How is it Saturday night already?! I know I should expect my trips, especially London/UK trips, to fly by unnaturally fast, but it’s still annoying. But I’m at least having a lot of fun! I’m actually not even in London now (but I’ll be back tomorrow), but let’s rewind to the last couple of days when I was!

As you saw in my last post, I had a glorious first night’s sleep on Wednesday after staying awake for farrrrrr too long the day(s) before, so I awoke ready for a good walk and a tasty breakfast. One of those things happened and it wasn’t the walk. 😎 Our hotel breakfast hit the spot though! And I even had some time afterwards to get some of this darn blog stuff organized before it was time to head out to meet our friend Matt for another Hidden London tour, this time at one of my favorite stations (near one of my favorite London locales), Charing Cross. Because this station has been one of my faves for years (I’m not really sure why, but maybe because it used to always be the station I used to get in and out of London), I’ve kept my eye on Hidden London schedules when on my trips, hoping their tour of it would be available. As soon as tickets did pop up (Hidden London tickets go on sale in batches at different times of year) and I saw the stars finally aligned, I grabbed a couple. Read all about it below!

Charing Cross has an interesting history as it was originally two stations, Trafalgar Square and Strand, the latter of which ties into the Aldwych station tour I did a couple of years ago, plus it’s only a few hundred feet from another station, Embankment. On top of that, it feels like there are a dozen different entrances, which somehow makes it feel a bit omnipresent in this part of London. Oh, and it also connects directly to the mainline Charing Cross station, where trains heading to various parts of southeast London and Kent run pretty constantly. It was there for the beginning of the Jubilee line in 1979, which is what led to some of the cool things we got to see on this tour, as the station stopped servicing that line in 1999.

We got to see some of the spaces left mostly unused since the Jubilee line service ended (escalators, platforms, etc.) and there’s something really neat about getting to see areas otherwise closed to the public. But that’s not to say those spaces are NEVER used because, like I’ve seen in some other Hidden London tours, the now-closed spaces are sometimes used as filming locations, for movies like Spyfall and Paddington. Having heard about filming on multiple tours now, I asked our tour guide Tommy if Transport for London gets the money studios pay to rent the spaces out and he confirmed they do. In fact, he said TfL has a whole team dedicated to planning and executing everything around the filming process! The more you know, eh? 🙂

As always, check out the photos below to get a sense of the tour!

A poster for the old Jubilee line service, plus an empty platform. Note that, although no trains stop at this platform, trains do sometimes still pass through it.

Did you spy the advertisements still in place around the disused platforms? They’re all fake! Note the made-up names, generic-looking art, and lack of specific details. Matt had to get a picture with one of them though!

Two angles on the ventilation shaft we saw on the tour – the left looking up and the right looking down, as the shaft twists off into other parts of the Underground. This reminded me of the big ventilation shaft (nicknamed “the whoosh”) that I saw with Bill and Felicity on our Green Park tour last year.

That was another excellent Hidden London tour! It had a nice blend of Underground history, some neat pop culture vibes with the filming that’s been done there, and access to otherwise closed-off areas that made it feel pretty special. I know I always recommend them heartily and this experience didn’t change that. Whenever you’re in London, check out what tour(s) Hidden London is offering and book one without hesitation (actually, do it BEFORE you’re in London, since they often sell out ahead of time).

Matt coordinated lunch plans for the three of us, plus a few other friends and acquaintances, but we still had a bit of time to kill before our 2 PM reservation, so we chilled with drinks at a nearby pub until it was time to head to Joe Allen, a new-to-me restaurant located just up the Strand from Charing Cross. It bills itself as “New York dining” and I have to say that the vibe felt pretty spot-on for that, with an Italian-heavy menu, dark woodwork, and chill vibes throughout. From sea bass to meatballs to pasta and more, we all had tasty food, good drinks, and interesting conversation. I didn’t get photos of any of it though! So you’ll just have to trust me when I say that a good time was had by all and that I can recommend Joe Allen as a good place to have a nice meal that’s not too expensive (with entrees, some desserts, and drinks for everyone, we split the bill evenly and paid £55 each, which didn’t feel at all exorbitant).

