Sep

Little London

by Joyce McGreevy on September 26, 2016

Entrance down into The Wonderpass, a mini-museum in a street underpass, showcases London details that offer travel inspiration. ( © Joyce McGreevy)

To truly appreciate London, get down into the details.
© Joyce McGreevy

Travel Inspiration: Details That Delight

You’re watching an American TV show when the location segues to London. Yup, there it is again—ye olde stock footage of Big Ben. So much for London in close-up.

By the logic of TV, Londoners from all 33 boroughs enjoy unobstructed views of this English landmark, the better to set their watches. Never mind that Big Ben refers to the great bell housed inside the Elizabeth Tower.

Gold railings in Little Venice Maida Vale are London details that offer travel inspiration. (© Joyce McGreevy)

Gold railings along Little Venice Canal in London’s Maida Vale.
© Joyce McGreevy

Travel guides often present London as a checklist of iconic attractions–Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, the Millennium Eye. Yet for 30 million annual visitors, it’s the London details that form our enduring impressions.

Oh, I see: In the sweet-shop of travel inspiration, London is packed with tasty “allsorts.” Here’s a sampler of London details to savor:

1. Fascinating street names

A street sign for Bird in Hand Yard is one of the London details that offer travel inspiration. (@ Joyce McGreevy)

Presumably worth two in the bush, this London street is named for a former pub.
© Joyce McGreevy

Favorites among London’s 20,000 streets include: Man in Moon Passage, Crooked Usage, Ogle Street, Batman Close, and Ha-Ha Road. Technically, “ha-ha” refers to hedges and a batman is a cricketer, but still.

Don’t forget Pudding Lane. Or perhaps do, since “pudding” in the 1600s referred to animal guts that were tossed from butcher-shop windows onto the streets below.

2. Not-always-so-historical plaques

A Sherlock Holmes-themed sign at a dry-cleaners is one of many London details that offer travel inspiration. (© Joyce McGreevy)

Dry humor at its best pressed.
© Joyce McGreevy

London-born actor Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (try saying THAT five times fast) is synonymous with another famous Londoner, the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes.

Could this plaque signify the designated drop-off for Cumberbatch’s britches and cummerbunds? Doubtful, but it’s eminently worth pondering.

3. Games afoot!

So popular is the BBC television series “Sherlock” that the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street draws constant crowds.

Don’t fancy languishing in line? Then follow the literary clues on foot. Pop round to the Criterion Restaurant, where Dr. Watson first hears that Holmes is “looking to share lodgings.” Stroll through the Langham Hotel, named in “The Sign of Four.” See the Opera House, one of Holmes’ favorite haunts.

Hats, a pipe, and magnifying glass at the Sherlock Holmes Museum are London details and a travel inspiration. (© Joyce McGreevy)

Grab your hat and follow Holmes on foot.
© Joyce McGreevy

Or go all modern by visiting locations from the BBC series. You can even get your London details direct from Holmes’ nemesis—albeit by text message—if you sign up for Moriarty’s Game. It’s a creative way to explore hidden London while solving a mystery with fellow sleuths.

4. Windowsill whimsy

Why limit your décor to inside the flat? Despite googling the World’s Silliest Search Terms, I’ve no idea why there are frogs on this central London windowsill.

An English windowsill with two ceramic frogs on it, both delightful London details that are a travel inspiration. showcases whimsical London in close-up. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

When toad-in-the-hole becomes frogs-on-the-sill.
© Joyce McGreevy

5. Places to “potter about”

Potterheads flock to King’s Cross Station to find a sign labeled Platform 9¾ and a baggage trolley submerged in a wall. But for truly immersive magic, visit Leadenhall Market.

The location for Diagon Alley scenes in the Harry Potter films is just as enchanting in its everyday guise. As local Muggles go about their business, let your imagination summon up wizarding charms.

Leadenhall Market is among the must-see London details that offer travel inspiration to Harry Potter fans. (© Joyce McGreevy)

Does this Victorian galleria look familiar?
© Joyce McGreevy

6. Museums under sidewalks

Design firm London Sing transformed a bleak underpass in Marylebone into The Wonderpass, a free must-see mini-museum. Step down to discover London in close-up.

