London In 15 Hours

Buildings Along a London Street

We arrived at Heathrow about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. After a quick dash ... as quick as you can dash in an airport as monstrous as Heathrow (18 minute bus ride from terminal 5 to terminal 4) ... to the Kingfisher desk to check in for our evening flight, four of us set out to explore London for a few hours. We were in the Tube by 9am and at Picadilly Circus before 10am. We made a brief stop for caffeine and then we were off: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, a long walk along the Thames to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London with a stop on the London Bridge. Then back in the Tube to return to Heathrow. Quite an impressive amount of touring for a short amount of time and except for the Tube rides to and from the airport we did everything on foot. We didn't really have a choice - the two primary Tube lines in the tourist areas were closed for the day for maintenance - apparently not uncommon for a Sunday in London. Our tour of London turned out to be a really great added bonus to our GSE trip.