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.

The DINKS blog is back!

So, I know it's been almost since months since I wrote a blog post.  With summer travels and an ailing dog (who has now sadly passed), I just put this blog on the back, backburner!  But it's time to catch everyone up on what the Traveling DINKs have been up to.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for posts on:

The DINKs in Pedi on the island of Symi, Greece.

1. Symi, Greece
2. Austria
3. Princeton, New Jersey
4.  Travels with Beau the dog

Summer Travel Plans.

After a quiet spring, we are about to embark on a pretty full slate of summer travel plans.  Other than a few days in Salzburg and Graz, most of the cities and countries we'll visit are not new, but that doesn't mean we won't be able to make new memories.  Plus, there is a certain ease when traveling to a familiar place.  I was just in London last September so the Underground will be easy to use as will the Vienna Metro as it's just been a few years since I visited there.  Here's a run-down on our adventures:

1.  Symi, Greece (with two days in London).  This trip has been in the works for a while and will be a special one.  We are going to spend a solid week on the island of Symi, a tiny island in the Dodecanse region of Greece, which is 12-island chain close to Turkey in the Aegean.  Most importantly to me, the island is where my father's parents were born. 

The clocktower in the harbor area of Symi, Greece.

We have not been back since 2005 and we are not going alone.  My sister, my parents and Kevin's parents are all coming.  It's truly a family affair!  Kevin's parents have not been to Greece and it will be nice to share the experience with them as well as spend time with my family.  Plus, having my Dad there, who speaks Greek fluently will be rather nice!  We chose two villas (Villa Cassandra and the Pitini House) in the upper village that we booked through Symi Visitor.  I highly recommend this rental agency as they have some wonderful properties and are easy to work with--being incredibly responsive via email. 

The family reunion will only be during the week in Symi.  The parties will then split up and tour and vacation in different ways and locations.  For Kevin and me, we will bookend the time in Symi with time in London.  We are flying directly to London and then taking a flight from London to Rhodes and then a ferry onto Symi, bypassing Athens this time.  I think it will be nice to enjoy a few days in London on either side of the Greece trip.  London is a city we both enjoy and have traveled to enough to feel at ease.  We'll spend one night in the financial district, close to Liverpool Street Station (as we have an early flight from Stansted and need to take an express train out to this distant airport).  On the way back to the US, we will stay near the Earl's Court Station, which is on the Tube line to Heathrow.  When traveling to London, I do think strategically about location as having an easy walk to the trains and being able to get back to the airport with all your belongings without transfers is really nice!

2.  Chicago.  In late July, we are taking a long weekend to visit friends and enjoy Chicago.  Growing up and attending college in the Midwest, we both have lots of acquaintances in the Second City.  (Meaning we do not have to worry about hotels as there is always some place to crash!)  Another dear friend from Brooklyn is joining us for the weekend so we really will have a memorable time catching up with folks.  Plus enjoying a break from the DC summer will be lovely.

Giant Mozart ball sculptures, Vienna, Austria.

3.  Vienna and Salzburg, Austria.  At the end of the summer--right around Labor Day--we are heading back to Europe.  This time, we'll be in Austria.  Although we were just in Vienna a few years ago, a meeting is taking me back there and we really loved our last visit, it will be nice to go back and see a few of the sites we were unable to see the first time around.  We will also be staying in a different section of town.  During my meeting, I'll be staying in the MuseumQuartier, which is a lovely part of town and allows me an easy commute on the UBahn to the Conference Center for my meeting.  After the conference, we will take a train to Salzburg, which will be new for us.  We plan on doing the Sound of Music Tour (um, why go to Salzburg and NOT do this!) and we may take a daytrip out to see the Hitler's Eagle Nest Retreat.  We also may take a daytrip from Vienna to Graz, the second largest city in Austria and a place we have not been or back to Krems and the wine country of the Wachau Valley, which runs along the Danube and is basically beautiful.

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.