Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Our wanderings today included the iconic Liberty of London (around the corner was Carnaby St, so famous in the 1960s and 70s but a shadow of its former self now) and the Tower of London. We went everywhere via the Tube, which is very easy to navigate, provided you’re able-bodied. (I highly recommend a Visitor Oyster card – we had one each loaded with 30 pounds of travel, and most of us used just over 20 pounds in the 4 full days we were in London. They don’t expire so you can pass them on to someone else to use.)

Liberty of London is full of high-end fashion and their own iconic fabrics, which many of our group loved. But they’re not for me as they are quite flimsy lawns and silks.

The Tower of London was really interesting. We went on one of the Yeoman-led tours and learned a lot of its history. I decided not to see the Crown Jewels as I saw them the last time I was in London some 40 years ago and I doubt they’ve changed much. I was far more interested in the ravens, and happened to ask questions of a Yeowoman, who happened to be one of the people trained in falconry to handle the ravens!! How lucky was that!

Feeding ‘Jubilee’ a treat (water cracker)

But my feet were killing me after a full day walking yesterday and today on uneven pavement, up and down interminable stairs, etc. I had a massive blister on the ball of my right foot and my left was screaming in pain from a pinky toe that tucks itself under the next one and causes a lot of pain if I wear closed shoes.

We arrived into Heathrow at 5:30am, then straight through immigration, baggage claim and customs very quickly because we were the only flight into Terminal 3 at that time. The Heathrow Express got us into Paddington Station in just 15 mins.

We then had a private bus tour for much of the day, focusing on a lot that I can’t remember (no sleep!), but including quite a bit of time at the massive and magnificent Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden, Buckingham Palace, Horizon 22 etc.

The weather varied from light misty rain, to sort of heavy rain, to sunshine, to cloudy, and back again, and everything in between. But it wasn’t cold at all.

Many of our group of around 20 had fish and chips with mushy peas at a pub around the corner from the hotel, because of course you do on your first night in England! (it was HUGE and looked great, but unfortunately, the fish [haddock] was way overcooked and very dry)

First up, Perth to London on Qantas is one of the longest direct flights in the world at around 17.5 hours. Add in 2 hours to drive to Perth, check-in 3 hours beforehand, and before you know it, you’re up to nearly a full day.

Our flight path was a little off the usual course last night. According to the flight map, we did a few little zig zags and I figured there were some strategic decisions made as to where we went. And so it was.

At one point about 2 hours before landing, I was waiting to go to the forward loo. The captain (1 of 4 pilots on board) was making a strong coffee and I commented about the route. He said that they had made some late changes because Iran had fired missiles into Israel. Of course we knew none of this as we were 15 or more hours into the fight and had no connection with the outside world.

If you check the map below, you’ll notice a slight change of course at the Arabian Peninsula, then we crossed into Egypt near the Suez Canal, then we skirted the bottom of Greece and followed the Adriatic Sea until we got to northern Italy and crossed into Europe. (At one point, this flight used to go over the Middle East and Ukraine, but the Ukraine path stopped several years ago.)

The last QuiltVenture (QV) tour I went on was in 2018, to the Pacific NW, British Columbia, Alberta and finishing in Houston at the International Quilt Festival. A tour went to Japan in January 2020 for the Japanese Festival of Quilts, but I’d already decided not to go on that one as I was due to have a 6-week trip in April/May. Many on the Japan tour got quite sick and I suspect it was with COVID. Then COVID came and the world of travel changed for a very long time.

But now we’re back, this time with a new 3-week trip to the UK, specifically London (5 days) and Scotland (the remainder). The focus is on textiles, but this time we won’t be finishing on a big exhibition like Houston. And I’m OK with that.

The next few posts will be my thoughts about each day of our tour (I’m starting writing this a week or so in, and basing these posts on my Facebook posts at the time). I’ll only share a few photos — I’ve already taken hundreds, but I’ll pick out some of the highlights.