Arrival & Travel to Canterbury
To O'Hare and London I Go
Things really worked last year with the Peoria Charter to the airport, so I decided to do that again. It was especially nice this time since I knew where pick-up was at Uptown Normal. We were off in good time, but made stops at Woodbridge and Oak Brook Malls before O'Hare this time, so I feel like it took slightly longer. Definitely still worth the price to avoid traffic, drop-off, and parking.Travel to Canterbury
The flight was uneventful! No one (blissfully) sat next to me! Wine was complimentary! I don't think I slept, but my eyes were closed for the better part of two hours. I watched The Crimes of Grindelwald and a show about the Queen's 90th birthday that I had already seen on PBS a while ago.Getting to the central bus station from Terminal 5, however, was quite a production. It took over an hour between walking through a maze of gates and hallways at Terminal 3 and taking the Heathrow Express train to switch terminals. British Airways must be the furthest from any public transport at Heathrow, because I definitely didn't have to go through all that last year on a different airline.
Getting to Canterbury from the airport had two options: charter bus with a change in central London or train with a change via Tube in central London. I opted to go the charter bus route again because I've done it a couple of times in the past, feel comfortable with it, and it was about £20 cheaper than the Tube/train.
I underestimated how busy travel is on this, a bank holiday. I noticed it last year because I came on the same day, but travel was a bit absurd today. I checked the charter bus tickets while I was waiting to disembark the plane and the 8:00 and 9:00 buses were sold out. It didn't even occur to me that that could happen. And by the time I got to the bus station to buy the ticket, the 10:00 was full too. Gross. I decided to hop on an early bus at 9:00 to Victoria Station (central London) and then wait for the 11:30 to Canterbury.
There are a few things near Victoria Station, so I walked and sat around a bit waiting for the bus. I went into a cafe called Dominique Ansel Bakery to get a coffee. I was trying to avoid Starbucks inside the coach station and Caffe Nero across the street from the coach station. The cakes and decor were very Instagrammy in this bakery. I saw a guy take his donut to the wall covered in flowers and take a photo. Really I was just thirsty and needed a place to sit with air conditioning. It was like 88-90 degrees today--what the fudge, England?! Bonus that there was a plug for my phone under my seat! Also the coach station charged 30p to use the toilet (isn't that weird?) and I didn't have change.
Although it took about two hours longer to get to Canterbury by coach than I expected, the money is more important to me. I can buy a couple of meals with that extra cash!
Check-in at AirBnB and A Little Sightseeing
My first place was about a 7 minute walk from the coach station, directly through the High Street (busiest streets with shops). The AirBnB was easily found and my hostess, Elizabeth, allowed me to drop off my bag prior to proper check-in so that I could do a bit of sightseeing without it.I did a quick roundabout of the busier areas and happened to stumble across much of what I wanted to see without even trying. I headed in the direction of the cathedral and just let myself wander thereafter and found some gems.
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| Famous leaning bookstore |
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| The water is so clear on the River Stour |
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| Punting is also a thing here like in Cambridge |
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| Not sure what this is, but she's purdy |
I got a sausage roll at Warren's Bakery which, according to their sign and packaging, is the oldest Cornish pasty maker in the world! A pasty is like a flaky puff pastry. (Yup, it's called "pasty," not pastry!) I ate it later on and it was damn good!
I wasn't too hungry after the sausage roll, but figured I should eat a dinner because I hadn't had an actual meal since dinner the day before on the plane. A three minute walk from the AirBnB was The Foundry. The barmaid was helpful and let me try three in-house pale ales. Barmaids: always helping clueless American women. I picked a half pint of the one called Kent and a cheddar with apple and ale chutney sandwich. The sandwich was bigger and different than I expected; the cheese was crumbly, not melted. It was delish and fresh.
I promised myself that I'd try to have strangers take more pics of me, so here I am after being awake for more than a full day outside of the pub I just ate at! God bless that barmaid. (I tipped her!)
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| Rough |