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This post is about the family trip to the United Kingdom in May 2023. A few disclaimers

- While there are several travelogues about UK on the forum – as each and every frustrated writer will claim – mine is a bit different. Have tried to incorporate a lot of tips and tricks as well. Hopefully it should be useful to anyone planning a trip here covering most parts of the country
- While most of us have grown up, I have tried to bring to you the enjoyment one derives with a child like enthusiasm – hope you read it with your inner childlike fun
- This travelogue is of 23 days long so naturally will go for 23 pages – will keep updating it as I keep writing as long as the comments are genuine and entertaining or till my memory starts fading, whichever comes first.
- Pics taken are with phones – so photography enthusiasts –“Bhool-chook maaf”
- English language experts – please look elsewhere is you find grammatical mistakes. Although the post is about the English, the English in this post is by an Indian.

So here goes. Firstly introductions are in order a family pic where you can see. Me, myself, The misuse – er Missus, The brat (age 13) & The princess (age 7)



Attaching a few preview pics of the entire trip to get the ball rolling

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UK – had been a long awaited travel destination ever since as a child I had seen DDLJ


– who can forget the iconic scenes with the pigeons at Trafalgar square
,
the quintessential streets & houses in the movie Notting Hill made me fall in love with the British capital.



As a student, I used to think – “When will I finally meet my love?” Anyways, life moved on – travelled to other countries but never got to visit UK , as the family was never on the same page about visiting UK as a travel destination. So when in 2019, Her Highness the Queen (the Missus) suggested why not look at UK, I was elated & elevated & overjoyed.. It’s the feeling where one remembers their childhood love and all the memories come gushing back.

So meticulous planning started, tickets were booked, itinerary finalized, day dreams started, We were all set to fly in May 2020 – I had the content look of a Man who has been informed that he had won a lucky draw gift hamper. The voice of love seemed to call to me…but Alas, it was a wrong number.


Modiji came on TV and declared national chutti in March 2020.


– All right I said, few days and this home-stay will get over.. I didn’t think too much of it. March turned to April and my “pet-mein-gadbad” started rising. I wouldn’t say I was disgruntled – but I was far from being gruntled. Anyways, long story short – my true love & me weren’t destined to meet in 2020 and then as happens in lovers tiffs, I took it as a sign from above that our unity was not to be and decided to see where life takes us individually.

2023 – Both UK & myself, had done pretty well for ourselves. UK had picked itself up remarkably after a messy breakup with their European partners.. and I had done ok too – grown older, wiser, rounder. Well, turns out DDLJ came on TV and memories of old love came gushing back. The wife again suggested , kids joined the chorus. While reluctant at first with memories of the last meeting-non grata, I finally gave in.

Again Plans were made, itineraries drawn up. Tickets booked, apartments blocked, and off we go..
Our broad itinerary was as under
London – 4 days
Lake District – 3 days
Oban – 2 days
Innverness – 3 days
Edinburgh – 3 days
London 7 days

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Here I would like to write about our “Hair Hair got saved” Visa process. I had begun searching for good airline deals for a few months and finally zeroed down on LOT (Polish) airlines. Because the price was good, the tickets were non-refundable. Booked tickets for 4 of us in November 2022. Visa seemed to be straight forward affair and usually gets processed in 1 month. So I applied in Feb 1st week for travel departing in early May. The Visa agent took some time and finally submitted the application in End Feb. This is the time that Schengen Visa Shenanigans started with horror stories of people not getting Visa appointments and having to change flights, book expensive flights and overall creating havoc with Indian’s travel plans.

And here I was, - well organised, properly planned, booked tickets very early (whose prices had risen 2x) and selecting a Non-schengen non complicated Visa destination. Or so I thought.

One Sunday morning, in March 1st week with 2 months to go before our Trip, I was smiling and grinning with a cup of Ginger tea in my hand – imagining the moment I landed and UK would welcome me with open arms. In fact, it seemed I could almost hear the Big ben bell tolling & ringing already.Then, coming out of my dreams, I realized that it was the telephone. \

The Agent called to inform that since I was flying Polish Airlines with a stopover at Warsaw – I will need a Transit Visa – what utter rubbish – I thought – I am flying the same airline from Mumbai to Warsaw & onward Warsaw to Heathrow – with a 2 hr halt, without changing airport – Why would I need a transit Visa. Yet the Agent insisted. And also mentioned that it is impossible to get Polish embassy appointments – and best option is to cancel the tickets & rebook. My flights were non refundable And the “funny feeling in stomach started resurfacing”

The Missus looked at me, and raised her eyebrows. I looked at the Missus, and raised my eyebrows. The Brat looked at us both, and raised his eyebrows. Then we looked at the Princess, and all raised our eyebrows. It was one of those big eyebrow-raising mornings.

