My introduction to the tube was not what we originally intended. Due to storms in Fayetteville Sarah and I (the grad students) along with 6 undergrad students were the only ones who made it to Heathrow on the originally scheduled flight. The rest of our crew had 40 hours of additional travel that they fought through. However, due to the fact that there was no longer a coach meeting us at the airport, Sarah and I were tasked with getting us, the undergrads, and all of our luggage from Heathrow to the Royal National Hotel via the tube. To say I was stressed was a bit of an understatement. Although Sarah was heading the group as the Mother Duck rounding up all the ducklings, I saw myself as her right hand… duck. We both shared concerns about all of our luggage and navigating our way through. We were incredibly lucky that Jade was one of the undergrads that was able to get to London on time as she has extensive knowledge of the tube and of London in general. With complete trust in Jade we made our way down to the tube and locked in for a 45 minute ride from Heathrow to Russell Square.
I am happy to say that our train ride in was exceptionally uneventful. We were able to get all 8 of us on the train with all of our luggage with very little hassle due to the guidance of Jade and Sarah. I remembered Shawn discussing in class that the etiquette on the tube is much different from the New York Subway. It’s very quiet and people don’t take too kindly to loud, obtrusive visitors. I was a little worried about our group being rowdy and excited, but again it was unfounded. Within the first 10 minutes I saw some of our friends already dozing in their seat. It was a calm ride that led to some excellent people watching. A man got on the tube while taking a phone call quite loudly and I saw more than a couple of people shoot him disgruntled glances. There was a small child maybe 10, 12? Who very calmly got on the tube. She carried a violin case, had noise canceling headphones on, and looked far more comfortable on the tube than I probably ever will. She sat calmly next to me watching TikTok makeup tutorials like it was any other day. I tried to imagine a 10 year old Claire navigating a busy city and the tube system all by herself… she would definitely be having a panic attack and attempting to call her mother frantically but unable to connect due to being underground.
After a 40 minute train ride to Russell Square we were able to haul ourselves and our luggage off the tube and were met… with a staircase. Up until this point everyone had been in high morale. Our flight had gone smoothly, even for Merritt and Tucker who had sprinted from their connecting flight. We were all happy to be in London and very thankful to have had the smoother journeys than our friends who were still stuck in the states. When we arrived at the bottom of the stairs, with our heavy luggage, only then did we deflate. We took a communal deep breath and started up. When I reached the top of the stairs for a moment I thought I might just decide to spend my whole time in the Russell Square tube station. As I was met with a sign telling me that there were 175 more steps to reach the street level. In a moment of honesty I thought, “yeah just leave me here, I’ll be fine”, but was saved when I looked to my left and saw the lifts. Once up on the street level it was an easy walk to the Royal National Hotel.
When I visit new cities, navigating their public transportation is always very intimidating to me. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb, that I’ll be the one to accidentally take the wrong train and end up stuck an hour and a half away from where I’m supposed to be and have no idea how to get back. However after this adventure, I feel very confident in my ability to navigate London for the next month.
Theatre in London U of A 