I've had my flight and AirBNB booked since mid-December, then this coronavirus bullshit crops up. I've been planning this trip for almost a year. My company has an office in Hayes, so I'm going to visit for a few days. Originally I planned on staying in London a full month, working two weeks from the office, but the manager over there decided to look up visa/immigration shit, and it turns out as a 'visitor' there are very limited activities I can participate in while being paid. (honestly, though. No one would have noticed, nor do I think anyone would have cared...)

So this stupid coronavirus crap going about... I'm still 99% sure I'm coming, as long as nothing prevents me. I purchased airline tickets through British Airways and checked their site earlier. They state they will make contact with me should anything occur that would interrupt flights. I know AirBNB has a cancelation policy for COVID-19 related stuff.

Personally, I'm young-ish (43) and I'm in good health. I would think even were I to contract the virus, I likely wouldn't get very sick and I'm confident I'd get over it if I even became symptomatic.

Anyway as it were, I'll arrive at Heathrow on a Friday morning around 10 AM. I'll make my way to my AirBNB (it's in Greenford, one bus ride away) and then probably try to find groceries. I'll have a kitchenette available so cooking some of my own meals will be helpful. Then that evening... I dunno. Saturday and Sunday the loose plan is to go to Central London and do touristy shit. Yep. I'mma do as much touristy shit as I can. The next week will be more touristy shit. I may try to get out to Stonehenge one day. We'll see. The next week, I'll be at the office for the most part. Then almost another week after that before I fly out on a Friday.

I know most outside of London think it's a shithole. I know it's not really representative of England or the UK as a whole, and plan to try to come back to the UK to see more outside of the city... but are there any things y'all think I should check out? Any places that are particularly stabby that I should avoid?

My go to’s in London are.

Roti Chai (Indian food)
James J Fox (Cigars)
Milroy’s (whisky)

Other than that I just eat a bunch of Steak and Ale pies and drink as much ESB as I can.

Cheers!

London is one of the best cities in the World, there is so much to do it is hard to know where to start.

Imperial War Museums (ie Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast and IWM London are in town and IWM Duxford is just north of London by about an hour). National Army Museum in Chelsea is on my list so if you go there let me know what it's like.

Eating out is too easy, there are places for every taste and experience you could want. I would suggest google for that. Secret London is a good website for unusual walks and things to do (http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Welcome.html).

Stonehenge - meh, you'll be underwealmed but maybe it is a thing to do once but only if you are in the area. Which brings me to this - a little further on from the henge (that isn't actually a henge, but that's another story) is Bovingdon Tank Museum and also Tyneham Village, taken over by the military during WWII and left abandoned in the middle of the tank ranges, much to the residents' fury as they were meant to move back after the war.

These last three would benefit from you having a vehicle and it would probably be good to get an AirBNB in the area for a night, the south coast around Dorset and Hampshire is also stunning (you can go fossil hunting). If you did stay in the area for a couple of days there is Portland - a small 'island' off the south coast and in the town there is an American D-Day Museum, small but very good and hands on, you can touch most evertything. The American Army took the place over and much of the US D-Day force left from here.

Have fun.

I'll check out the Secret London site! Thanks for the link!

I did somewhat expect that Stonehenge would probably just be something to quickly see and say "wow, that's neat. Ok. Now what?" I DO really want to get to Bovington someday. (I played the SHIT out of World of Tanks since it was in beta) but it looks like that's about 3 hours by train to get there and the same getting back. I'm sure if I got up at the crack of why-the-fuck-am-I-awake to start the journey (if early enough trains are available), I could get there by late morning and have most of the afternoon to check it out... then head back. Maybe I'll plan that for another trip.

So far my plan is to get to town Friday, figure out the local area and get some groceries. I'll probably go into Central London most of the next week. I figure doing walking stuff on the weekend in case there are touristy crowds, then maybe starting Monday do the London Pass thing so I can tour some of the more major sites. I want to ride one of the boats down the Thames to Greenwich and check out that area...

I'll have plenty of time... 3 weeks less the 4 or 5 days I'll be doing work-related things. Another ARFCOMmer sent me a PM, he's about 10 minutes from where I'll be staying. Maybe meet up and see if he can show me some uncommon things. We'll see.

At this point, I'm more worried about things being closed en masse - museums and things I'd want to visit as a tourist. I'm also a bit worried that my company will close the office there, messing up visiting there and working for a few days (making me burn more vacation time)... and then I'm slightly worried that getting back home might become difficult!

I'm somewhat expecting my flights will get canceled. If that happens, I'll reschedule for late September and/or early October.

Hi ,
RAF museum in hendon is worth a trip, Holland and holland and Perdy guns shops in london.
Watch yourself on the under ground, pick pockets are still active.
If you do decide to come back to the uk i am 4 hrs drive from london and would take you out shooting if you are near me.
Atb
Mart

Nice, thanks for the invitation. I would think it would be interesting to see how y'all do shooting and such there. I'm sitting in my study and just opened my safe, pulled out my Beretta ARX-100, slapped a loaded 30 round magazine up on top of the safe and proceeded to mess around with the sling straps I put on a while back. Checked the red dot sight to make sure the battery still has life... and just FINALLY ordered the charging handle extension.

So on this trip, I probably won't venture far from London, but I do have in mind to come back so I can try to see some of the countryside. Maybe go up to Edinburg and possibly rent a car to go drive around in Scotland for a few days.

It's looking like the trip will be canceled. I'm waiting on POTUS to announce the UK addition to the travel restrictions. While it wouldn't affect my getting TO the UK, and the 30-day restriction would expire before my flight back, I most fear getting there and not being allowed to return home. Secondary fear is I get there, and all the shit I want to see (museums, touristy shit) will be closed. Tertiary fear is that I won't be able to find food or supplies. I have an AirBNB for a month and will have a fridge and a kitchenette so I can cook my own food.

It would be interesting to get there, though, and see so many places very empty because of the lack of tourists!

If the trip does get canceled, I'll try to reschedule for late September or October.

Message me when you return and venture out of London,  i will show you how we shoot in the uk.
Atb
Mart

IT'S OFFICIAL.

Canceled the trip. AirBNB updated their policy and allowed cancelation with full refund, so I took that. The airline offered a voucher, so I'll be able to schedule a flight later. I'll probably plan on the last week of September through the first couple weeks of October.

I'll holla at y'all before then! Stay safe and stay healthy.

Haven't updated in a while... British Airways did extend the flight voucher through the same dates in 2023 (April)... so the tentative plan is to try to get out to London in March or April of 2023.

That's IF the world isn't still full on stupid with the COVID bullshit. Anyone want to bet things will STILL be fucked up? It's just too good for the lefty Chicken Littles.

I do still really hope to get out there someday. I'd love to go up to Scotland and over to Ireland someday.

Whenever you get chance to visit message me
Atb
Mart