It’s showtime in London for this month’s travel newsletter. I saw three West End musicals and one grand opera in just three days. But not all of the memorable moments were on stage. The relative lack of human contact and some annoying travel delays on this trip had me asking, “Where is Everybody?”
What’s NEW on my travel blog
How YOU can sing at the Royal Opera House. Everyone knows me as a dancer but definitely not a singer. I’m living proof that anyone can sing at the ROH.
We saw one grand opera and three musicals in one long weekend break. Here’s How to But London West End Theater Tickets.
Before we get to the good stuff, a reminder that this monthly travel newsletter will always be FREE. I’m not like those writers who make you pay to read the whole article. So please subscribe for travel info straight to your inbox with no ads.
A Newsworthy Cup of Coffee
We expect high prices at any airport, but I wasn’t prepared to pay almost 4 euros ($4.20) for a tiny paper cup of lousy coffee at the Ljubljana airport. Worse, there there was no price list (cenik) posted, as required by law in Slovenia.
Not only that, I had to show my boarding pass to the woman behind the counter to find out the price. This was the ONLY concession in the secure area for flights out of the Schengen zone, so it’s not like I had a choice.
My point is: if I knew I was going to be ripped off I wouldn’t have bought the equivalent of a 60-eurocent vending machine coffee at a 600% markup. Maybe if it was more than a tiny gulp of good coffee and served in a proper coffee cup I wouldn’t have minded a bit of airport price-gouging. So I did what any normal journalist would do: I took a picture and posted it on social media.
A reporter from the Slovenian News website of the Delo newspaper picked up the story with the headline: “Is this the most expensive coffee in Slovenia?” This struck a nerve in a country full of people who are famous for their thriftiness. I can’t wait to see if there’s a posted price list — or a lower price — when I visit the same part of the terminal for a flight to Budapest next month. I’ll let you know.
Where is Everybody?
It turns out that the Great Resignation since the Covid pandemic is not only a thing in the USA. There’s also an obvious shortage of workers in Europe and post-Brexit UK. More than once, this caused me to wonder, “Where is everybody?”
Budget airlines like Easy Jet are out in front of the trend by eliminating workers from much of the flying experience. But it’s no longer super cheap. The fare and taxes worked out to about $180 per person, roundtrip Ljubljana to Gatwick-London. Get ready for “budget” fares in Europe to climb even higher, due in part to new laws that require airlines to become carbon-neutral in the near future.
It’s an extra 60 euros just to put a small (22 x 17 x 7 inches) carry-on in the overhead bin. Checking a larger bag is even more expensive because it requires workers to load and unload the plane. No need for a check-in counter either, since you’re not checking luggage and you downloaded your boarding pass to your phone. The computer hands out random seat assignments unless you paid extra for that, too.
Yes, they still have crew in the cabin doing the required safety checks but mostly selling stuff like water, snacks and duty-free booze. At least there’s a cockpit crew to fly the plane, right? The pilot also gets to announce that your late-departing flight will be circling the airport for an additional 20 minutes due to (you guessed it) a shortage of air traffic control staff.
And it’s not just in the air. I nearly missed the return flight due to a delay caused by a staff shortage on the Thameslink train to the airport. This required our train to stop midway and transfer all of its passengers to a later train with a driver. And this was just days after a railroad workers’ strike. And it’s not just the UK. I also experienced train delays in Germany due to track construction and a shortage of railroad staff.
We made it to London, not surprised that the check-in at our Airbnb required going 20 minutes out of our way to pick up the keys to a lockbox from a takeout restaurant. We never met the host of the apartment, although he was quite responsive to messages online. Buying groceries? There’s ONE guy, directing a long line of shoppers to a dozen self-service checkout machines.
What to Expect at London’s West End Theaters
I’m old enough to remember lining up at the TKTS booth for discount tickets to same-day shows. Nowadays, you can buy last-minute seats online. What you should NOT do is show up at the last minute for the performance because there’s a line to have someone peek into your handbag. Latecomers will likely miss all or part of the show.
Also, don’t expect a free printed program telling you the names of the very talented people on the stage. There’s a QR code for that. There’s no expectation that people will dress up for the theater, unless they are headed for the Harry Potter show in a Hogwarts costume.
And in my humble opinion, it’s a bad idea to allow eating and drinking in the seats during the performance, at times giving the theater the ambience of a budget movie matinee. Also in my humble opinion, audio technology has allowed musical theater performances to become over-amplified to the point of sound distortion. Except at the opera where the singers do not wear microphones.
My son and I arrived early at the Royal Opera House for a fun event called “Sing at the ROH.” It allowed complete amateurs to belt out a couple of classic tunes under the direction of an opera choir mistress. We even made a reservation to have dinner before the opera in the adjoining Paul Hamlyn Hall, returning to the table for coffee and dessert during the first interval of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino. Sadly, our charming young server told us had never seen a live opera or ballet performance at the ROH herself!
Putting it all in perspective, I realize that a few minor travel inconveniences are nothing, compared to all the violence and misfortune in the world today. But the theater is where we can go to escape the madness for a little while, and perhaps find some insight into the human condition. Despite the logistical challenges, I feel fortunate to have experienced a weekend full of theater experiences in London, a city that is jam-packed with people and still short of workers.
NEW Blog Post about Oktoberfest in Munich
In case you missed the October newsletter, here’s my post on how to do Oktoberfest in Munich. Start planning now to visit the world’s biggest beer and folk festival next year. That is, if you can find someone to fly the plane, manage the air traffic, operate the train or check you in at the hotel.
Coming Soon: New Fees for Travel to the UK and EU
I saw several announcements that a new Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) will be required for visitors to the UK, meaning England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The government website explains that this is NOT a visa, just an extra layer of bureaucracy that is linked to your passport and costs an estimated $12.50. It is already in effect for visitors from some Middle Eastern countries. But it won’t kick in for Americans until some unspecified date in the future. The Schengen Zone of the European Union expects to launch a similar entry permit (ETIAS) that will apply to Americans beginning sometime in 2025. Stay tuned for updates.
What’s Next?
Next month I’ll be revisiting Budapest. I enjoyed the city with my family in 2009 and I can’t wait to share some new impressions from the capital of Hungary. See you in November. Don’t be a stranger.