As some of you already know, I flew over to England at the beginning of May in order to firm up details for the 2017 tours to Great Britain that Number One London will soon be offering (watch this space!). Luckily, my old pal Diane Gaston (Perkins) was able to join me on my travels. I’d warned her ahead of time that I would be on a mission on the trip over; there were people I needed to meet and places I needed to be. We’d be traveling hither and yon across the country via British Rail. We’d be spending at most two nights in a city or town and then moving on. Places to go, people to see. I did warn her. She still said “yes!”
And I warned myself, as I usually do, not to plan anything for my first day in London. No plans, no commitments, just an entire, luxurious day in order to laze around and recover from east to west jetlag. I warned Diane that we weren’t going to plan anything, too. Again, she was on board with that. And then I saw online that Buckingham Palace was once again doing their unscheduled private, champagne evening tours of the Palace. Three nights only, the last night being that of the day we were to land. I called Diane and asked her whether we should forget the no plans thing and get tickets. She said “yes!”
Diane and I met at Heathrow and we drove into central London together. Below is one of the first signs we saw – fitting, no?
Before long we had reached our hotel, the St. James’s Court, below. Once we’d arrived in our room, I asked Diane if she were tired.
“Not really,” she answered. “Are you?”
“No. I’m actually okay. What do you feel like doing?”
“I don’t know. We could always just go out and walk around. Maybe go to Westminster Abbey.”
“Okay,” I agreed as I logged into my Facebook account.
I read a post by Ian Fletcher, posted just moments before, saying that he was having lunch at The Admiralty in Trafalgar Square.
“Ian’s in Trafalgar Square,” I told Diane. “Should I ask him to meet us? I mean, he’s only just down the street.”
“Yes!” said Diane.
“I’ll ask him to meet us at the Palace.”
Some of you may already know that Diane and I are familiar with the Palace, having each been there several times previously and having taken lots of silly selfies there the last time we were together for the 2014 Duke of Wellington Tour. I sent Ian a reply to his Facebook post and asked him if he had time to meet us, setting in motion the following thread:
Author Delle Jacobs knows Ian because she’s been on his tours before. I actually already had plans to meet with Ian later in the week, as his company, Ian Fletcher Battlefield Tours, and Number One London will be joining forces on several of the 2017 tours. In fact, Delle is in the Peninsula with Ian as I write this, tracing Wellington’s path, from Torres Verdes to Oporto to Madrid.
So off Diane and I trotted, quickly covering the three blocks between our hotel and the Palace, where we found Ian waiting patiently by the iconic gates. Kisses all around and then the crucial question – booze or tea? In the end, we all agreed on tea (!?) and so walked back to our hotel, where we ordered three pots full, along with scones, cream and jam.
The next few hours passed in a flurry of conversation that covered everything from future tours to Wellington to battlefields to world travels to Jermyn Street, men’s clothing and oysters. The hours flew past until Ian realized he had to be getting home and Diane and I realized that we were due at the Palace by 6 p.m. for our tour. Check, please!
And so Diane and I flew upstairs to our room in order to freshen up before, once again, making our way to the Palace.
Of course the tour of the Palace was fabulous, it’s always fabulous, but photos weren’t allowed. I did find a few interior shots of the Palace online, see below, but of course they don’t compare to all that Diane and I saw that night. You can find a previous post I wrote about touring the Palace here.
At the end of our Palace tour, Diane and I returned to our hotel room, below, and so ended our first day in England. Stay tuned for more posts regarding our journey through England on behalf of Number One London Tours!
One of your fun posts that are most enjoyable!! Jealous.
Love this and lots of luck with the tours! Perhaps you can arrange a group rate and have Diane coordinate it with WRW-DC? (Waving at Diane G). I know we'd all love to go!
Thanks, Diana! I'm looking forward to launching the tours in October – and I'm sure we can organize a group rate. In fact, I'm planning to offer clients a 10% discount on their tour for every person who signs on for a tour on their referral. Should a person refer three people, that would mean a 30% discount. Refer ten people and you'd get a 100% discount, your tour cost would be completely covered except for airfare, as the tours are land only and include hotels, meals, private coach transportation each day, a dedicated tour guide and admission to all sites on the tour itinerary!
Great idea, Diana! I'd love to do one of Kristine's tours with my WRW pals.
We had such a great day 1 in London! It was a real treat to spend time with Ian. I'm agreat fan of his book, Galloping At Everything, about the British cavalry firing the Napoleonic war, and the tour of Buckingham Palace was spectacular.
And that was just day one!