h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My wife & I visited London in 1999 (more on my H2G2 page). We had passes to use all the transportation (tube, bus, rail) out pretty far (Region 6?), and did not rent a car as we would in any US city. After some initial disorientation while walking, probably aggravated by jet lag and the twisty London streets that seem to change names at every intersection, we finally braved the Tube. That turned out to be the key factor to enjoying our trip, very easy to navigate, thanks to the famous map and the fact that we avoided rush hour. Our hometown of Houston has virtually no mass transit that we can use, its all cars.

But we worried that we were missing something by being underground, so we did get on a bus at one point. In the first mile, it made at least a dozen turns and was on as many streets, so we were sure we would never find out way back (yes, we had the A-Z street maps). As I recall, we simply found a Tube station and then knew where we were.

Yes, I have to say I always worry on buses - how will I know when I've got there?!

We took our children to London a few years ago and one of our adventures included catching a bus at Picadilly Circus (or possibly Trafalgar Square). The children were mystified - in our village, we wait for a bus, it arrives, and we get on it. In London, we were waiting for a bus, one arrived, we said "not that one" and let it go .. and 30 seconds later *another* bus arrived, we said "not that one" and let it go ... this happened about a dozen times before the right bus arrived. Blew their little minds .

Great entry, btw.

Mol

I think you're right about the Tube. The tube map's an incredible mnemonic for remembering which bits of London are where. Though of course it doesn't relate to proper distance and bits of it are out of proportion.

It's lovely if you're off work though and you've got the luxury of getting lost. Not the same without the old Routemasters though - it used to be lovely just jumping on and off them in summer and pretending to be Cliff (that wasn't just me was it?).