Another night at EasyHotel
I spent last night in London, basically squeezing in another evening before flying home. I had to plan this trip without knowing exactly when I would be where, so I decided to buy one SFO-London ticket, then buy the inter-European tickets as my itinerary worked itself out.
EasyHotel is the hotel of the people who started EasyJet, the low-cost airline that's allowed millions of Europeans to get to know each other, usually when staggering around drunk and generally behaving badly. It's amazing in the wake of cheap European airlines the EU is still together: when most of your contact with fellow Union members happens when they're drinking, shopping, and trying to have sex with your {insert various family relations or genders here} sorely tries the notion that travel makes us all more cosmopolitan and tolerant.
EasyHotel is perfect if you feel that you don't get enough of the convenience and comfort of air travel while in the air, and would like to have the experience on the ground, too. Basically, the hotel is a technological tour de force, because rather than having to renovate rooms, EasyHotel just plugs in these room modules, connects electricity, water, and air (seriously-- air is circulated through holes in the wall that look a little like the air vents over airplane seats, or like something out of a horror movie involving people being forced to make horrible decisions about which limbs they can live without), and calls it a hotel. I suppose it's also a miracle of linguistics, and possibly the lax state of hotel regulation enforcement, that they can do that.
EasyHotel room, via flickr
However, while I prefer Goodenough Club, I like it well enough to stay when I need a place for just a night. It's right on the Piccadilly tube line, so you can go straight from the hotel (either Earl's Court or Gloucester Road) to Heathrow. It's also in South Kensington, so it's near stuff I like, like the Natural History Museum.
And it's just off one of the city's busiest main roads, which I really came to appreciate last night. Despite getting in late, I felt it imperative to go down to the Embankment and walk across the Jubilee Bridge, which offers my favorite view of London. So I took the Tube down to Embankment, walked around, took lots of pictures, then headed back to the Tube stop just before 1. I was feeling rather proud of myself-- I'm turning into a bit of a local, and know the city well enough to get around easily.
via flickr
However, I'd forgotten that the Tube closes down after midnight. Not only that, but I'd spent all the money I was carrying to top up my cell phone and buy some dinner (chicken drumsticks at Sainsbury's-- I felt a great need for portable protein); plus, my credit card has been acting up-- it's literally falling apart now, and I need to get it replaced as soon as I get back home-- and it wasn't clear that I could pay a cab.
via flickr
So I walked back to the hotel. Fortunately, you can stay on the same road and it goes from Leicester Square to Piccadilly, past St James Park and Hyde Park, past Wellington Square, past Harrods, past the V&A, past the Natural History Museum, and to the hotel. It took something mover an hour, but once I was certain I knew what I was doing, it was a fine walk: it was good to know how these different parts of the city, and different parts of the same road, all connect. I had never realized that Harrods, where I've been once, and Piccadilly Square, where I've been lots of times, were on the same road.
via flickr
So all's well that ends well.
This morning I slept fairly late, got checked out of the hotel, and finally got a real English breakfast, right down to the stewed tomato and mushrooms. Why the Hell are stewed tomatoes and mushrooms-- not to mention baked beans-- considered a breakfast food? Talk about two peoples separated by a common language.
via flickr
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