Next week passed in nail biting suspense. It was impossible to get clarity online – the UK visa site was tougher to navigate through for transit Visa information and lots of ambiguity online. Finally after a lot of mail-baazi, I got a mail from LOT airlines saying that they don’t need a Transit visa – BUT , they aren’t aware if UK authorities needed it.

Anyways, after a lot of back & forth mails and information, I was reasonably 35% sure we wouldn’t need a transit visa to enter the UK. Thinking about the other option (foregoing our monies paid for existing flights, book a new ones up 2.5x by now was daunting)

And with a 35% odds & prayers on our lips, we boarded our flight from BOM to WAW & onwards from WAW to LHR.

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The D-day for departure arrives. The learnings from our earlier trip regarding light travel were reasonably well adhered to – 1 Large & 1 medium suitcase with 2 handbags + Food bag for a 23 day trip with chote-chote bacchus were a decent effort.



Reached Warsaw


and after a brief stopover, boarded the flight to LHR


Upon landing at LHR with trepidations in the heart regarding transit Visa – immigration was a breeze. I was advising the brat on how in spite of everyone doubting my travel preparations – I was confident that this transit visa is all a figment of imagination and the travel agent is not as well read or travelled as I was.

I had the look of a King, who having received a warning of an imminent attack by the local Natives, is informed that the attack has been cancelled till further notice. Until the immigration officer informed us that we were very lucky – Poland & Switzerland are among the only few countries from where travelers entering UK wouldn’t need transit Visas. If one didn’t have a transit visa, you would need to arrange one from your transit point and book a fresh flight – all of which would caused a dent the size of a rabbit hole in our pockets.

Now I had booked LOT seeing the deals, and luckily it turned out to be the country which doesn’t need transit Visas – saved costs, could retain my tickets & hence “Hair Hair got saved”


Once outside the Airport was welcomed by a wet & windy London


Took a cab to go to a cousin’s place at Stanmore. With visions of UK and picket fences and meeting tight lipped British people – I was like a fanboy, clicking pictures all the way in my ride from Heathrow to my cousins place.


Funnily enough, along the drive of approximately an hour – I could not see a single “White” guy – Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Malaysians, Chinese – For a moment, I had to confirm if I was really in UK. Finally reached my cousins place and after brief chatting, we drifted off to sleep



Next Post - the start of the trip.

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Day 2 - London
The Next day, we got our local SIM cards & top ups and off we went to explore London. London is a very walkable city and if one can be smart to group attractions together, you can get a lot of travel done by foot. But be prepared to walk 10-12 kms a day.

For us the Plan was to walk around the Tower bridge & South bank and get an orientation of the city and its landmarks

The first ride on the famed London tube


Sherlock fan boy moment


First Tantrum in London - a Lollipop denied !!



There are moments, when one asks oneself, "Do we need to take kids on a stress relieving holiday?" & then a voice from the inner self emerges - "Aal izz well !! The mood will pass, sir."

To be fair, on most days the princess is definitely the sort of girl who each morning puts her hands over my eyes, as I am crawling in to breakfast with a morning head, and says: ‘Guess who!”. However on some days she behaves like a vulture dissatisfied with her breakfast corpse with a temperament of someone nurturing a secret sorrow.

First stop was Kings Cross station – a DDLJ reference


this is where Rahul and Simran catch the Eurostar train from London to Europe. The famous scene where Rahul catches Simran’s hand to pull her into the train, just as she’s about miss it, was shot on one of the platforms here.


All of us are also Harry Potter fans and while we had the Warner brothers Studio tour booked for later in the trip, we did want to go and have a look at the original Platform 9 & ¾.

For Muggles (ordinary non harry potter fans mango people) who don't know what I am talking about, its the railway station from where Harry goes through the magical Platform 9 & 3/4 to board the Hogwarts express. - check the video below. One sees the entire Kings cross station here

https://youtu.be/x4hyAAV1kwQ

We reached Kings Cross and soon observed a huge queue at Platform 9 3/4 .I was secretly planning how to push the brat against the wall and see if he goes through validating my theory that there is something underword-ly about him. However, I quickly dropped the plan as soon as I saw the Missus keeping a keen eye on me. Still, I do maintain my theory about the brat as if nature had intended to make a chimpanzee, and had changed its mind at the last moment. Anyway that story is for another day.


