Yes and no, it varies a lot between countries.

Just wanted to add that we had a lovely 4 days in London. Saw the David Hockney exhibition, had wonderful meals at some of my favorites restaurants, wandered through Convent garden (where we stayed) and over to Liberty’s and enjoyed people watching. At Barbary’s, a great restaurant in Neal’s Yard where everyone sits at a bar and watches the chefs prepare the wonderful meals, we struck up conversation with our very friendly neighbors and ended up sharing shots with the chefs and host. A great memory.

I didn't really notice the homeless, did see some and people had little hats out so you could drop some coins if you wanted.

I didn't have any cash, used contactless payment everywhere, didn't have to draw out a single cent. Did the same when I visited Switzerland earlier this year.

As it turns out, I lost a wallet containing credit cards. I don't know if I was pickpocketed or if it fell out of my fanny pack when I might have left open. I noticed it after a short Tube ride on a very crowded train, people standing almost chest to chest. I got out at South Kensington and noticed my fanny pack was open and I had a wallet that I carry just for physical cards, in case I can't use Apple Pay for certain transactions. I had like a half dozen cards on it.

But none of the other items from my fanny pack were missing, which includes AirPods, passport, another smaller wallet with some USD cash, mints. So it could have just fallen out because I didn't zip it closed rather than someone standing in front or side of me opening the zipper and pulling it out.

In any event, I just canceled -- reported lost -- all the cards right away. I'd already paid my hotel and I had the Apple Card on my iPhone so I just used that for a couple of days.

On paper at least some of these takeaway options may be more healthy like lean chicken or fish bowls at M&S, which is being copied by other chains like Caffe Nero, Pret a Manger, etc.

In fact I didn't see too many UK or local burger chains. Instead they seem to cede the burgers to McDonalds and Burger King.

I preferred the grain bowls to burgers and some of them were decent in terms of low salt. In fact the packaging is quite good, some key nutritional numbers are on the front of the packaging and color coded.

I never really looked at pubs and apparently there is surge pricing at pubs that they're starting to introduce, which seems to have alienated people.


One other thing about London, the street performers are allowed to bring this sound amplification systems. They are loud, forced me to put on my AirPods and noise cancellation. I respect that they have to try to make money and do like musicians playing prerecorded piano music to accompany their fiddle performance. But then there are people talking nonstop into their microphones and you just want to get away as far as possible. But they attract crowds and probably get enough money to keep doing it.


Spent an afternoon walking through Battersea Park and Station. Not a part of London I've been to before. It was overcast at first but later the sun came out and the Power Station looked beautiful with some parts lit brightly by the sun.

They really did a nice job of re-purposing that facility which certainly stands out. I didn't know they had a viewing platform, £23 is the price. On a clear, sunny day, I probably would have gone up but it was mostly overcast.

We have not been in London in years, but at least it still has great museums and parks. We used to go for cheap theater.

I live in Baltimore County with several small towns and major colleges in the area. Can’t believe how many vape and smoke shops there are! Seriously, in my town, every block just about, sometimes facing each other opposite sides of the street, there is a vape place. So, vaping and smoking is huge here.

Did you see Boba shops in London? The other newest craze here is Boba tea and they charge $4.25 for basic, up to $6.75 for something with favored syrup and milk, and $8.00 plus with ice cream added. There are at least ten Boba shops within about six blocks of each other. I keep reading how people are pinched for money, and people are losing their apartments, but spending by many is crazy here. Lines of high school age kids after school at the Boba shops. Better than vaping or smoking, but where do they get so much money?

I think I saw Boba.

Not like out here in California though. There are times when you see a line of people stretching outside the door of these places. Didn't see that anywhere else.

I saw even Paris had some.

But I don't drink boba so I didn't really look out for them.

I don’t either. Seems to be really big with teens here. I do not get it. Tapioca pearls, tea and milk. I know they make a big deal of preparing the pearls, properly making the tea, heating the milk, etc. but it sure does not seem that complicated when I read instructions. OTOH, it is not worth it to me. I think I am just old.

Do not whatever you do get into the driver’s seat of a car after even sniffing alcohol - the drink drive limits are very low.

One of the characters on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia said it's diabetes in a glass or something like that.

