London & York: Closing Thoughts On The Trip

There’s not too much more I can say about London that I haven’t already said in this and past blogs, so I’ll focus mostly on York for my wrap-up.

A Few Random Thoughts on York

What a wonderful city York is!! In York, people were so kind-hearted; our experiences there proved everything I’d ever heard about people in Yorkshire. While in York I stumbled a few times due to my knee injury, almost doing a face-plant each time. Every time I had a mobility issue there was a local quickly appearing beside me, kindly asking if I was alright and/or if there was something they could do to assist me.

There are some wicked accents in the north, especially with the working class. It was English we heard from the York locals – at least I think it was English – but sometimes you really couldn’t tell, especially if they were speaking quickly or talking to their mates. The evening we took the ghost walk we were out in York quite late. Returning to the hotel, we ran into masses of club kids and clubbers in their late teens/early 20s. Their Yorkshire accents were so thick and their speech so fast, that it was utterly impossible to comprehend just what they were saying. Along with the accents, Northerners are very direct and upfront – they’re not rude at all, they just have a very direct and to-the-point way of speaking.

Coming to York after spending a week in London – one of the most ethnically and age- diverse cities in the world – the York populace proved extremely Caucasian and, oddly, elderly: I felt positively young there in comparison to the locals (or at least to the guests staying at our hotel)!

The only thing I didn’t care for in York was having to book and reserve so many things – i.e attractions, breakfast, tours, etc. Having to book most things a day or two in advance kind of reduced the spontaneity of some trip activities, but that was a minor issue and everything worked out regardless.

We both absolutely loved York. I very much would like to return there someday, ideally without knee and mobility issues. For fear of falling again, my eyes were almost constantly on the sidewalks – which were full of potholes, uneven surfaces, cobblestones and raised flagstones. I’d like a second chance to actually look at York’s scenery, not its sidewalks!

Cashless UK!

I’m absolutely shocked at how cashless the UK now is! That country is all about “contactless” cards and QR codes, especially in London. There were payment touchpads everywhere, replacing human interaction: we encountered touchpads in every restaurant, every store, city transit, tourist attraction, and a lot more. Everyone, it seemed, was set up for contactless payment there – even all the churches we visited had touchpads for visitor donations, as do the street vendors selling food or goods. Public toilets, which used to take a one or two pound coin to use, also are now totally cashless and only accept contactless cards (heaven help you if your card refuses to work on their public toilet system and you’re having an emergency). I’m not exaggerating when I say the only people without contactless touchpads were the homeless, and I’m sure they’ll be next to jump on the bandwagon. I can’t count the number of times on this trip I pulled out cash to pay for something in a store and was greeted with “Sorry, no cash!” (frequently they were quite curt about it too). Some shops were without a live person to even take the cash! – instead there were rows of self-checkouts and not a clerk or attendant in site.

As one working in the IT field I know how badly things can go when the tech goes AWOL. I was totally shocked at the UK putting all their technology-eggs into one basket, so to speak. What will happen in the UK when they have a massive system outage with their contactless system? It can, and has, happened: a few months ago a CrowdStrike update brought the world’s servers to a total standstill for 24 or more hours. It could easily happen again.

Card Only, Please

Contactless is fine when the amount comes directly out of your bank account via your debit card for example, but in the UK our debit cards did not work – we could only pull out cash from our bank accounts via an ATM, and cash was not generally accepted in the places we went. Our only bank card that would work on their contactless touchpads was our VISA. Because cash payment was constantly refused we were forced to use VISA for pretty much everything, which hurts when you get home and look at your VISA balance! The last time we visited the UK it was definitely not like this – the change must have been brought about by UK’s Brexit and/or Covid.

Pre-trip advice I would give to anyone heading to the UK these days is to either totally clear off all charges on your VISA or put a generous positive balance on your VISA before you go. There will hardly be any opportunity to use cash if you have it, so no need to carry a lot of it around with you. Depending on your bank, though, there is a chance that your debit card may work in the UK, in which case this is all moot.

QR Codes & Customer Service

Even ordering food in some restaurants is different in the UK. A few eateries we visited (at least in London) functioned like the Nandos chain of restaurants: you were seated, or self-seated, and with your phone read the QR code adhered to the table. This would give you the restaurant menu and you would place your order from your phone. A server would then bring your completed order to the table, but sometimes you had to go retrieve it yourself. If the restaurant didn’t have QR codes on the table you placed your food order from a self-serve kiosk, then retrieved your order when it was ready. Call me old-school, but I like table service and ordering via a live person; as much I embrace technology it’s sometimes nice to do without it.

The UK is dichotomous: it can appear to be backward or mired in tradition in so many ways, yet in other aspects they are so much more advanced than us. Their near-total reliance on a cashless society, for example, is evidence of their technological advancements – we in North America are way behind the UK and Europe in that regard.

Stairs, Stairs and More Stairs…

This trip I could see things so clearly from a disability perceptive, having fallen down stairs in London and almost completely ruining my mobility for the duration of the trip. There are so many stairs in the UK, especially in an ancient city like London! We are quite spoiled here in North America with our bevy of elevators, escalators and people movers.

Like many of the world’s large cities (i.e. Tokyo, New York City), London demands that you are at 100%, both physically and mentally, to take it on. If you’re functioning at considerably less than that, the city can potentially chew you up, spit you out, then mop the floor with you.

And…

… what’s with all the ice cream eating, anyway? Well, why not? Ice cream simply makes life worth living. It’s the food of the Gods 🙂

Until Next Time

All in all, it was really a great trip, although I could have done without the bit where I tumbled down the stairs. It was so great to be back in the UK again; I love that country, and if it weren’t so taxing on our pathetic Canadian dollar vs the pound, I’d certainly go back more often. If money grew on trees and time were infinite, I’d be sooooo there.

Thank you for following and enjoying our UK adventures during this trip! I really appreciate it.

Travel Update: Mid-October 2024

Originally, we were all set to visit Prague, Czechia from November 3rd to 15th this year. To my great disappointment I’ve had to cancel that trip due to my injuries from falling down those blasted London stairs last month.

The Prague travel plans involved me joining a Light & Land photography group for a 4-day tour of Prague (Prague in Black & White), while Vince explored Prague on his own. Then, post-tour, Vince and I were going to explore Czechia together from November 9th to 15th. Sadly, none of this will come to pass, but we are setting our sights on next year’s travel, so stay tuned.

Whatever adventure is next in store I will definitely share with you here on my site!