London -settling in

Not sure why a 3 hour plane ride should take all day but it seems to in this part of the world. The hotel in Reykjavik organised a bus transfer to the airport which arrived promptly at 11.30am. As I boarded the bus I was greeted by a lovely lady from the Golden Circle tour we did on Saturday. The ride to the airport took 45 minutes and we had a great chat. Checking in at the airport was straight forward and again I had assistance first of all to the Business Class Lounge and then to the gate. I was so glad about this as not only was the gate the very last one but it was also a bus transfer to the furthest possible spot to our plane. When we arrived at Heathrow airport at 8.30pm it was a 24 minute walk to passport control. Luckily I (and many other people):were put in people movers and driven to passport control and with minimal delay, we were in the UK and headed to collect our luggage. That’s when mild chaos set in. I needed to go down 1 level to find the cab ranks. There were too few lifts to cope with the sheer volume of people with luggage trying to leave and enter the terminal. It took me 20-25 minutes to reach the cabs. Getting a cab was easy but I’m sure he took the longest way to the hotel as, with the now mandatory tip, it cost me just over £100. However, my accommodation is excellent and relatively central. Pity about the rolling tube and bus strikes over the next 7 days.
I slept in on Monday and then tackled my laundry. As I am staying at the Wilde Aparthotel for 2 weeks I am entitled to a free load of laundry each week. Great because I had a significant amount of laundry to do. So the next 3 hours saw me watching first the washing machine and then the dryer. So nice to have clean clothes and not just rinsed through and hung up in a bathroom. I then went down the street to a local M &S food hall to get some supplies (my room has a great little kitchenette) which were sampled before heading out again for dinner. The hotel next door has a great restaurant which specialises in beef/steak. Great with red wine and a short walk back to my hotel.
Today after a latish breakfast and a surprise call from Sonya, I decided to walk to a local Vodafone store to organise an e-sim for my phone. I was so happy I did this as I have had need of my phone all afternoon. I wanted to visit the National Portrait Gallery and the best stop was literally around the corner from the Vodafone store. So I used the phone like a map, found the correct bus stop and went into Trafalgar Square. The city was very chaotic due to no tube lines except the Elizabeth line, working until Friday. I spent about 2.5 hours at the gallery because I had been advised to be on a bus before 4.30pm due to the strike. I started with the Tudors on the third floor and worked my way down and through time. I also had a late lunch in the Portraits restaurant on the 4th floor with great views. Quite liked the older paintings but when I got to the section 2000 onwards I was not overly impressed.
I was on the bus home by 4.30pm and it was crowded and slow. It took about 30 minutes to get into the city and nearly an hour to get back. The bus was also being diverted from its normal route so I had to get off early. This is where having a local phone was very important. I found my way back to the hotel quite easily which is probably a miracle given my sense of direction. Tea in my room and some TV looks good.Read more