While the queue is huge, pictures can be taken for free. So if you are travelling with kids, this is one thing which should be added to your bucket list. There is also a cute store where kids can try out different Harry Potter wands









Next stop was the Sky Garden.

First view of the Tower bridge (It isnt actually the London bridge)







A pro tip for visiting London – is one can completely avoid London Eye and visit the Sky Garden instead. Its higher than the London Eye and one isn’t stuck in a capsule with other strangers for over 30 minutes. Plus the queues are terribly long even if one has a booked ticket. Best thing about the Sky Garden – its FREE compared to the London eye which costs upwards of 120 GBP for a family, you don’t have to wait in a long queue compared to the London eye & one can take as much time as one wants at the top – unlike the London eye

Entry was quick – showing a booked ticket and the views from the top were fantastic and far reaching. We easily spent close to an hour on the top and took a lot of pictures.

A tip for Sky garden is, although its Free but needs an online booking. And online tickets get sold up very fast. Free entry tickets are released every Monday (excluding Bank Holidays) after 11am UK time so approx. 3.30 PM IST for the following third week in advance.

Booking link - https://skygarden.london/booking/book-a-free-ticket/

If no slots are available that means they are fully booked & you can choose another available date or you can book in one of their bar/restaurants- essentially then you will be paying a price lower than the London Eye & get a nice cocktail too











Next stop was walking past the Tower of London (which we would cover in the latter part of the trip) and the Tower bridge.










It’s a fantastic area to loiter around and click pictures with the Tower bridge in the background. The weather was fantastic and the breeze makes walking a very enjoyable affair. This is of course assuming one is properly covered, else one can start feeling all jiggly-wiggly with the cold wind sneaking through your clothes.



The brat got snapping to click profile pictures for his snapchat / instagram / tinder? profiles.

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Crossing the Tower Bridge, it started drizzling – the only day it rained in our trip – all the other days were full of sunshine. We crossed over and walked to the Borough Market to try some of the local food. Local vegetarian food options could mean only a few handful of things – Pizza, Pasta, Burgers & fries. To get an experience of a local market as well as awesome street food experiences



Onward to South Bank, also known as Bankside

The area of Southbank lies by the river Thames across from Westminster. It is loosely defined as extending from Westminster Bridge in the west to Blackfriars Bridge in the east and has a history as interesting as any in London

We then started walking the South Bank Queens walk . The idea was to walk all the way down to Westminster, passing lots of famous London landmarks en route. For me, a walk along the South Bank is the perfect introduction to the city, and it’s a walk everyone tends to loves, both tourists and Londoners alike.

You can pick and mix places to stop, and there’s so much to choose from that you could spend a whole day walking from one end to the other. You can also witness the Tower bridge lifting & closing if one checks this site and plans the visit in advance https://www.towerbridge.org.uk/lift-times

These are some of the highlights which one can cover on this walking route

Tower Bridge
Tower of London
Borough Market
The Shard
Tate Modern
St. Pauls Cathedral
Millenium bridge
The Globe
South Bank book market
Leake street tunnel
South Bank skate park
London Eye
Houses of Parliament & the elder sister for all Gujjus – Big ben
Westminister Abbey



























Finally we ended the day exhausted, crossed the Westminister bridge and took the tube back to Stanmore.

Next day the plan was to visit Lego Land and then spend time with a family friend and family. - But a big horror day awaited us - details coming soon

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Day 3 London - Horror Day – where everything went as wrong as could be

With the trip starting off so well, I was walking around with my chest puffed up. The cosy glow which had been enveloping me was to become shot through by a sudden chill. It was the feeling one gets when one is luxuriating in a warm shower bath, and some hidden hand comes & turns on the cold tap.

Firstly in the morning, We got delayed as there was an issue with our sims and sorting it out meant we reached Legoland quite late around 12 pm. & it closes at 5 pm. Being a Friday meant there may be some rush and that meant picking and selecting which rides we wanted to go beforehand.

Another thing to note is that the oyster cards aren’t valid for travel outside London and hence for Legoland one may need National rail tickets else there is a heavy fine (standard fine in UK seems to be 100 GBP) – we didn’t know and were stopped at the station exit but let us go with a warning

Legoland tickets aren’t cheap. A way around that is to take advantage of the National Rail 2for1 offers – will share tips about it later in the post.

Some pics of Legoland

















Anyways, after a few hours of rushing and running around, at around 4.45 pm – Me & the kids were traipsing around, gallivanting across the park and following us, in a bid to show off her fitness skills, the Missus tried to jump over a barrier chain and tripped and fell BAMMM - flat on her face, breaking her front teeth.