A diorama in The Wonderpass, a mini-museum in a street underpass, is one of the London details that are a travel inspiration. (© Joyce McGreevy)

A diorama in London’s Wonderpass.
© Joyce McGreevy

A diorama of Regent Park Open Air Theatre exemplifies the travel inspiration of London details. (© Joyce McGreevy)

A doll-size peek into Regent Park Theatre.
© Joyce McGreevy

7. Afternoon tea

To avoid shocking Dowager Countesses, never, ever call it “high tea.” That’s an entirely different meal, associated with humbler, heartier fare. (Think meat, cheese, and other savories laid out by Mrs. Patmore for Downton Abbey’s staff.)

A costumed writer for OIC Moments clarifies London details that make afternoon tea a travel inspiration. (© Joyce McGreevy)

Important disclaimer: One is not actually a Dowager Countess,
nor does one play one on “the telly.”
© Joyce McGreevy

Credit for the more formal “afternoon tea” goes to the Duchess of Bedford. Around 1840, she visited the Fifth Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, where the fashionably late dinner hour left guests peckish. Her discreet suggestion for bridging the gap became a national habit.

Today U.S. visitors pay a duke’s ransom to sip afternoon tea in hotels populated mainly by their fellow Americans. For twice the charm at half the cost, try local favorite Bea’s Cake Boutique. Or splurge while dodging stodginess at sketch in Mayfair.

8. Or do as the English do and . . .

Drink coffee! Tea consumption in the UK has fallen by 60 percent since the 1970s, but coffee has percolated up to boiling point. Britons now drink 70 million cups of coffee daily.

Customers at Bloomsbury Coffee House share the travel inspiration of London details. (© Joyce McGreevy)

By 1633, there were already 85 coffee houses in London.
© Joyce McGreevy

9. Pillar boxes and postal puzzles

You can still find red pillar post boxes dating back to 1853 all over the city. There’s surprising variety among the designs.

A 19th century red postal pillar is one of the London details that have become a travel inspiration. (© Joyce McGreevy)

When you absolutely, positively have to send it next Thursday.
© Joyce McGreevy

Over time, Britons “have found ways to play with their post.” So say the founders of the Postal Museum. The first major new museum in London in over a decade is sealed until 2017, but visit its website posthaste for special delivery of fascinating finds.

A Victorian-era pictogram envelope from The Postal Museum exemplifies London details that offer travel inspiration.

To deliver this letter, the postman had to unscramble the words Greenstone House on the envelope.

10. Your own personal London

London in close-up is the world’s most renewable source of travel inspiration. As novelist Walter Besant wrote, “I’ve been walking about London for the last 30 years, and I find something fresh in it every day.”

Now recall your own personal London, whether it’s based on life, literature, or your favorite British video. What London details inspire you?

An interaction between a waiter, a dog, and a customer exemplifies the travel inspiration of London details. (© Joyce McGreevy)

Small treats add big charm to London’s Primrose Hill neighborhood.
© Joyce McGreevy

See guides to coffee and afternoon tea that really stir things up.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 1 Comment

England/On Foot

Apr

What’s Underfoot on the Camino de Santiago?

by Eva Boynton on April 28, 2015

Feet in sandals standing over a sign of the Camino de Santiago, showing the different routes that cause travel inspiration. (image

Carried by their feet, pilgrims from around the world follow the signs of the Way of St. James.
© StockPhotoAstur / iStock

Every Kind of Travel Inspiration

Not because I’m religious,

Not because I believe in spirits,

Not because I love Spanish cuisine,

And not because I needed to be punished.

I just wanted a long walk.

—B.C. Tørrissen

This is one pilgrim’s reason to walk the Camino de Santiago. More than 100,000 people every year walk the International Heritage Trails. They come from all over the world, taking different routes to reach the same destination: the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.

