July 10 – 24, 2020 (Summer)
London was not a place we expected to find ourselves in 2020. But with Covid cases declining across the continent, the UK sought to open “travel corridors” between “safe” destinations. Serbia was one of those destinations. On July 10 the corridors went into effect, and we were on the first plane out, hoping to consolidate our gains and move on before Serbia’s numbers got worse.
This post is about our 2020 stay in London. Read about our short 2019 visit here.
Unfortunately, the protests and spiking numbers woke other countries up to Serbia’s issues, and as soon as they were added to the safe lists, they were kicked back off again. We got word of the change while in line to board our flight✨, and our stomachs sank. This wasn’t a blanket ban, quarantine was likely. We booked a two-week block in a London Airbnb specifically hedging against this worst-case scenario. It had a kitchen✨ and a small porch to make a confination more survivable.
At London Luton we had our passenger locator form checked, but were given no instruction to quarantine. We traveled immediately to our accommodation and checked in via lockbox. Then we started trying to parse our situation. Serbia’s removal from the safe list happened literally overnight. It was said to take effect at midnight, but which midnight? One day of waiting inside later, the ministry clarified – travelers from Serbia had to quarantine if arriving up to July 9 and from July 11 on. We were free!
Naturally we celebrated with a long walk✨. Masked up and away✨ from anyone else, of course. Quarantine requirement or not, we did just arrive on a crowded flight. The sun and breeze of the outdoors seemed the safest place to us. Besides, the city’s indoor attractions were all still closed anyway.
London felt very different from our earlier visit. The tube was deserted. Shelves at Sainsbury’s were almost apocalyptically empty. The famous West End theatres sat dark. Banners and signs✨ thanking the NHS and encouraging people to stay home hung on every street. Many eateries✨ in tourist or office districts were boarded up. Some were open though, even for dine in, provided patrons agreed to temperature checks and a detailed track & trace scheme. Only the parks seemed at all crowded. Nice weather tempted friends and families to meet up… outside.
After several days without symptoms, we took cautious steps to enjoy our stay. Masks were (absurdly✨) not mandatory inside shops until July 24; we were part of the cohort who wore them religiously anyway. The language non-barrier presented a rare opportunity to browse literature we could actually read at some of the world’s finest bookshops.
Landmarks like St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham✨ Palace had fans around snapping photos, though nowhere near their usual numbers. We especially loved spending time in the parks✨. It didn’t matter if it was Hyde, Regent’s, Green, or St. James’s. The accessible green spaces make London seem the friendliest and most neighborly of all the megacities.
Our stay coincided with the very first museum and gallery reopenings. Only a handful were prepared to implement the strict new rules at first. Mandatory online ticketing kept visitors spread out✨ and prevented crowded queues. Masks✨, temperature checks, and sanitizer squirts were the norm. We secured tickets for the Wallace Collection✨. This lesser-known museum is on a quiet square in Marylebone. Their most famous work might be The Swing✨ by Fragonard, but they also have dozens of works by other masters like Rembrandt and Velázquez. If this museum was anywhere but London, it would be the city’s centerpiece; here it often gets overlooked by casual visitors.
Nobody overlooks the National Gallery✨ in Trafalgar Square. They also reopened, though with a one-way✨ system that precluded wandering or lingering (who’d want to do that at an art✨ museum?). Worse, halfway through the route forked, with no option to return. The dispersal measures worked to a point, but the Gallery still felt crowded✨ compared to the more intimate Wallace Collection.
The Royal Air Force Museum, located near the Colindale tube station, took the prize for most social-distance-friendly museum. They also had a one-way system in place for visitors, and encouraged masks and lots of hand sanitizing. Touch-friendly interactive games and screens were all shut off, to the disappointment of the few children in attendance. We strolled through exhibits tracing the history of the RAF. Hangers held dozens of airplanes✨ and helicopters✨, from World War I biplanes to a modern✨ gallery reminiscent of Seattle’s Museum of Flight.
Visiting London for a few weeks was a good way to reset. Seeing familiar places made us feel more at home in unfamiliar times, and popping out for a pint of craft beer or fish ‘n’ chips let us cosplay at normalcy. But as long as we were going to be in the UK✨ for a while, we wanted to see a different side of the country. After just two weeks we moved north, to Edinburgh.
