McCWanders

There were some areas I wanted to get to on my last full day in London. I needed to get over to Regent Street, Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Bus 55 took care of me in both directions.

I only had one specific stop, @hamleysofficial to make. As always, I walked through the whole store. So many cools things in there. I walked through several other stores, including the @djiglobal store on regents Street. I wanted to get the Osmo360, but I don’t need it. I walked away, slowly.

It rained off and on most of the day, but didn’t really slow me or anyone else down. The streets were very busy all all of my wandering places. There wasn’t any music at Trafalgar Square. This is the first time someone wasn’t busking there during a visit.

#mccwanders #travel #london #regentstreet #dji #hamleys #chinatown

I have the chance to travel the world as a non-rev status flyer. Non-rev travel means that I am a non-revenue flyer who travels in standby mode on an airline. If there is a seat available for me, I get to go for no cost. Well, taxes, there are always taxes.

The domestic flights in the US have been pretty full and while I have been on each flight, in a couple of places I was the last person placed on the flight in the last seat available. I am sure there will be times that I don’t get a seat in the future and have to wait for another flight or fly a different day.

With this great opportunity, I have been looking for things to do in places I’d like to visit. I wanted to go back to London and there was an event in Paris I hoped to attend, so I started making plans. Along the way, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman announced a Long Way Chat in Nottingham, England. I had no idea how to get there, but a quick Internet search indicated it would be pretty easy. The days between the Long Way Chat and the Carryology event in Paris were further apart than I preferred, but Jenni encouraged me to “do the damn thing”.. So off I went.

Charley, Ewan, David and Russ talked about their adventures for a couple of hours. The stage was setup like a living room and they made all of us feel like we were in their living room too. For sure, it was a top five experience for me. You felt their joy and their pain throughout the evening. I had paid for one of the expensive floor seats near the stage. At times, I worried that I would be disappointed and regret the ticket, travel costs to Nottingham from London and a couple of nights in a local hotel. The complete opposite happened: it was an amazing night. Well worth it all and more.

The Long Way series are less about motorcycles and mostly about friendships, travel, adventure, learning about people and the culture and just being open to the idea that everyone matters. You should find Long Way Round, Long Way Down, Long Way Up and Long Way Home and give them a watch. They hinted at another Long Way adventure in the future.