Journey to the West: A Trip to England (Part 1)
Coming to England for the Spring Festival was a spontaneous decision, but not an impulsive whim!
Around the end of November, my parents, who had originally planned to spend the New Year in Shenzhen, changed their minds and decided to go to Beijing instead. So I decided to visit the UK for the Spring Festival. Once I made up my mind, I acted quickly and immediately started working on the UK visa application. As usual, I entrusted the basic visa procedures to a travel agent (a young lady), and followed her instructions to quickly prepare the required documents, including the information form, employment and income certificate, bank statements, and so on.
A UK visa requires an in-person appointment to submit documents and provide fingerprints. Fortunately, there is a UK embassy visa application center at Shenzhen's Great China Plaza. However, after I had all the documents ready, the earliest available appointment was on December 24th. The process of submitting documents and providing fingerprints was rather slow, taking up an entire morning. The visa review also took quite some time; I didn't receive my visa until January 22nd, 2019.
Given the tight schedule and concerned about difficulties and higher prices of last-minute flight bookings, I booked my flights through an app in advance, assuming the visa would be approved. I booked CX239 from Hong Kong departing on February 1st and CX250 from London returning on February 11th. The round-trip ticket including tax was RMB 7,878, which sounds like 'go go go' in Chinese. I also booked an apartment near Hoxton Square in central London via a mobile app for February 1st to 5th. The two-bedroom, two-living room, one-bathroom apartment cost RMB 1,190 including tax. After obtaining the visa, I booked BA2216 from London to Edinburgh on February 5th, with a single one-way ticket costing RMB 832. I also booked an apartment in central Edinburgh for two nights, also a two-bedroom, two-living room, one-bathroom unit, with a nightly rate of RMB 622 including tax. For the remaining time, I decided to be flexible based on actual experience once in the UK. With all this, my trip to England was fully prepared—just waiting for departure.
Three days before departure, the landlord emailed me instructions for getting the apartment keys, and I also clarified the subway route via email. To ensure ample time for travel, we left at 8:30 AM on February 1st. A company shuttle from Shenzhen to Hong Kong took us to the airport. The Huanggang border crossing wasn't too crowded, and we arrived at Hong Kong International Airport before 10 AM. Checking in and checking baggage was also quick, taking less than an hour. Our boarding gate was 66, and our seat numbers were in row 66—everything seemed to indicate a smooth journey ahead.
Long story short, the 13-hour flight wasn't too unbearable; watching movies and sleeping alternated, and before we knew it, we had arrived at London's Heathrow Airport. Customs and immigration in London were slow and had few open counters. From landing to collecting checked luggage, it took a full two hours.
To experience the most authentic London life and the world's oldest subway, we chose to take the tube even though it was already dark and snowing heavily when we arrived. We had exchanged pounds in China. There were counters at the airport selling Oyster cards for public transportation; by the way, Oyster cards can also be used for River Thames boats. London's subway is quite old—any subway in any major Chinese city easily outshines it. King's Cross St. Pancras is the main interchange station in London, where we switched to the Northern line and got off at Old Street. Then, struggling through the heavy snow, we walked about 20 minutes carrying our luggage and finally arrived at our apartment. Following the landlord's email instructions, we smoothly obtained the keys. The two-bedroom, two-living room, one-bathroom apartment was nice, quite centrally located, with a large fully-equipped kitchen. Of course, we had to bring our own toothbrushes, toothpaste, slippers, and other toiletries.
From leaving Shenzhen to arriving at the apartment in London, it took nearly 22 hours, plus the time difference made it quite exhausting. Showering and sleeping were the top priorities. As for visiting London's landmarks and attractions, that would have to wait until after we woke up >>>>>>