Why do so many people take a 500-mile trek across highways, mountains, valleys, cities, towns, and fields? Each pilgrim has a personal reason: to get away, to be a part of an ancient tradition, to make a change, weight loss, to renew faith, to connect to people.

Here, three pilgrims share their travel inspiration, their reasons for walking the Camino de Santiago.

Father Kenneth Allen: Inspired by Simplicity

Celebrating his 10-year anniversary of priesthood and the recovery of an injured knee, Father Kenneth Allen decided to embark on his Camino journey.

Since childhood, Father Allen, hoped to walk the Camino de Santiago to visit the shrine of the apostle St. James in the Cathedral.

Three pilgrims walking down a road along the Camino de Santiago, each showing a personal travel inspiration for making the journey. (Image © Eva Boynton)

A normal Camino day is 15–20 miles of walking from one town to another.
After losing his way Father Allen walked 30 on his first day.
© Eva Boynton

Among the pristine landscapes are challenges that tax the body and strain the mind. Father Allen’s first day consisted of getting lost, losing his walking partner, backtracking, and finally reaching his lodging in the dark.

It was cause enough for him to question the reason of his pilgrimage:

My feet were killing me. I had responsibilities at home, obligations to meet, people to support. . . . A good prayer room. A comfortable chair behind my desk. . . . A laptop and internet access. Why was I walking through Spain? And not only walking, but walking. And walking and walking.

Out of focus landscape seen through a fence post with clear spider web along the Camino de Santiago, a route undertaken by many with different kinds of travel inspiration. (Image © Eva Boynton)

When walking the Camino, life’s complications become blurry,
while simple details of the trail come into focus.
© Eva Boynton

As he neared his destination, charging past his initial struggles, Father Allen discovered his true inspiration for the journey. The absence of a convenient lifestyle caused him to find value in the simplicity of the path. He explains:

The Camino demands a sense of simplicity from you. You have to lighten your burden as you walk (literally by tossing things out, or mailing them ahead if you’re carrying too much) . . . There’s only one goal, which is to walk to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Whatever distracts from that just falls by the wayside.

Yellow arrow made out of scallop shells mortared into the rock wall of a house along the Camino de Santiago, a route walked by many pilgrims with different travel inspiration. (Image © Jenna Tummonds)

There is one simple instruction for walking the Camino: follow the yellow arrows.
© Jenna Tummonds

The travel inspiration that Father Allen discovered while walking followed him home. The value of simplicity continues to affect how he approaches relationships and day-to-day life; slowing down to find the extraordinary within the ordinary.

Jenna Tummonds’ Inspiration? Time to Think

Although pilgrims often cross paths, Jenna Tummonds dedicated her time on the Camino to walking alone.

Pilgrim walking down a road through a town, showing travel inspiration of walking the Camino de Santiago. (image © Jenna Tummonds

A pilgrim can choose to meet people or take advantage of the quiet space of the long road.
© Jenna Tummonds

Prompted by the idea of ley lines in Shirley MacLaine’s El Camino, Jenna prepared for the long walk. Ley lines are lines of energy that allegedly connect geographic locations and structures across the earth, something like the straight lines drawn between constellations.

Some believe that several ley lines intersect along the Camino de Santiago and that their energy brings about clarity of thought. With that in mind, Jenna asked her question:

Why, as she was growing older, did she trust people less and less?

She feared that the inevitable consequence was a life of old age and bitterness. The Camino de Santiago gave her time to remove herself from a familiar world and and concentrate on personal growth.

A pilgrim following her travel inspiration on the Camino de Santiago stands alone in a field of sunflowers. (Image © Jenna Tummonds)

A pilgrimage is a long journey centered on a purpose.
The purpose can come in infinite forms.
© Jenna Tummonds

By making the effort to walk alone for parts of the journey, Jenna gained self-trust and self-reliance, resulting in her revelation:

I don’t need to trust anybody. I just have to trust myself.

Her reason for traveling the Camino was to spend time alone, and that travel inspiration led to a rejuvenated sense of self that prepared Jenna for her journey beyond the Camino.

