When I’m in London I usually stay around the Earl’s Court/Gloucester Rd area. It’s in well to do leafy West London and has good transport connections. It is also home to one of my favourite cafe’s – the Troubadour.
Troubadour Cafe - London
The Troubadour has been around since 1954 and it was a famous music venue in the 60’s. Musicians who have played there include Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Sammy Davis jnr, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin.
The cafe is worth visiting just to see the collection of intruments hanging from the ceiling. For me, I like coming here knowing that Led Zeppelin once graced these rooms.
I never would have thought that a coffee from an airport Starbucks would make it as coffee of the day, but I didn’t want to leave the UK without mentioning the current exchange rate.
Coffee of the day: London Stansted Airport - UK
At the moment 1 AUD is around 53 pence. In my 10 years of coming to the UK the Australian dollar has never been so strong. At one point 1 AUD got just 33 pence. So this £2 coffee in 2009 is a bargain at $3.77 . In the darkest days of the weak Australian dollar this £2 coffee would have cost me $6.06 AUD.
I never thought that I would be saying that I came to London and had a cheap holiday.
Ahh London, it’s good to be back. This city feels like my second home, and for a while it was my home.
2009 marks 10 years since I first came to London. I arrived in 1999 on a 2 year working holiday visa, unaware at the time that I had the travel bug. I couldn’t have known then that I would be back to London at least once a year every year since.
I was here in 1999, 2000 and 2001 on the UK work visa, 2002 and 2003 passing through on the Irish work visa, then every year on the way to European destinations to create content for online travel articles.
I use London as the entry point for Europe as the cheapest fares from Australia are usually into London, though this might change with the increase in Air Passenger Duty.
I’m staying in Victoria, which is a handy transport hub if you are in London for a short time. I get the bus to Stansted Airport from here to my next destination.
London Victoria Station