Yeah I noticed the high sugar content. I like sweets but don't want to drink sugar.

Couldn’t be any worse than Wimpy

Nice. Makes me wanna go there again. What do miss the most about that place? For me, FOOD.

All very interesting! In NYC there seems to be a "smoke shop" on every single block...they also sell pot, apparently, as well as the vapes and bongs and all kinds of apparatus I have never seen before. I think the flavored vapes are not longer allowed here but they are sold anyway, in full view on the shelf.

The comments about the aggressive panhandlers in California are disturbing to say the least. I don''t see many beggars in Manhattan, just people sitting on the street with their belongings and those sad signs describing their need for donations, and why....so many women have signs saying something like "I need money; I am a victim of domestic violence." Whaaat?? We do have thousands of new migrants here, but they seem to blend in with everyone else; many sell candies and water bottles on the street or along the highways leading into Manhattan, where the traffic stalls before the river crossings.

Brian: What kind of food from the Uk do you miss wherever you are? (Where are you?)

I live in California and go back and forth from SoCal to Bay Area and yes there are homeless but have personally never had someone get aggressive. Usually sitting on the street with a sign or siting in a park or on a bench. There is no snow and ice here and SoCal never gets below freezing so it naturally attracts people from the rest of the country. It’s a sad situation, but Calif is a beautiful state and obviously in poorer parts of LA and SF it’s tough. Probably the same in parts of Manhattan.

" . . . have personally never had someone get aggressive. . . ."

You are very lucky. At least twice a week, sometimes almost daily I'll either observe aggressive to downright hostile behavior. Maybe you never ride public transport? And if not aggressive, hallucinatory screamers -- not necessarily screaming at another person, but just screaming. The new meth is a brain eater

Most of this is either downtown or along suburban streets. Out large regional mall (high end -- Nordstrom, LV, Prada, Burberry, plus mid level like Macy's etc) is an oasis only because they have extremely effective security.

On this last trip to London a week back, I stayed at the Hub by Premier Inn at Goodge Street. A very comfortable, quiet stay (for a single), and the location was great. I liked being around so many bright, young, college kids, and I did love the Marylebone neighborhood. (When I finally win the lottery, I may have to pick up a little terrace house in the area.) But I was surprised by the number of homeless/rough sleepers who popped open their tents and cardboard shelters after dark beneath the Heal's furniture store windows off Tottenham Court Rd. Also, was surprised to see a free food line on a Thursday night at the church across the street from there. (In previous visits, I've stayed in Westminster and Covent Garden, so no surprise I wouldn't see them there.) No one aggressive but a few I saw were clearly mentally ill.

In Chicago, there are homeless and mentally ill even in my nice neighborhood, and certainly on public transport. I rarely take the trains anymore for that reason, preferring the buses, which I'm fortunate to be able to use to get to/from my office. If the weather if fine, I'll often walk the 4 miles to work rather than deal with the sadness I see on the bus. We have several Venezuelan immigrant families who now panhandle on our streets, which is heartbreaking, as they so many have young children sitting on the sidfewalk with them.

It's marathon weekend now, so the buses/trains are less "Victorian asylum" than usual. I expect once the tourists and runners leave, we'll go back to normal. But I enjoyed the somewhat easier arrival at O'Hare Terminal 5 and the less filthy blue line train back home. In London, first time on the Elizabeth Line--great. Those stations were fantastic. And trains and buses were all on time/kept to their schedules, amazingly. Even in Kent, the buses were on time. Though their driving speed boggled my mind on those narrow, shoulder-less roads.

So much vaping in England! Not just in London, but in Tunbridge Wells where I was based. (Still, better than pot for this bystander.)

Since last year, I felt the general vibe was far more welcoming/accepting of tourists. I felt genuine kindness from so many, so that was really lovely. Even my usual Chinatown dim sum restaurant (Lido) was less brusque than usual in taking my money. (And geesh, England is expensive now for Americans. I'm not really complaining--I felt very fortunate to be able to travel when so many are struggling. But it was a lot of sandwiches for me. Luckily, I am charmed by English sandwiches.)

