Having a Capital time With the Family

“I’m not going on that!” shouts Harrison, our nine-year-old son, as we approach the London Eye on the Uber Boat from Tower Bridge to Westminster. “No, no, no chance.”
“Me neither,” choruses Ella, his six-year-old sister. “It’s too scary.”

Their mum and I do our best to ease their worries and point out to them that they’ve just walked over the glass floor that spans the twin towers of Tower Bridge. This should be easy compared to that. But they’re both raising concerns about getting on it, right until the moment that the doors close behind them as they board with their mum.

I wave to them from good old terra firma as their sparsely populated pod starts to rise into the air and I exhale a long sigh of relief that – unlike Tower Bridge’s glass walkway – the London Eye isn’t dog friendly. Me being a lifelong acrophobic and all.

To be fair, even if the eye was dog friendly it wouldn’t have been a good idea for me to join them, not after the abject terror I felt yesterday as we sailed high above the Thames on the Emirates Skyline cable cars. I’ve heard of therapy dogs before but never truly appreciated the meaning of the term until our cable car started swaying in the wind far above my comfort zone across the river and I stroked our dog to within an inch of his life in my mania. I’m told by my wife that the views of the o2 Arena and Greenwich were stupendous, but I’ll have to take her word for it as I had my eyes closed for pretty much the whole trip.

Seeing me like that might well have had a bearing on the kids’ reaction to the London Eye, so I blame myself for them initially refusing to entertain the prospect of boarding one of London’s most popular modern attractions – despite promises of candy floss and unlimited time on their devices. And as the pod rises gently into the air, I find myself worrying that I’ve passed on my own neurosis to them both. I wave to them, guiltily.

To my astonishment they smile and wave back. They’re still smiling and waving as the pod climbs higher and higher above me. I lose sight of them as the sun catches their cabin and all I can see is reflected light. My phone rings in my pocket and I see that it’s my wife calling me using Facebook Messenger. Answering the call, I see the delighted faces of my two kids. “They’re loving it,” my wife tells me.

Relieved, I decide to walk the dog along the Thames while I wait for them to complete their trip. There are a few people milling around the river but it’s amazing how quiet the tourist spots of London are for August. In the last three days we’ve hardly had to queue for anything, we were straight into Tower Bridge, there was no queue whatsoever for the Tower of London and even Hyde Park was completely empty – but that might have been thanks to the rain! If the pandemic has had any upside for British tourists at all it’s been the ability to enjoy our capital without any crowds. Thanks to the massive amount of hotel rooms compared to current demand almost all of the hotels have slashed their prices, and the LNER train from Leeds was practically empty as well.

Thirty minutes later my family are back on the ground and the kids are telling me all about the experience. “Can we go on it again Daddy?” the kids ask.
“Maybe the next time we come to London.” I tell them.
“When will that be?” they ask, half a dozen times as we stroll along Westminster Bridge toward parliament and a scaffolding encrusted Big Ben. I don’t commit to any particular date, but while London is this empty and hotel prices this cheap, I know it will be sooner rather than later.

Fact File
We stayed at the Travelodge London City, which was a ten minute walk from Tower Bridge and a two minute walk from the Underground station at Aldgate. The room was less than £50 a night and Travelodge also have a current offer where the cheapest night is free on stays over 5 nights in London, Cardiff or Edinburgh. All Travelodges are dog friendly and it costs £20 to add your dog to a booking regardless of the length of the stay.

LNER trains are offering family return tickets for £99 from Leeds to London that includes travel for two adults and up to four children. Our trains in both directions were on time, prompt with regular cleaning visible throughout the journey. The carriages weren’t full and food and drink could be ordered to your table via a QR code next to our seats. The whole journey felt safe, relaxed and better than driving.

The London Eye starts at £24.50 but passengers with LNER can enjoy two for one offers on this and many other London attractions.

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