We had such a long lunch that Felicity and I didn’t have a whole lot of time before our evening plans commenced! But we did have enough time to walk towards our theatre, stopping off for a little window shopping around Covent Garden along the way. Matt split off from us to catch a train home, while we went to the Admiral Duncan for a drink before moving slight back down the street to the Prince Edward Theatre to see…Beetlejuice! This is a show I was definitely interested in on my last trip, but it hadn’t yet opened and then I forgot about it until Felicity suggested it while we were planning this trip. I mean, I have an image from the movie emblazoned on my arm as part of my movie-centric tattoo sleeve, so she didn’t have to suggest it twice. 😉

We opted to go with box seats because we thought it would be nice to not have to be crammed into tight theatre seats (and as an added bonus, the other two seats in our four-person box remained empty, so we had it to ourselves). We knew that the upper-left part of the stage would be obscured, but having seen the show now, I can confirm we didn’t miss too much, even if we did have to crane our necks a few times.

And the show itself? Tons of fun! Much like the musical stage version of Back to the Future, it does a nice job of following the major plot beats while also making sensible changes to make it work better on a live stage. The acting was great and the singing was pretty excellent overall. It only runs until Jan 2nd, so get out and see it if you can!

Our view of the stage, plus the view of my drink, which was called Beetle’s Juice.

After a full day of stuff outside the hotel (once we left for our Hidden London tour, we didn’t make it back until after Beetlejuice), I was ready to get back, relax and, in theory, get some blogging done. While I did get some photos edited, I didn’t get much written until my first post on Friday night. And, as usual, I didn’t sleep quite as well as I did the previous night, probably because I wasn’t dog-tired after staying awake for over a day. But I did get most of my stuff packed up so I didn’t have to worry about that on Friday morning!

By the time the morning came, sleep had happened, breakfast was eaten, and I even got out for a quick three-mile walk before I had to get back to shower and fully pack up so we could make a move to…

…Coventry!

Since it’s in the title of this post, I suppose that’s not much of a reveal, is it? Regardless, we made our way from our hotel to Euston station, this time via tube since we had our luggage with us. We deliberately didn’t book an early train so we didn’t have to rush off in the morning and actually ended up having to wait another 15 minutes or so upon arrival to learn which platform we were departing from. Once that happened though, we easily boarded and found our assigned seats (I always like to book aisle seats at a table on trains, if I can) and settled in for the one-hour train ride. Easy-peasy!

A picture of the station board and our train. Isn’t traveling by rail nice??

Things timed out nicely so we were able to check into our hotel (can you believe it – another Premier Inn!) after the 15-minute walk from the station. The weather was just as nice here as it had been in London, so the walk was pleasant, even with luggage in tow. We got settled into our rooms and then made the long journey (around the corner) to a local Pizza Express. How convenient! I got an extra-spicy ‘za this time that really hit the spot. 🍕

I forgot that I booked myself a “Premier Plus” room which, when compared to Felicity’s, didn’t seem all that different. It’s been a comfortable space though!

We didn’t actually have any plans on Friday, which is why it’s getting lumped with Thursday happenings! Post-dinner (well, timing-wise, it was more of a late lunch), we walked over to the Albany Theatre, home of Pandorica 2026, the Doctor Who convention that brought us to Coventry in the first place. Unlike the (many) other Who events we’ve both done, this one isn’t at a hotel, but rather a community theatre/function space, so we went there to pick up our convention badges, but there wasn’t a whole lot else to do, since all the official stuff (panels, autographs, etc.) was scheduled for Sat/Sun. We did have some friends around though, so we spent some time with them in a nearby hotel bar before heading back to our own hotel.

Now that it’s after midnight on Saturday, I can confirm we had a fun, full day today, with both local sightseeing and Doctor Who’ing happening. Come back soon for the next update!