One disappointment I felt was that the docents/volunteers at the castles and statelies I visited were not very knowledgeable. I felt I'd read/knew more than many of them, so that was a disappointment. I'd hoped to learn a bit more, but the questions I'd asked, or the audio recordings I'd listened to, illuminated little. And even chatting with the gardeners, I was disappointed that no one had much knowledge of the history or thought behind the designs/plantings. They all seemed just there to weed and water. At an extraordinary garden like Hever, that's a shame. I feel these historic places will disappoint tourists if they dumb down their literature and can't contextualize the history of the place. I get that they need to survive and attract families, but there is room for both.

I have the same complaint I've voiced to so many: people do not know how to walk on sidewalks in England. In Chicago, people, generally, walk on the right, like in traffic. In London, folks were all over the place. (To quote Fran Lebowitz: Pretend it's a city, people.)

Also, in 10 days, not one drop of rain in Kent or London! That has never happened before. I had the most beautiful weather.

And lastly, the news reports in England felt much like the desperation and despair in the US. People unhappy with their government. Struggling to pay bills. Immigration frustration. There was a knife attack/killing of a 15 year old girl while I was there that was big news, and it still struck me as far less crime than in Chicago, with our gun violence in the west and south side neighborhoods.

Docents; a friend of mine and my sister are what you guys call docents. My friend was given 20 minutes briefing on the house he had to tour and then chucked in at the deep end to run around reading the notice boards. My sister had a better intro but in English when the majority of the visitors are German (to a UK property) so she was translating as she went.

That's interesting bilboburgler. I certainly don't expect docents/employees to be academics and historians (and multi-lingual!), but I'd hoped to come across people displaying passion for the rooms they were standing in, rather than just silent sentinels keeping people from touching things. I suppose that is the practical reality of their roles in these popular tourist destinations. And I do acknowledge I'm a bit of an odd visitor, as I'm fascinated by history, so I'd hoped for more. I've certainly encountered employees and docents who have educated and thrilled me with their knowledge, like a guide on the deck of the HMS Victory in Portsmouth, or the caretaker at Carlyle House in London. Just not at Hever, Knole, Scotney Castle or Brighton's Royal Pavilion.

Yeah you can see in the Premier League matches that it looks very balmy, with sun.

I had good weather in early September when I visited.

Just back from two weeks split between Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. First trip to Scotland and hadn't been to London in almost twenty years. Still a great city!! My impressions are that vaping is everywhere, very noticeable. People vape when they exit the Underground, we saw people vaping in Gatwick Airport and in the corridor where you get the shuttle from one terminal to another, people were vaping while waiting in line to enter a museum or specifically while waiting to enter the Churchill War Rooms. Although I haven't really been going to my office in NYC since the pandemic, I don't recall seeing as many people vaping. Certainly no smoking of any kind is allowed in any airport in the US. While we were there, a news story aired about a 12 year old girl in Belfast who had become addicted to nicotine as she began vaping at age 9 and ended up in the hospital recovering from damaged lungs.

Our Underground stop was Holborn and we stayed at the Doubletree on Southampton Row. The streets were not really clean, lots of discarded food containers, cups, etc.
There were of course noticeably less newstands with tabloid papers, barely saw any and in my first trip to London about 50 years ago, they were all over the place.

Lots more bicycles on the streets. You have to be really careful crossing the street as even if you don't see any cars coming, all of a sudden a fast moving bicycle will come along. We saw a bad collision between a person crossing and a bicycle right near Victoria Station.

Still very easy to get around either by Underground, or buses or walking. Another change that my daughter who had been there in December brought to my attention is the proliferation of lots of pastry shops, cakes and pastries available at all the coffee shops.. maybe the influence of the Great British Baking Show.

Paywalled article talks about how vaping has exploded in the UK.

https://www.economist.com/britain/20...ess-in-britain

They talked about it on one of their podcasts, very high percentage like well over 10% of Brits vape. The growth has been driven by the high cost of cigarettes. Vaping can cost 1/2 or less.

In 2023, over 360 million disposable vaping devices are expected to be sold. A lot go to kids under 18, which is illegal but the enforcement is spotty.

They want to cut down on use of disposable (versus refillable devices) as well as reduce vaping by under 18 kids.

So high tobacco taxes seem to be driving it.