February 24, 2003

Settling In

It’s a wonderful thing to hop onto a plane, lose yourself in the in-flight movie or a nap, and soon find yourself in central London. My friends here all agree. The excitement our group feels on this visit – now going on a week – has been tempered only slightly by jet lag, and we’ve nearly got that beaten. We’re slowly coming to realize just how much the city has to offer, and that we have only ten weeks to tackle it all!

While my predecessors in Travel Journaldom have often signed on from the road, then, you might find me on a shorter leash. Just for starters, a few more precise reasons why:

• We live where past meets present. Our flats are a few yards from Dickens’ old home. We’re a stone’s throw from the British Museum. And thoroughfares sporting shops and stores of all manner (called “high streets” here) are around the corner.

• Thanks to the tube (the city’s underground public transit system) and the omnipresent double-decker buses (yes, they live on!), the houses of parliament, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, and a hundred other notables are within minutes.