No photographs on this day, Tuesday, June 21, because I spent most of the day relaxing and working on the details of modifying my travels in order to deal with the current rail strike in the UK and the cancellation of some air travel.
The cancellation of air travel will probably not affect me because most of the flights being cancelled were with more local airlines, plus only 10% of flights have been cancelled, mostly because of lack of enough personnel. The problem is that it is hard to predict what might happen to my flight which leaves Heathrow next Tuesday at 9:30 am.
The much bigger problem is the British rail strike. I don't know how familiar all of your readers are with what has been happening in the UK, but after threatening a major strike for the past several weeks, it has finally come to fruition.
Basically, the railroad workers announced a strike a few days ago. The days listed as their stopping all rail traffic were Tuesday, which is today, and Thursday and Saturday.
My original plans including leaving Orkney and driving south, taking a few days to reach York, where I rented my car and where I agreed to return it this coming Saturday. I would spend Friday night near York, then drop the car off at Enterprise in York on Saturday morning, and finally take a train that afternoon to London. Except Saturday is EXACTLY when the railroad union has announced as the third strike day!!! No trains to London that day, and probably not Sunday.
So, a few days ago, when it became clear negotiations were going nowhere with the government and the unions, I made a reservation for a first-class, high-speed train on Friday morning when trains were supposed to be running. There were literally two seats left when I did this!! I was able to move my Friday night reservation in York to Thursday night, so I could drop off the car early and catch my train at 9:30 am after dropping car off. First problem solved.
But, this meant that I would not have a hotel reservation in London for Friday night. I did have confirmed and not-refundable hotel reservations for Saturday through Monday night in London, with original plans to take Heathrow Express from London to the airport early Tuesday morning in time to catch my 9:15 am flight to the U.S.
But, it is very likely that the Heathrow Express and other trains will NOT be running on Tuesday unless a miracle happens and the government agrees to union demands. Right now, talks have failed and Boris Johnson has made comments ranging from calling the strike a "stunt" to leading the parliament to pass a law that goes into effect in a few days enabling the government to hire "agency" workers to replace railroad employees. Even if they were able to replace all workers immediately, it is highly likely the new workers would be as skilled as the union workers, and thus the trains would still not run fully.
And by the way, today, the strike included the Tube or subway in London, so people could not get around other than by taxi or buses. Now, they are saying that the Tube overground lines would be working, but with limited services, and the underground portions may or may not be working in London. (My hotel is walking distance from the British Museum, so I might be spending a lot of time there! May also take taxis places if not too expensive.)
The subway is being limited or maybe not running at all on Tuesday, which means I might not be able to make my flight. So, I spent a couple of hours last night searching for a reasonably priced hotel reservation near Heathrow for Monday night. I found one good option and reserved it with an option to cancel, because it gave instructions for how to get to Terminal 3 from Terminal 4, which it was close to. But then when they sent me my confirmation via email, the email said Terminal 4 was closed and the recommended way to get there was to take two buses or the subway!! Luckily, I found a better budget option at a Premier Inn, which is similar to a Holiday Inn Express and was only a mile from Terminal 3 and on a shuttle/bus line. That was a bargain at 80 GBPs. (I still have that non-cancellable hotel for Monday night, but better to have two hotels than none at all and miss my plane!! If the strike gets settled, and I am confident the Heathrow Express will run, I might cancel it.)
I know this is getting confusing, but back to not having a hotel for Friday night in London after I switched my train from Saturday to Friday. Prices were out of sight--anywhere from 250 GBP to 400 GBPs per night--that's equivalent to about $306 to $490, which is WAY out of my budget!! Basically, the cheap places and moderately priced hotels were all booked, with only to super-expensive hotels available, but after getting two cancellable reservations at about 200 GBPs, I finally managed to find a cheaper option pop up at 120 GBP and cancelled the two expensive ones.
So, finally, I have a train reservation at York to London for Friday morning, a hotel in London for Friday night, and a hotel at Heathrow for Monday night to ensure I will not miss my flight on Tuesday!!
So, who has time for sightseeing? I did get a little shopping in Aviemore today, and am ready to drive to Stirling tomorrow.
Whew!!
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