook Bruce friends outside Hyde Park and when we got inside a cafe it started raining cats and dogs. I had come prepared with a poncho which I wore inside the park (where I met another Facebook Bruce friend) and gradually the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy Bruce and The E Street Band in all their glory!

 

On the way back, I was able to fully enjoy Oxford Street on a Saturday night!

 

The following day, it was  time to go. But I couldn't leave without visiting my beloved Bayswater where I had spent some of my student years. So, for the first time during my stay in London I used public transport and reactivated my old Oyster card (featuring then newlywed Prince William) from 2011.

 Unfortunately, the rebuilding of Whiteley's hadn't been completed yet.

By then, it was time to head back to the airport for the trip home. Before I checked in though, I had the chance to ride the shuttle between the two Gatwick Airport terminals

 

And it was finally there, at the airport that I found the issue of Uncut that I was looking for...