London 2023

 FINALLY!

In a couple of days, we will be flying to London.  Like many other retirees, travel was high on our agenda, but the universe had other plans. However, it looks like we will soon be making our first foreign trip, and we chose London for that destination.

We've both been to London, but it's been a while, about 22 years for me and longer for my wife. The city has changed so much since then.  As we started planning, we immediately ran into a major problem:  there's just too much to see and do in London.  What do we do and how do we do it?  Most of my foreign travel had been organized by student tour companies which did all the work.  Nice.  When you're planning on your own, it can seem overwhelming.

Nevertheless, we're going to do what we can do. As we started preparing, we listened to A Short History of London, a great series of lectures available through Audible from The Great Courses.  It couldn't have been better. Dr. Bucholz is a great lecturer and excelled at not only teaching history but thoroughly setting the stage. He often pointed out locations relative to today's London, and included several lectures that were walks through the city.  And we bought the latest edition of our favorite travel book, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide.

Travelers today have a huge advantage now compared to twenty or thirty years ago.  There are so many accounts and influencers with social media and YouTube channels offering detailed information and helpful hints and suggestions.  We relied on one in particular, "Love + London," an account run by an American living in the city.  She offers videos on everything a visitor might have questions about. You can find her on Instagram and YouTube, along with many others.

Then, there are the apps.  There are history apps that tell you about historic sites and events near your location, and there are apps like Citymapper that allow you to put in a destination, telling you exact routes, travel times, and even costs.  

We're fans of walking history and food tours, so we've booked a few of those, including a Thames River boat cruise by the company responsible for the great British history comedy series, "Horrible Histories," a walking tour of Whitechapel focusing on the Jack the Ripper murders, but from the perspective of the victims and the ordinary people of the neighborhood, and a food tour of the Camden Market.

 Otherwise, we've made our lists and our basic itinerary. There are a few must-see sites, but we've also left time for wandering around the city, always fun and usually quite rewarding. It's often the most spontaneous and serendipitous lucky find that one stumbles on that one most remembers while traveling.

So, now it's off to pack and triple check those lists.  Get ready for Instagram and Facebook posts from London over the next week or two.