The Queen’s England

We checked into our Philippines Airlines flight at Auckland Airport and made our way through security. Once on the other side and with great distress I realised that I didn’t have my headphones. While I sulked, Nadia got on the phone to the rental car company and they were indeed in the back seat. I went back to security and arranged to cross back into the country and grab them from the shuttle driver and head back through. What a rigmarole – but easily solved.

After a little wait, we were boarding our first 10-hour flight to Manila. The plane was very new and quite empty, which meant that as soon as we took off Nadia moved to a full empty row and fell quickly to sleep. She remained this way for most of the flight. I, however, decided that the best way to adjust to UK time is to sleep deprive myself so much that by the time we get to the UK I have no idea what time is it anywhere.

We landed in Manila at 6.30am local time and had a 6-hour wait. Manila international is nothing to write home about. We walked to the transfer desk where we had to hand over our passports and next boarding pass for around 40 minutes, which was a little bit alarming. All while being sat with a lot of confused travelers who were coming and going to completely different destinations.

After the aforementioned wait, we were taken on a wild goose chase through the back of the airport, through security and put on a bus to another terminal. When we popped out we had to go through security again and go identify our checked luggage to be moved to the next flight. We then arrived in our terminal where we were able to relax for a while.

The terminal is a long, hot room with windows on one side and food stalls on the other. The lack of vegetarian options left Nadia with not much available, which was especially annoying after our flight had no vegetarian options either. We made due and hunkered down for a few hours. I had a little nap on a windowsill and eventually, we boarded our 13-hour flight to Heathrow. The flight took us over China, Mongolia and right across Russia to Europe.

We arrived at Heathrow at around 7.30pm Saturday evening and, with an unanticipated amount of ease, entered the UK. We collected our bags and got on the Piccadilly Line to Holloway Road where we got in an Uber to James and Miriam’s house.

James and Miriam are kiwis who have lived in and raise their family in London for 25 years. James is a partnered lawyer here but his passion is music. He made contact with Nadia years ago after first seeing her perform with Sam in the UK and he and Miriam have become great friends and kind of patrons to Nadia and her career – helping out where ever they can.

We arrived at James on the doorstep, who had just confronted a man breaking into his car. Adrenaline was high so had a nice cup of tea and caught up.

At about midnight we were shown to our place. Around the corner, James and Miriam own two apartments. One is rented out and the other they like to keep empty for endless guest. James and Miriam are the definitions of generous.

We found our bed and had a much-needed shower before I fell immediately to sleep. We were both awake again by 6am, so we got up and dressed and went upstairs. The Islington flat is super central. You can see The Shard from the living room window, and is about 20 minutes walk to St. Paul’s. We went for a gentle 6.30am walk around the neighborhood, and at 8 we popped around the James and Miriams and went to for a walk around the corner to their local coffee shop and had some lovely pastries, where Nadia and they continued to catch up and I continued to get to know them.

We walked back to the flat, packed a wee bag and headed toward the city. Nadia could not recall whether she had ever been a tourist in London before, so we endeavored to have a day of it. Walking via the Barbican and St Paul’s on Sunday meant that the city was very quiet – until we got the Millenium Bridge. We went into the Tate for an hour or so and had a wander. I saw Lichtenstein’s “Whamm!” in the flesh for the first time which was a nice surprise.

We had a sit-down and something to eat before getting on the ferry along the Thames and Westminster. Unfortunately, Big Ben is totally wrapped up in scaffolding at the moment so not much to see other than hoards to tourists realizing the same thing. We walked alongside the houses of Parliament, following a bike race which was running through the center of town.

It was 3pm by now and we were starting to hit the wall. After an effort to get sim cards we hopped on the tube back to Angel and walked back to the house. Nadia had a nap and I changed my clothes and went for a little walk around Islington, wanting to push through a little more.

I touched base with Stefan on the phone and reaffirmed our plans to head up to the Pool in a few weeks. Having had him at our house for three weeks over summer, he and his girlfriend Sara are very excited to return the favor to us.

I went back to the apartment and ended up having a nap. We both woke up around 6.30pm, when we had been invited to dinner with Miriam and James, their two teenage children, Mila and Calder and their former Nanny, Isla. Nadia and I managed to be kept up until 9.30pm, after which we hit the hay.

We woke up at 4am, and Nadia went to make a cup of tea before falling promptly to sleep again. I, however, was up and took the opportunity to get up and organize a few things. Nadia eventually joined me in the kitchen. We had a slow morning of mapping out our next few weeks – which is all looking damn lovely. We had some breakfast in the flat before going on another daytime adventure.

We got the train the Leicester Square and had a walk around the West End, briefly having a look at what was on before recoiling from that average £95-150 pound ticket prices and headed to the National Portrait Gallery. Anything before the mid 20th century was a bit stuffy, but there was a fantastic exhibit of the 2019 British portrait contest, along which portraits of noteworthy people from the 1960’s to the present.

We walked down the Mall toward Buckingham palace and had a gander with all the tourists. We walked through Green Park to a Tesco where I introduced Nadia to the £3 meal deal, and we took our sandwiches back to Green Park where we lay in the shade, with the sun beaming above.

Once filled and somewhat recharged, we walked along to Hyde Park for a wee, and headed toward Marble Arch to catch the train back to Islington, where I had a £5 haircut and we went and had a nap.

Our evening was a repeat of the previous evening with the Douglas family, although this evening had the addition of an invitation from the kids to play video games with them. Smash Bros. and Mario Kart – I got my ass kicked.

The next day we went and met Nadia’s friend Liz, who we had last seen in Melbourne. She is over for a similar amount of time with similar intentions. Millenials of leisure, us. After a coffee, I split off and went for a day of solo walking. I walked for hours, getting on the Regent’s Canal and taking it all the way through Camden Town to Regent’s Park.

I looped back around and headed back the same way, with the addition of walking up the main drag of Camden Town, which was bustling with tourists. I got back to Angel and sat and had a half pint in the sun while I waited for Nadia to get back from her adventures with the house key.

We had dinner up at our apartment, eggplant parmesan and salad. It is so nice to be back in the land of 50p mozzarella, 70p cherry tomatoes, and aubergine. Makes for very cheap dining.

After dinner, we walked back to Angel to meet up with Steve, who I lived with during my time in Liverpool. Formally an itinerant human rights lawyer, Steve had now found his place at Garden Court Chambers, one of London’s leading human rights legal practices while living in a Guardianship in an abandoned hospital under the BT tower. Today was the first day that Nadia and I didn’t require a 5pm nap, so by the time we had had a couple of drinks with Steve we were getting pretty weary. It wouldn’t be the last time we would see him. We returned to the flat and turned in.

In the morning I went for another big walk along the canals, this time in the other direction. I walked until I reached London Fields and headed toward Hackey, where I looped back around to Islington and Angel.

In the afternoon, James took Nadia and me for a big walk from Finsbury Park, along Finsbury Walk – an uplifted railroad turned walking track, and over to Hampstead Heath. We finished off with a well-earned pint before taking the train back to Angel, where we were taken out for Mexican street food with James and Miriam.

A gentle day on Thursday with a walk in the morning along the canal and a cycle back. Nadia went to see a buddy in the afternoon and I went for a walk up to Highbury/Islington. Dinner again with the Douglas’s where we said thanks and goodbyes, as tomorrow we venture outside of London.