Its at that moment, when the skies became greyer, the Sun hid behind the clouds in anticipation of the storm about to come and suddenly flocks of ravens appeared ominously in the horizon. And there I stood – shuddering from head to foot, and my legs wobbled like sugarcane stalks.

The damage from the outset looked big. No cracks or fissures on the ground thankfully – However the Missus’s face was a different story. Bloodied and gory and with screams & howls accompanying the scene – it was as if all the forces of nature conspired together to make lurking accusations at me. And the wife’s stare at me was so strong, it could have stopped a rampaging rhino dead in its tracks. It was one of those cold, clammy, accusing sort of eyes making me have a curious illusion of having just committed some particularly unsavoury crime and—what is more—of having done it with swollen hands, enlarged feet, caught red handed on a morning when I had omitted to shave.



Anyways, quickly shaking off my inner tremors, we rushed her to the First Aid room from where we called our friend living nearby who came and picked us up. After Initial damage assessment, we figured we needed an Xray to determine further course of action – especially considering our trip still has 21 days left. And here I found out a significant difference between Indian doctors & the UK doctors & medical system.

In India, in a case like this, one can mostly easily reach out to Doctors and get them to have a look & offer their opinion – but in UK, Friday 5 pm – everyone and everything is shut. The only option left was to go to A&E section of a local hospital where we were made to wait for 3 hours considering there was a lot of weekend rush – the patient in front of us was a brawny guy who had injured his thumb at the Gym.

The Missus was given Anaesthesia and some basic treatment, but since some teeth extraction was needed, we were asked to go to another hospital in London. So in the middle of the night, we were rushing around from hospital to hospital, finding one which had a Maxillo facial department open. Finally long story short, Missus had her tooth taken off, received 6 stitches and a heavy dose of painkillers.

My request of putting additional stitches to sew up her lips completely was unheeded – with the missus looking at me as I were some sort of unnecessary product which the Cat had brought in after a ramble among the local garbage bins.

Finally we were off on our way at 4 AM with The Missus in considerable pain and with swollen lips, unable to eat much and with a mental shock & a ready-to-blame suspect (me). I was recounting the horror of the previous day & remembering that of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been”.

Well…anyways moving on. Reaching the friends place and after a long horror day the eyes closed, the muscles relaxed, the breathing became soft and regular, and sleep poured over me in a healing wave.

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Day 4 - London

We spent the next day relaxing at our friends place in Slough. And took an evening trip to the nearby towns of Windsor & Eaton. Btw our Mukesh bhai has bought a castle just close to windsor. We didnt go there though, as he hadnt invited us :-)









Beautiful Silence all around - guess why ?

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Day 5 - Trip to Costwolds

On our last day of the first Leg of our London trip, we hired a car and took a day trip to the Costwolds – the villages of Bourton-on-the-water & Lower slaughter

Cotswolds are a unique place. Think of England as a very large book. The Cotswolds would be an unfussy chapter in the middle somewhere where there is lots of limestone and even more sheep.The villages of Cotswold seem one of those sleepy hamlets which modern progress has failed to touch.




















































After a day well spent, we returned back to Stanmore to prepare for our next part of the trip – Leaving London and driving to The Lake District

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[pandabear]

Awesome read. Great pictures and witty write up. Looking forward for further posts.

[batterylow]

You have a way with words sir, please keep writing.

I feel like I have seen all the places with my own eyes after seeing and reading your witty one-liners!

[Bhodrolok]

Delightful read... Glad to see a summer holiday mostly well spent!

[Dieseltuned]

Absolute cracker of a read. Welcome back sir on the travelogue page after a long hiatus.

I am waiting for you to post a detailed trip plan as well as I am in the midst of planning another gujarati thepla weilding family tour of UK.

meanwhile...would you mind completing your earlier European blog as well, I think we deserve to know how that 'sanskari' trip ended !!

Regards
Diesel

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Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Absolute cracker of a read. Welcome back sir on the travelogue page after a long hiatus.

I am waiting for you to post a detailed trip plan as well as I am in the midst of planning another gujarati thepla weilding family tour of UK.

meanwhile...would you mind completing your earlier European blog as well, I think we deserve to know how that 'sanskari' trip ended !!

Regards
Diesel

Thank you Diesel bhai for the kind words. All the best with your thepla tour. Theplas are a saviour for European tourism. WIthout theplas their GDP from tourism would plummet

Earlier blog completion looks difficult - as writing a travelogue between work & weekend is a bit tough. That trip was in 2015 and have done multiple trips after that.

right now focussing on completing this one.

Do keep reading and share your valuable feedback