London: a lovely stopover.



Kevin in front of Tower Bridge during our 1-day stop.

When we travel, we strive to have few connections and for the trip to take the fewest hours (because who likes the actual act of getting from Point A to Point B?).  This means we are willing to pay a bit more for nonstop flights and it also means loyalty to a specific airline is not that easy. 

Getting to Symi, Greece this summer was not possible in one simple flight as it was when we headed to Vienna on Austrian Airlines later in the year.  Because of turmoil on Athens, we also made the decision we wanted to fly directly to Rhodes (the island with the closest airport to Symi). 

We made the decision to book a flight on our favorite airline Virgin Atlantic to get from DC to London.  Spend a day and night in London and then book a flight on our least favorite airline Ryanair to finish the trip and arrive in Rhodes in the middle of the afternoon in time for lunch and the afternoon hydrofoil. 

A pretty pub in South London near the Globe.

We strategically booked a hotel in the financial district because (1) we had not really explored this part of London and (2) the train to Stansted Airport (more on that in a later post) left from Liverpool Street Station, which was right around the corner.  We stayed at the Apex London Wall, which was sophisticated and tucked on a quiet street. We dumped our stuff and headed towards the Thames, walking by the Tower of London and crossing the Tower Bridge into South London.  Walking the footpath along the Thames, we passed the Globe and stopped into the Tate Modern, which I had not visited since 2002 so it was time for a return visit.

We stopped for a requisite fish-and-chip lunch and a warm ale (it was surprisingly brisk for late June!) before heading back to shower and relax.  It was fun to be in London's Financial District on a Friday afternoon in June.  Office workers packed all the pubs, literally people were pouring out of the establishments and empty pint glasses littered the sidewalks.  We decided to visit Brick Lane in the East End for Indian food as one must have Indian food when visiting the UK from the US. Before we reached Brick Lane, we stopped at a pub to have a pre-dinner drink and take in the Murray/Nadal semi-final match being played nearby in Wimbledon.  Murray lost.  We finished our pints and headed to dinner.

Brick Lane is quite the experience.  As you walk down the street, restaurant staff badger you, imploring you to come into their establishments, promising the best deal on the street!  It's not a typical scene for London, but it was fun for an evening and after wandering the street for a bit, we decided on a place and had a lovely meal before wandering back to the hotel.

Holland Park, London.

On the flip side of our journey from Greece, we also spent a day and evening in London.  This time, we chose to be on the Piccadilly Line near Earl's Court.  We stayed at a small, boutique hotel called Twenty Nevern Square.  It was situated on a leafy square and an easy walk from Holland Park.  We enjoyed wandering through the green streets and park space, reveling in the lush plants after the arid climate of Symi.  We found a Thai restaurant right outside Holland Park and enjoyed a break from the Greek taverna fare that had dominated our dinners.

The blur of monument and nature: Brompton Cemetery

The next morning we had a chance for one final walk through the streets of London and we stumbled upon Brompton Cemetery.  We were charmed by the wild, yet managed space.  Because it was early morning, we had the cemetery to ourselves and quietly strolled along the path.  Overhead, international flights rumbled in for landings at Heathrow.  As we made our way to the gate to collect our luggage and head to the airport, I took a deep, appreciative breath that we were able to bookend the trip with breaks in London.

Difficult to Reach Destinations.

This summer we're heading to Symi.  Have you heard of it?  Probably not.  But it is an important place in our family--some of the DINKs ancestors are from there, lived there for generations. Symi is a (tiny) island in the Dodecanse region of Greece.  It's a two-hour ferry ride from Rhodes (which you have probably heard of, but still not exactly and easy-to-reach destination).

Symi, Greece. Beautiful. But not easy to reach.

Because of a wide range of issues, we have a limited window for traveling and plan to spend a whole 7 days on Symi with the extended family.  So the challenge: how to get to Symi as quickly as possible?  There are no direct flights to Athens from DC.  And, well the Traveling DINKs HATE changing planes, but we have done Dulles to Paris to Athens before and that's not too bad, but prices on Air France were crazy and we would still need to fly to Rhodes and then ferry it to Symi.  So we wanted to see what else was out there.

We used Expedia and Orbitz to see what other options were out there and discovered we could fly to Rome or Istanbul direct.  We then decided to explore an airline we knew didn't surface on Expedia and Orbitz--the dreaded (but grudgingly used) Ryanair from Ireland.  We have used this low-cost carrier for strange hops in the past (Grenada to Madrid and Belfast to Glasgow). Sure enough, there was a flight from Rome to Rhodes--allowing us to bypass Athens.  But the times didn't work out so we started looking at Turkish Airlines--thinking of flying from Dulles to Istanbul, spend a few days in Istanbul then on to Bodrum, Turkey and then a series of ferries to Rhodes, then Symi.  But doing this route completely blows our plan for a short and  simple route out of the water, plus the timing wasn't exactly awesome for all the different pieces. 

I decided to search Ryanair one more time as they have multiple options into Rhodes from all over Europe.  And low and behold!  A new flight announced from London Stanstead!  So I snapped that up allowing us to fly Dulles to London and then onto Rhodes.  Perfect and Easy.  Bookend the trip with a few nights in London (allowing us to have a couple good Indian meals and wander around one of our favorite cities) and able to bypass Athens and then zip over to Symi on the many ferries that move between Rhodes and Symi each day.

So to sum up the tips:  Start with the big search engines to explore all your direct flight options; then see what low-cost carriers have to offer; don't hesitate to reach out to local travel agents.  A travel agency in Bodrum and Symi both confirmed ferry service timetables for me and cemented my feelings that the fewer ferries, the better.