Fannish trip (including logistical arrrgh)!

[luzula]

I waited too long to buy my Interrail card, because I didn't realize that it would take so very long to get a physical one over mail. Now my only options are:
- Go to Copenhagen to buy one over the counter.
- Get a #/%#¤& smartphone, which I do not want, so that I can get a mobile Interrail card. I think my mom has an old one lying around which I could probably use, though I would have to get a new SIM card for it. I don't suppose one could emulate a smartphone on a laptop for this purpose...? Probably not in a way that ties it to a phone number. ETA: My roommate also has an extra phone, which he says I can borrow, so that's an option.
(- There is of course also the option to get train tickets separately, but this is two or three times the cost.)

Irritatingly, I could have easily gone to Copenhagen today to get one, since I've been in southern Sweden for my niece's birthday, except that I didn't have my passport with me, which I would need.

***

Er, and on a happier note, I guess this is my announcement that I am at last going on that fannish trip to Scotland which I've been wanting to do since the pandemic began! regshoe and I are going together, and there will be lots of hiking, birdwatching, and going to historically significant locations from Flight of the Heron. Yay! I am also going to visit feroxargentea in England, and spending some time in France with garonne, doing more 18th-century-relevant touristing. \o/

I am doing all traveling by train, since I don't fly for climate reasons, and it's really irritating how you have to go in a sort of U-shape from Sweden to Scotland. Ten or twenty years ago you could have gone by ferry, but this is no longer possible. : ( I guess cheap flights out-competed them. But at least the fannish network provides: I have places to stay overnight in Copenhagen and Paris.

I'll be in London on the 17th of June and the 1st of July, and having some spare time there. So if you have recommendations for things I should do there, or you live in London and would like to have lunch with me or something, do let me know.

Comments

[starshipfox]

The lack of ferry links is so frustrating! My town used to be an important port, and the ferry terminus is empty now -- it's very sad. I hope you have a great trip to Scotland, despite the U-shape!

[vatine]

Things to do and see in London? Depends a bit on what you find to be appealing.

For extreme location-weirdness, I recommend Rotherhithe (one stop north of Canada Water tube station, on the Overground, which at that point is solidly under ground), where you can find local information boards with text in Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish (there's a Norwegian and a Finnish church right nearby, and a branch of the Swedish Sailors' Church a couple of km away). I mostly went to the area for the purchasing of salty liquorice, from the Finnish Church store, before it was more available in the UK.

For "did I really see that?" I think the tank on a yard is still around. It's pretty much allowed to be graffiti-ed as people see fit, so exact looks probably vary from week to week. Although, Wikipedia says it's temporarily not there.

If you like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you can also experience the slight thrill of "aha, I recognise that!" by ambling around randomly in Camden and Islington, where you are likely to see signs from the estate agent Hotblack Desiato.

If you're inclined to rail geekery, the steepest incline on British passenger rail is smack in the centre of London (it's on the north end of Blackfriar's Bridge, as southbound Thameslink transition from underground to "on the bridge").

[oneiriad]

Do you have to go in person for the interrail thing? Can it be an order online send someone to pick up and put in mailbox situation? Or possibly just keep until you visit Cph or something?

[feroxargentea]

Re: London, I've not lived there for 25 years, but I'd probably spend the time in the museums -- the Natural History museum, the Science Museum, the British Museum, the Wellcome Institute, which, oh, its current exhibition is "Rooted Beings, which invites you to embark on a meditative reflection on the world of plants and fungi. The exhibition considers what we might learn from plant behaviour, and the impacts of colonial expeditions on the exploitation of natural resources and indigenous knowledges." That sounds like fun! It's the sort of thing I'd drag my wife round, and she'd hate. Or I'd go to Kew gardens, or Wisley. But that's me...

[sanguinity]

Oh, I hope you have a wonderful time! And also that you share many photos!

[regshoe]

:)

Oh dear, that is frustrating about the Interrail card! I hope you find a workable solution.

And I second the recommendation for London's museums, especially the Natural History Museum—tons of fascinating stuff in there.

[chestnut_pod]

Wonderful news about the trip going ahead! I hope you can find a solution to the railway woes.

As a devoted watcher of Bron/Brøn

[jesse_the_k]

I'm amazed you need a passport to go from Sweden to Denmark.

May your fannish journey be both squeeful and mossy!

[china_shop]

Have a wonderful time! \o/!

[lyr]

Have a wonderful trip! I hope you get the rail card sorted out.

[tgarnsl]

Oh, sounds like an exciting trip ahead of you! On the topic of London recommendations — off the top of my head, some less-known ones would be the London Wetland Centre in Barnes, if you like looking at birds (take the tube to Hammersmith and then walk across the poor crumbling Hammersmith Bridge, or else bus, plus if you go into Barnes Common there is a tree there that is one of the oldest in London); the Hogarth House in Chiswick (not far away from Hammersmith either), which is delightful if you like William Hogarth or are interested the 18th century; and the National Army Museum, which is one that not a lot of people have been to, but I found rather good when I went a few years back.

I've asked my partner (a Londoner), so hopefully there will be some additional recommendations :-)

[nnozomi]

What an absolutely lovely-sounding trip! I hope it's incredibly enjoyable and free of further logistics nuisances; keep us posted during or after on how it all goes, and take good care.

[cahn]

(argh, I seem to be missing posts left and right -- somehow I missed this one!) Oh, one more suggestion for Paris -- this has absolutely zero to do with the 18th century as far as I know, so feel free to ignore, but if you happen to be there at the right time in the evening, my favorite thing I remember doing in Paris (more than twenty years ago now, gosh) was going to a concert in the Sainte-Chappelle, which is also my favorite building in Paris. (I guess it might be a concert of an 18th-C composer? :) )

Anyway, it sounds like a lovely trip!

[cahn]

Hee! I should have appended that I Really Really like shiny things, so... yeah, of course this would appeal to me ;)