I wasn’t thinking it would be this cold.

Way back when we were booking this year’s stay in British Columbia near our son’s family, we knew that our rental would not be continuously available. The owner had prior bookings in April and July that would interrupt our March to October stretch in the province.

We immediately began looking at travel options for the two “missing” months.

Ted recalled that we’d wanted to see ABBA Voyage, the band’s holographic show, in London back in 2022 while we were living in Greenwich for the month of September, but the show had only just opened that May and everything but dance floor standing room was sold out. Anyway…. when Ted found available ABBA tickets in April, all we needed to do was find a way to get to London. Given the option of flight and hotel versus a good deal on a leisurely transatlantic cruise, it was an easy decision.

Of course, we’ve been pretending that we’re just such jetsetters that we can simply hop a cruise ship anytime we want to see a show!

We arrived in the port of Southampton early yesterday morning, and used a Princess transfer to Heathrow Airport, where from Terminal 3 we could easily jump on the Elizabeth Line tube to Stratford station, which is just a 9 minute walk from our hotel, The Stratford Hotel London in Olympic Park on International Way. On the tube, I had a lovely long chat with a younger Irish woman who had been an actual “Derry Girl”, even having graduated from the very school depicted in the TV series. What fun!

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Our priority after settling in to the hotel? Food and a pint of bitter! We headed out into sunshine but a cold wind, in search of the nearest pub offering fish and chips and a decent pint of bitter (a light ale). Unfortunately, I hadn’t counted on 2 things: pubs on Sunday afternoons aren’t making fish and chips, but a special Sunday roast dinner menu, and there are pubs in England that don’t serve food at all – just drinks.

In the end, chilled, hungry, and just a tiny bit frustrated, we ended up at The Cow, a modern take on a traditional sports pub. Ted was able to get his fish and chips, as well as some huge battered onion rings. I was able to get a traditional English Sunday roast meal that almost rivalled what my best friend’s daughter and her husband prepared for us on our last visit to England. (Episode 329) And we were both able to get a bitter.

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Everyone raves about food on the continent, and even I rave about hotel breakfasts in Germany, but this morning…

… as we walked into the E20 restaurant space, to be seated by a hostess, we passed by the freshly made trays of croissants ready to go into the proofing oven. I was immediately glad that we’d followed our usual routine and booked a hotel with breakfast included.

The way the included breakfast at the Stratford works, each person can choose two “small” breakfasts or one “big” breakfast from the menu, plus have access to the bakery/fruit/cereal counter and unlimited juice and tea or coffee. Our delicious and ample breakfast took us all the way to dinnertime.

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During breakfast, we noticed an occasional vibration in the dining room. Since we’re no longer on a ship, we were curious about what was causing it, until we realized that we were almost on top of the train line. Southeaster’s High Speed 1 runs from London St Pancras to Kent about every 8 minutes. It reminded us of son #1’s Toronto home over the TTC subway line; after a while, the regular slight sound and motion simply become part of the ambience.

We had no plans for our day prior to tonight’s show, but there is the absolutely massive Westfield Stratford mall and outdoor shopping mews virtually right beside us, adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, so a bit of mall and park walking seemed in order. The mall walk included a very quick deke into Primark to buy a “jumper” (pullover, in North American parlance) – an extra layer for me, since I hadn’t brought any really heavy tops. Primark is a discount UK clothing store, but one of the things I really like about it are the items made from recycled polyester. It’s almost as if I’m re-wearing some of the many clothes I’ve donated over the years.

Then back out into the chill. This area of London was beginning to feel a bit down-and-out prior to the 2012 Olympics, but it’s definitely a vibrant neighbourhood now, with new and interesting architecture, and LOTS of new housing being built.

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Impressive even under cloudy skies, the ArcelorMittal Orbit (above) is a 114.5-metre (376-foot) tall sculpture and observation tower in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. ArcelorMittal is the name of the multinational steel company who sponsored its construction; Orbit is the sculpture’s name. It was erected as London’s “Olympic Tower” for London’s hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Located between the Olympic Stadium (now called London Stadium, and the home of West Ham United football team) and the Aquatics Centre, its two observation platforms allow visitors to view the entirety of Olympic Park.

We did NOT climb up, nor did we slide down its world’s tallest and longest – 178 m (584 ft) – tunnel slide!!

Instead Ted took photos with both feet safely in the ground.

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Despite our big breakfast, after all our walking in the “crisp” air, I was hungry again by around 5:00. We’d returned to our hotel for coffees, so decided simply to stay in their ground floor resto/bar space for a hot snack. The kitchen is known for their pizza, so we ordered one garnished with jalapeños and, because the triple-cooked chips in England are just so delicious, I “needed” some of those as well, with curry mayonnaise. Sadly, the pizza was disappointing, but the chips rocked!

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And finally…. it was time to make the 30 minute walk to the amazing purpose-built ABBA Arena.

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Absolutely no photography is allowed inside the arena during the 90 minute show, so when I think back at this experience I’ll just have to think about words like mind-boggling, incredible, vibrant, joyous, technologically amazing, and a word my BFF made up a few years ago: ASTOUNDISHING!

It was so far beyond what we’d expected. Yes, it was amazing seeing ABBA on stage, in all their 1980s glory, honestly indistinguishable from being “live”. The holograms danced, twirled, moved all over the stage, and were featured in multiple kinds of close-ups on big screens and floating projection disks. And once we got over the “astoundishing” fact that the quartet on stage weren’t really there, it was all about the actual concert event: the incredible sound system, the costumes, the fabulous live band and backup singers (exactly as there would be at an ABBA concert way back when), the videos and light show, and of course the music! The only strange thing about it was the realization that ABBA wasn’t hearing our applause, or actually seeing their audience enjoying the show.

At the very end, Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid came on stage so we could see them as they really look now – although they were holograms too!

What a great concert event. As Ted said as we were on the tube headed back to the hotel, “that was worth the trip from Vancouver!”

I felt a pretty perfect evening deserved a “proper” G&T.

Tomorrow after breakfast we head for London Heathrow Airport and our 9-1/2 hour flight back to Vancouver, where comfy beds, a grocery delivery, and hugs from our grandsons await us. It’s been a fun transatlantic jaunt!