Stanziliëri

People always wonder why I don't have a drivers license at my nearly 29 years old age, and I always tell them that I don't need one, and don't enjoy driving. What I also tell them is that going into London by car is hell and virtually impossible. We're talking about rush hour times then ofcourse, not Sundays.

Today however, I had little other choice. What happened? I went down to the train station in Reigate to catch my train into London, to go to City Airport. However, once I reached the station I realized I couldn't find my access passes for work and public transport subscription passes for London and The Netherlands. Especially the first ones being extremely important and absolutely necessary for work, and the last one being a huge extra cost if forgotten, I rushed back home while the train rolled into the station. This already being a late connection I wasn't confident enough that a later train would still get me to the airport on time, so I called a cab.

While the taxi was on it's way to me, I frantically searched my home for the missing passes. However I couldn't find them. Being totally stressed out and knowing I took them out of their usual place when I was in Sofia I kind of panicked until I finally found them... in my suitcase ofcourse. *ARGH* HATE HATE HATE

Anyway, I rushed outside to find the taxi. He wasn't there yet, but I promptly received a call that he was waiting outside. Me being outside I looked around and saw nobody. This didn't bode well...
Obviously he was waiting at the wrong place. Luckily it was only 10 houses down the road (yes, 10 houses is well out of sight here). But this didn't bode well. It was the same taxi I saw arriving 10 minutes earlier already, driving around in strange ways looking completely lost.

Then when I got in it started driving towards Gatwick Airport. The complete opposite direction and incorrect airport. When I informed him about his error (CITY AIRPORT was clearly stated on his little PDA screen) he turned around, but took the longest route possible through Reigate to get to the M25 'ring road of doom' around London.
Fair enough, he was a nice guy, but not completely competent. Apart from doing an extra circle of a large roundabout somewhere halfway along the way he didn't make any big mistakes. It's just that I'm used to Paul's crazy driving skills and now being in a car with a driver who does not jump queues when there is even the slightest chance is.... frustrating in its own way.

Anyway. Getting into London by car.... the journey took 2 hours in total. There were multiple mayor accidents on the M25. Mayor roadworks as well. The A2 was jam packed and about 5 billion people tried to push their cars through the tiny 2-lane Blackwall tunnel under the Thames.
I've seen some crazy traffic, but the way it is in London in the morning is like an alternative doomsdays cenario. It is utterly crazy. I seriously can't believe people taking their car and driving up there. If you work there, take the train! And then why do you need the car? Sure it's handy in weekends or when you need to pick something large up, but that doesn't really justify owning one here.

Having obviously missed my flight, I was once again very pleasantly surprised by the superb service of VLM (Flemish Airines). I arrived at the ticket desk mentioning I had missed my flight, and they instantly booked me onto the next available flight without any charge. It was done in less than 45 seconds. That's what I call hassle free and great service.
I'm now sitting in the airport lounge, where I discovered there's free wireless internet!
Damn, I love this place.

I was a fan already, but I will now definitely recommend to anybody: Flying to/from London? Use City Airport! Fly with VLM! And do not use a car, but take public transport on the London side! It's a guaranteed winner.

Now I'll see about what time my flight will depart. Ta ta :-)