My Inspiration: The Love of Spontaneity

I first learned of the pilgrimage while working in Switzerland. I loved the idea that what would happen on my days along the Camino were left up to chance. Two days later, I was on a train heading to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to start walking the Camino Francés.

Three female pilgrims with backpacks and walking sticks following their person al travel i inspiration to walk the Camino de Santiago. (Image © Jenna Tummonds)

Friendly faces along the way
© Jenna Tummonds

Every day was filled with chance encounters. When fellow pilgrims and I passed each other, we sometimes stopped to chat, and sometimes we walked together.

Pilgrims, staying in the same refugios (refuges designated for pilgrims), often met up for dinner and spontaneous conversation around a communal table that might connect ten pilgrims from six or more countries.

No phones. No exchange of contact information. But often bittersweet goodbyes—when we parted, everyone said, ¡Buen camino!, and we meant it.

Sometimes we saw each other again along the way, and sometimes not. The fun of it was the idea of leaving it all up to chance.

My love of the unexpected, my appreciation for spontaneity had been reason enough to walk the Camino, and my travel inspiration was fulfilled along the Camino from beginning to end.

A group of pilgrims, whose travel inspiration took them down the Camino de Santiago for very different reasons, in front of the Cathedral at the end of the route. (Image © Jenna Tummonds)

Pilgrims reuniting at the finish line in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
© Jenna Tummonds

Oh, I See

Despite the many kinds of travel inspiration, our destination—the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela—was the same. It was a celebration of our pilgrimage, whatever the route taken.

As Father Allen explains:

For all of us as pilgrims, we were formed by the journey as we sought the destination.

You can always tell Camino pilgrims by the scallop shell hanging from their backpacks. Like the shell, the Camino de Santiago is shaped by a system of trails, taken by pilgrims with different kinds of travel inspiration along different routes, but all converging at the same point.

A scallop shell, like the symbol for the Camino de Santiago, a route taken by pilgrims following their unique kinds of travel inspiration. (Image © )

Buen Camino!
© Eva Boynton

Thank you, Father Allen and Jenna, for sharing your stories. For planning your own route on the Camino de Santiago, visit Camino Ways.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Eva Boynton Comments

Adventure Travel/On Foot/Quotes of Note/Spain

Jan

On Foot: A Walk Across America

by Eva Boynton on January 28, 2015

A brown pair of hiking boots, illustrating the essential tool for a walk across America. (Image © Eva Boynton)

Rules & Reasons of Long-Distance Walking

For 22 years, Dr. John Francis explored much of the Americas on foot. A hundred years earlier, John Muir walked 1000 miles from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico.

For Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, and Francis, founder of Planetwalk, on-foot travel led to environmental activism. For others, time on the road spent in long-distance walking led simply to gratifying “Oh, I see” moments.

Cirrus Wood is one of them. Following in the footsteps of his mentors—call them globe-trotters, great pedestrians, planet walkers, pilgrims, or simply people on foot—Wood took an 18-month walk across America through 16 states from San Francisco to Seattle and on to Maine.

His vehicle? A pair of sturdy hiking boots and his own two feet.

Cirrus Wood Makes His Own Rules

Along his journey, I hosted Wood at my house in Olympia, Washington. Wood’s walk was remarkable to me for it was the first time I met someone living and traveling on foot through town, city, and wilderness.

Most of us have time and stamina for only a week-long hike or a trot through the park. Still, Wood believes:

There’s nothing remarkable about what I did. A lot of folks could do it. Left foot, right foot, repeat as desired.

Highway stretching through mountains and valleys, illustrating the view of an on-foot traveler in a walk across America. (Image © Cirrus Wood)

Reflecting, Wood explains how his change of lifestyle developed through a series of doors that opened and closed:

I had no mortgage, no car, no financial obligations other than the maintenance of a few cubic feet of bone and flesh. So what had been a delirious Plan B—“what if?”—became an insistent Plan A.

