A certain amount of spontaneity in life is good for all of us. Although I am not advocating doing this in excess, I am firmly in the belief that variety and change helps to energize our lives. This entry should really be titled: ‘what we do for miles’. It all started with the last trip back from visiting the island of Bali. As we were winging our way over Japan, Eric wondered out loud as to how many more miles it would take for us to be eligible for premier executive status with United. Once home we realized we were within 10,000 miles of achieving that status. So this is how the long weekend to London came to be.

We hit the internet looking for trips which would take us over the top and through a process of elimination decided London was the winner. Weather still pretty good in November, always a show to see, a museum to cruise and another castle to explore. You know, London is truly one of the world’s great cities and one you must put on your ‘to do’ list. With direct, non-stop flights from San Francisco, a long weekend visit to London is possible and fun. Just wait until there is a good airfare war so you can get tickets cheap. Let me warn you though that the cheapest part of the visit to London will be the airfare. Everything except for most museums and just site seeing is expensive, particularly hotels, meals, and shopping. Overall, London is a wonderful place to visit. Do it once and you will want to do it again!

Our 1 pm departure from SFO touched down at Heathrow at 6:30 am the next day. By the time we got our bags, went through passport control and took the ‘Tube’ into downtown London near Picadilly Circus, it was 8:30 and only a short walk to our hotel near St. James Place. We had a view across the park and could see Parliament and Big Ben in the distance. We had arrived!

Day One: Because we had a good nap on the plane we were ready to go. The hotel plied us with coffee and we were off to get our bearings and start the visit. The British Museum is an amazing trove of Egyptian and Greco-Roman antiquities. It is a must see. Realize you can actually see the Rosetta Stone, the entire interior carvings from the Parthenon, and amazing stone pieces from ancient Egypt. It truly is humbling and this museum could take days to tour in detail. The afternoon was for shopping and the evening was at ‘Billy Elliott’, the new musical based on the film with music and lyrics by Elton John.

Day Two: Up early for a walk along the Thames, down to Parliament and Big Ben. On the spur of the moment we took the subway out to Hampton Court Palace, the country castle initially built by Henry VIII. This castle is huge and sits on over 1,000 acres of rolling hills, manicured gardens, and the world famous ‘maze’. We spent the entire day and returned to London as the sun set. Jet lag hit a bit harder, but we still managed a nice meal out in an Indian restaurant and time strolling through the SoHo and Picadilly areas where Saturday night life and jazz bars hum. Back to the hotel a bit late...

Day Three: On Sunday the parks surrounding Buckingham Palace, including Green and Hyde Park are closed to vehicular traffic. Great day to stroll and we did for miles and miles. Perfect weather. Watched the changing of the guards, window shopped, and took the time to go to Speakers Corner way up in Hyde Park. This is famous for allowing anyone with an opinion, a voice and a soap box to get up and share their thoughts. They are also at risk of hearing rebuttals from their listeners and there is a huge block of ice where anyone who is felt to be too ‘hot under the collar’ will be sat down on the block of ice to cool off! Only in London. The rest of the day was spent window shopping and doing a bit of selective purchasing. The dollar does not go very far relative to the pound so you think long and hard before you lay that credit card down. Nonetheless, stores such as Harrods, Harvey-Nichols and Fortnum and Mason are but a few you can’t miss.

The days went quickly and we were glad we didn’t have to pack all the sites in this one visit. Other sites not to miss are the ‘Eye’, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, The Tate, The Tate Modern, The Tower of London, London Bridge, The Victoria and Albert Museum. As you can see, the list is long, but there is always another visit.

So open yourself up to a spur of the moment adventure. It does wonders for the spirit of living in the moment. As we were flying back on Day Four, we toasted to the fact we had flown past the 50,000 mile mark for 2005. Executive premier finally and a fantastic four day trip to London.

Happy Trails!