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Off to London!

Well, Passport Canada came through… I was so happy to see the “you have something at the counter” notice this morning because I knew all the packages I’m still expecting aren’t due till the end of the week so it had to be my passport! I got in and promptly went to skyscanner.ca to book my flight. I’ve been checking prices daily and the fluctuation is incredible. I really thought I would leave mid-week as that’s when the best prices always show up. Indeed, I saw a $400 ticket leaving next Tuesday on a route I was happy with, but I was hyperventilating at the thought of leaving that quickly.

I did one final scan of the month and an unbelievable deal through Travelocity popped up for next Friday, the 24th. Not only was the price great, but the route was perfect. It left Regina at 12:30, about the earliest I’d want to fly out since I have a 2.5 hour drive to the airport and I have to be there three hours early. It did have two stops, but one of them would let me finally add Newfoundland to my visited provinces list ( 🙂 ) and it was by far the quickest trip I’d seen between Regina and London clocking in at just under 13 hours. It would also take me to Gatwick rather than Heathrow.

But there was just one ticket left at that price… I lost out on a couple of Travelocity deals to Mérida while I was thinking things over, so I didn’t hesitate to grab my credit card. And I got the seat! I’m not happy I’ll be flying all the way to London on WestJet (ie. in a sardine can), but for $333, I would have been nuts not to jump on this deal! $333 for Regina to London! I can’t even get to Montreal for that price!

The way the flight is broken up will be nice. I’m flying to Toronto first, a three-hour trip. I’ll then I have the bare minimum of time needed to make my connection to St. John’s, 40 minutes. That will also be a three-hour trip. I’ll have a 1.5 hour layover, which is the perfect layover length, and then it’ll just be five hours to London. No sitting in the same seat for eight plus hours. Of course, I don’t expect to get any sleep so it’ll be interesting to see how I am Saturday when I land in London. 🙂

When I went to Scotland in ’98, I had a similar itinerary and hadn’t slept in almost 30 hours by the time I got to Glasgow. I pushed through my day, went to bed around 7:00 PM and woke up pretty much on local time the next morning. I’m hoping the same thing will happen this year. Yes, I might be nearly 20 years older, but I’m also much healthier. So I’m optimistic I won’t be a zombie for my whole time in London. 🙂

I’ve secured a private room in a house through Airbnb for four nights (three full days not counting the Saturday). It should be convenient to everything I want to see, not too difficult to get to from Gatwick, and at $56 per night, it’s right in my budget. So with the flight to London and accommodation being so inexpensive, I should be able to handle the outrageous food prices.

Now, to figure out the Oyster card system…

12 thoughts on “Off to London!”

    • Indeed! Two hour trip from the airport to my accommodation, though, with lots of changes. That’ll be interesting after no sleep! 😀

  4. Dave says if you have ApplePay on your phone you don’t have to buy an Oyster card; you just hold your phone up to the gate and it opens. I think ApplePay started with iPhone 6 though, so unless you have a new phone this won’t be available. We found the underground maps to be very clear but didn’t realize at first that our cards also worked on the bus which was sometimes more convenient. I encourage you to take a taxi at least once as those black taxis are an event in themselves. 🙂

    • I don’t have ApplePay and wouldn’t use it even if it were supported by my phone (a 5C). I am still very leery of any contactless payment method. I’d rather go with the Oyster card that has a set amount of money on it.

      I rode in a black taxi when I was in Edinburgh way back yonder so I’m not sure I’m keen on spending big bucks doing that this time…

  6. I’ve found that’s the only problem with flying into Gatwick – getting anywhere from there. If you ever have a connecting flight out of Heathrow forget it. Used to anything less than a 45 minute connection was an illegal connection – that seems to have all gone by the wayside. Huh. Here’s wish you uneventful, on time flights, and a grand time all round.

    Oh this will be such fun!

  7. $333!! Wow! I am floored – you’re right about the fact you cannot travel in Canada for that price! Minus the small layover (I am a huge worrier about missing connecting flights, though I never have) that sounds like a pretty much perfect flight to get you to London!

    I am so excited for you 🙂 You really give me that big travel bug – and courage to travel by myself if need be!

    Looking forward to reading your next adventures!

    • Isn’t that an amazing price?! And another $200 to fly to Sofia. So less than $550 to get to Sofia when flying there directly would be almost $1,000!

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