On May 30th, 2010, Wood decided it was time to walk the “airplane distance.” Bringing only what he could fit into a backpack, he set out and pledged two rules:

Rule #1. No riding in motor vehicles.
Rule #2. Accept whatever anyone offered unless it conflicted with rule #1.

Wood's backpack leaning against a fence, showing how an on-foot traveler on a long-distance walk across America carries only a very few things. (Image © Cirrus Wood)

Wood’s gear follows another good rule for long-distance walking:
Bring only what your legs and back can carry.
© Cirrus Wood

The Great Pedestrians

Wood had studied the travels of long-distance walkers like John Muir and Dr. John Francis.

In the 1970s, Francis, now an environmentalist and author of Planetwalker, began walking from his home in Inverness, California, to Washington, D.C., and south to Central America.

John Francis playing a banjo and walking down a railroad track, illustrating a traveler's long-distance walk across America. (Image © Glenn Oakley)

Francis calls the lessons learned while walking “moments of obligation to experience.” By that, he means giving time and attention to his relationship with details of the environment.

John Muir, known as the “father of our national parks,” recorded similar moments of connection to the environment:

I drifted from rock to rock, from stream to stream, from grove to grove. Where night found me, there I camped. When I discovered a new plant, I sat down beside it for a minute or a day, to make its acquaintance and hear what it had to tell.

At the mercy of nature’s elements and the speed of their feet, Muir and Francis were free to observe moments of grandeur and the subtleties of their environment. This was the impetus that propelled Wood to create his own rules and begin walking.

A Day in the Life

Walking changes not only the pace of travel but the very nature of daily life.

Wood found his bedroom took many forms: national forests and parks, pastures, spaces under bridges, barns, abandoned houses, culverts, and offered couches.

A railway bridge, illustrating a place to spend the night during an on-foot traveler's long-distance walking trip across America. (Image © Cirrus Wood)

Wood cooked his own meals, comprised mostly of beans and lentils as well as the occasional meat scavenged from the side of the road. He explains:

I like to limit my necessities so I can better enjoy my luxuries. . . . I like to put myself, in small and innocuous ways, at the dependent mercy of the location.

At times, Wood’s on-foot journey was characterized by the people he encountered. Many offered an outstretched hand (food, a dollar, bed), and others doled out suspicion (he was reported to police, chased by dogs, cited for vagrancy).

Although he holds meaningful memories of people met, Wood’s travel consisted mostly of miles walked alone. He recalls solitude as the most important gift of walking:

I think I felt what I most wanted by being alone. Every joy was my own, and I could take full credit for each act of idiocy. . . . I could always stop and listen at just the right moment. What I mean is that I allowed myself to have an experience. . . .

A trail stretching through grass hills, showing one path during an on-foot traveler's walk across America. (Image © Cirrus Wood)

Miles Covered, Steps Retraced

On-foot travel can test a person’s resiliency. If one path does not work, turning around and retracing steps (for miles or days) is the lengthy consequence.

Boot tracks in the snow, illustrating one terrain crossed by an on-foot traveler during long-distance walking. (Image © Eva Boynton)

In April 2011, winter had passed and Wood set off from Seattle to cross the Cascade mountain range. One month later, he was still on the wrong side of the mountains, having retraced his steps when three of the four possible routes failed.

Back near Seattle for the fourth time, he finally succeeded when he took the highway to Stevens Pass. He was on his way to Maine.

The Cascade Range in Washington, illustrating part of the terrain covered on foot by Cirrus Wood during his walk across America. (Image © Nick R. Lake / iStock)

Freedom Springs from Limits

Through long-distance walking, Wood discovered an overwhelming sense of freedom that sprang from being “limited” by his own two feet. Walking in his own time frame, he was free to surrender to the whims of the path, letting weather, terrain, food, and the desire to listen and look decide the course.

It took Cirrus Wood 18 months to walk across America. One moment on foot can be an opportunity to learn and pay attention. Imagine 18 months of them.

Thank you, Cirrus, for sharing your story. For more information about long-distance walking trails check out American Trails.