Thursday 25 September 2014

London, Part 1

This summer my family took a trip to London, and I thought I would share my experience form an M.E. point of view and otherwise!

I have split this post into two:
-Part 1 travel and sight seeing
-Part 2 attractions e.g. shops, museums and galleries

I had never been to London for more than a day before, so wasn't really sure what to expect.  I knew that the days would be long, and that there would be a lot of travelling.  But apart from that, I didn't know what was in store! 

The trip was planed with my health in mind.  So we had two days in London with one rest day, and then two more days in London.  We stayed at my Auntie's house in Hampshire and drove to the Wimbledon area each day.  All of the extra travelling made the days longer, but staying with family allowed us to return to a comfy sofa and familiar place each evening, which made the holiday more relaxing and enjoyable.

 We spent a lot of time on public transport travelling around the city taking it all in.  For me this was reasonably low energy and much easier than walking or driving from A to B in a city we didn't know.  I was able to use my (free) disabled bus pass on the London buses, which was such a help.  The service was really good and easy to understand, I especially liked the friendly bus conductors that they have now added to the back of the buses.  It felt very proper, a real step back in time to 'old London'.  We hardly had to wait, and views were great from the top deck.  There was no need to plan around bus times for short journeys.  I can see myself going on a little holiday on my own to London were I mainly travel by bus!  

I also had a go on the Boris Bikes!  I felt like I had an entourage with my dad in front and brother beside/behind me to make sure I was ok.  I had no idea how I would cope, but it was actually fine ....apart from starting!  I got of to a bit of a wobbly start, which didn't seem like a good sign.  But once I got going it was fine.  The best bit was cycling around the front of Buckingham Palace and down the Mall, it was pretty flat and beautiful.  I felt like I was in a film!  It started raining torrentially half way down the Mall and we had to shelter.  But it was fun cycling along in the rain for a bit.  It was pretty much the only rain we had for the whole trip.  Typical! 

We used the Thames Clipper (boat) to travel from the O2 arena to the London Eye.  It was a great low energy activity and there was even a Costa on board!  I really felt like I was travelling in style with my mocha in hand, sat in the warm and dry with amazing views.  Imagine if that was your daily commute! To get to the Clipper we used the new cable cars, a bit of a wacky choice, but a fun experience all together!  The ride was really smooth and spoonie friendly; it felt more like a gentle fairground ride than anything else! Another amazing way to see London!

From the sight seeing point of view something that really struck me was Imperial collage.  As a science student, I have heard a lot about Imperial and know of people who go/have applied there.  I had never realised how amazing it is just sat there.  I couldn't help thinking what must it be like if this was where I went every day.  Obviously for me it wouldn't be the right choice.  But wow all the same, good on the people who actually go there!  

There was so much to see, and we were lucky enough to have nice weather, which made it easier to just sit and take in the views at places like Kensington Gardens and Parliament Square.  Spending so much time on transport made it one of the most M.E. friendly holidays that I've had in years. Who would have thought that the busiest city in England would be so assessable!  I would go back at the drop of a hat!

I didn't take any pictures of my own, so here a photo of what I bought in Harrods.  There are plenty of pictures of London all over the internet!





6 comments :

  1. Aww, Jenny, this makes me so happy! <3

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  2. Great to see London treated you so well and that you had such a good time! :)
    Alice x
    slowlymendingme.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Thanks Alice, it was amazing! :D I'm working on part two, but its difficult to get the wording right, I want to be honest about the difficulties that I had, but don't want it to sound too negative. I love you blog! :)

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  3. So pleased to hear you got on so well with all the travel etc Jenny! And amazing news about doing fine on the bikes.... I'm looking forward to heading across and reading part 2 now :)

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    1. Haha thanks, it took me a long time to get the second one up! I had a bad spate of health. Thanks for the lovely comment as always! :)

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