Back to the UK after 50 years

[OZDUCK]

In 1976 my wife and I, married 1975, did our first overseas trip together. We booked a "Ship Jet" ticket to London. In those days that was the cheapest way to get there from Perth. It involved travelling on an early 1950's Dutch built, Indonesian flagged vessel chartered by a Russian company from Perth to Singapore. You spent a night or two there and then flew to Gatwick on a British Caledonian DC8. Unfortunately our ship damaged a propeller so we were flown to Singapore on a chartered QF B707.

I had been given 12 months 'leave without pay' from Customs so we were able to spend a little over 8 months in the UK and also spent another 3 months touring Western Europe from Norway to Greece in a 1972 Ford Cortina wagon which was also our accommodation. We have not been back since early 1977.

This year we will attend a reunion of the German side of my wife's ancestry in Cambridge. The last reunion was in Berlin in 2022. We fly out of Perth early Saturday morning (5/9) using points to redeem J tickets on SQ. Then we spend about 39 hours in Singapore before flying in J on QR to Manchester. We are catching up on some places we never saw on our last trip. So we have 6 nights in Manchester with various day trips planned. Then we have 5 nights in London where we will meet up with some of the other attendees - especially our German friends. After that we go to Cambridge for 3 nights for the actual reunion. York is our next stop for 7 nights again with day trips planned. After York we will have two nights in Leeds before spending the last night at a Manchester Airport hotel. We fly QR J again to Singapore for a 3 nights stopover and then ScootPlus to Perth on 4/10.

I will try to post some commentary photos on here as we go but as always I will create the majority of the TR when we get back home.

 

[SYD]

Golly gosh. You’ll find it’s changed a bit and yet some things are still very much the same.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Onboard with you @OZDUCK and +1
Enjoy

 

[Quickstatus]

Front row selected

 

[OZDUCK]

Golly gosh. You’ll find it’s changed a bit and yet some things are still very much the same.

When we were there London was very grubby and rundown. Just a couple of years before the "Winter of discontent' - wages were low and prices high.

 

[kookaburra75]

On board too. My parents took the family on a similar journey in 1972/3 I I still remember a lot of it, when I've been back to visit some of the locations. Like the pigeons swarming you and covering you in cough in Trafalgar Square. See if you can recreate that

 

[GDSman]

Sounds great - will be fascinated to read your observations on how it's changed. I've been going back to the UK (specifically England) for work over the last couple of years after a 35-year gap. Have visited several places I'd never been to - Southampton, Nottingham, Coventry, Newcastle etc. Post-Brexit, post-COVID the UK has suffered, but there are still some lovely pockets of Olde England out there...

 

[Flyfrequently]

On board too. My parents took the family on a similar journey in 1972/3 I I still remember a lot of it, when I've been back to visit some of the locations. Like the pigeons swarming you and covering you in cough in Trafalgar Square. See if you can recreate that
View attachment 519675

Love it @kookaburra75 and when gentlemen wore suits!
Should go in the Birds of a Feather thread

 

[ellen10]

Onboard, @OZDUCK looking forward to following along. My first trip was many years ago as a 19 year old. Stayed in Earls Court London with all the other Aussies. And ate at the "Pot" restaurants for a 99p dinner.
And a cute country B&B could be stayed in for a few pounds.
Such fond memories!

 

[Happy Dude]

Wow, this fairly unique perspective will definitely be interesting!

Low wages and high prices are still a thing there though, as I found out a few years ago after a mere 20yr gap, as is seeking out cheaper deals ex AUS to Europe via Asia. Happy travels!

 

[VPS]

Onboard, @OZDUCK looking forward to following along. My first trip was many years ago as a 19 year old. Stayed in Earls Court London with all the other Aussies. And ate at the "Pot" restaurants for a 99p dinner.
And a cute country B&B could be stayed in for a few pounds.
Such fond memories!

I think I lived on omelette and chips for £1.25

 

[OZDUCK]

On board too. My parents took the family on a similar journey in 1972/3 I I still remember a lot of it, when I've been back to visit some of the locations. Like the pigeons swarming you and covering you in cough in Trafalgar Square. See if you can recreate that
View attachment 519675

Snap

Trafalgar Square 1976. We have identified the spot and will recreate the photo but without the flying rats. Unfortunately my hair has been replaced with avoirdupois.

 

[kookaburra75]

But at least some things haven't changed since you were there

Wimpy UK

Wimpy is a quick service restaurant with a wide range of burgers, breakfast and coffee. There’s a Wimpy moment in everyday!

wimpy.uk.com

 

[OZDUCK]

GDSman - I am an, amateur, lover of architecture so I am looking forward to see how Manchester and Leeds have adapted its commercial/industrial buildings for the current day. We are staying in one in Manchester. We lived in the suburbs of London for about 7 months and grew to know it fairly well. There will certainly be some changes to see.

VPS - we shared a semi with my wife's Aunt near Southall so much of our food was home cooked. Luckily for me the Aunt (born in Singapore) was a great cook specialising in Singaporean curries and stir fried food and the like. She taught my wife how to cook that sort of food to an equally high standard.

Happy Dude - yes looking on-line the situation in the UK seems to be drifting backwards (partly at least by their own choice) but I will reserve judgement until we are there.

Ellen10 - our first few nights were spent at the London Walkabout Club in Craven Tce Lancaster Gate.

Kookaburra 75 - we certainly saw plenty of Wimpy's there but never went inside. I actually thought that they had closed. But apparently the roadside outlets have but there are still some café type ones.

 

[GDSman]

I am an, amateur, lover of architecture so I am looking forward to see how Manchester and Leeds have adapted its commercial/industrial buildings for the current day. We are staying in one in Manchester. We lived in the suburbs of London for about 7 months and grew to know it fairly well. There will certainly be some changes to see.

I spent a week in Leeds at a conference last year - stayed at the Queens Hotel which was a pretty impressive building, with some other nice architecture nearby. Quite liked Leeds (what I saw of it).

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Hope you enjoy the trip and have booked some nice places to stay. Manchester has done quite a good job restoring its heritage buildings.

 

[Quickstatus]

See if you can recreate that

With Plaid jacket ?

 

[kookaburra75]

With Plaid jacket ?

I would never question my father's fashion choices. He was a teacher and it was the 70s. See my Retro trip report in my signature block for even more fashion crimes