Prague to Paris to London

Up early to depart our hotel by 7:00 AM—at the airport by 8:00—for a 10:00 Air France flight to London Heathrow. Easy. We even had a decent breakfast in the Air France lounge, then boarded right on time. And then… we waited. And waited. Our captain informed us that we were holding for a landing slot in London due to low ceilings. Of course, I checked the aviation weather myself—it looked like conditions were improving.

We finally took off at 11:00, an hour late. Once again, we seemed to be on a nearly new Airbus 220-300. As we approached Heathrow, I could see the ceiling was still low but manageable. Suddenly, we were “going around.” I’ve never experienced that on a commercial flight. The cabin crew explained the go-around and said the captain would share details shortly. No word from the cockpit. We climbed back above the clouds and appeared to be starting the approach again. Aviation knowledge is usually helpful—until it isn’t. One can imagine too much. I expected the go-around was due to something on the runway. Had I heard the landing gear go down the first time? I couldn’t remember.

This time I did hear the gear extend—remarkably quietly on this new aircraft. We landed, a bit hard, but safely. The captain finally came on and explained that the go-around was due to his concern about wake turbulence from the aircraft ahead of us. That made sense. All aircraft create wake turbulence—the air off the wingtips swirls with great force. The larger the aircraft, the stronger the turbulence, especially when surface winds are light. All of this is more than you probably want to know.

We travel with Karen’s lightweight fold-up wheelchair. It’s often easier to keep it with us and check it at the gate. When we arrive, it’s waiting, and off we go. Our driver was there—actually, he had been waiting through our entire delay. My iPhone tells me this is my 17th visit to London. How does it know that? Perhaps the 17th since the iPhone was born?

The hour-plus ride to one of our favorite hotels, the Ham Yard Hotel, was uneventful. We were assigned the same room as on our last visit.

We relaxed until dinner time. The 15-minute walk to our restaurant, Story Cellar, was super crazy. We’re staying in the Soho area—the theater district—packed with restaurants and people. The sidewalks were so jammed with young people that we could hardly get through. Everyone was courteous, especially with the wheelchair, but many simply didn’t see us. We passed through Chinatown. Lots of Christmas decorations are already up. CRAZY!

We had left early and actually arrived at Story Cellar 30 minutes before our reservation. The place was packed, so we still had to wait until our scheduled time. I loved the crowd and the bar atmosphere—Karen did not. I explained my martini to the bartender, and he executed it perfectly. We both agreed the food was excellent.

This area is apparently called Seven Dials. A very active Seven Dials Market was across the street—tempting—but we headed back to the hotel. Once again, I’m grateful for the London experience. I love this city. Perhaps it’s the neighborhood, but it feels so diverse—so alive—so happy. I hope we can keep coming back often.

Robert