London Earls Court (#0234)

I’ve been to London something like 5 times, the first time when I was in the military in 1969, and then multiple times when I lived in New York state and Boston in the 70’s and 80’s. Though I enjoyed those visits in the past, rumors of the expenses of visiting London and my general agenda when traveling resulted in my ranking London as not particularly important in my current plans. I was flying in and out of London on this trip for logistical reasons and my plans were to mainly use it as a transfer point for other destinations in the UK and on the continent. Surprisingly, though, I found it much more enjoyable than I expected and found the costs manageable – though that was helped by a drop in the pound due to the Brexit vote.

When I had visited London in the 70’s and 80’s, a large part of my agenda was to take a look at gay life there. In those days the Earl’s Court area had a number of small and affordable hotels catering to gays, some good gay nightlife, and was a good point for access to multiple other parts of the city. On this trip, since I had some familiarity with the Earl’s Court area, I stayed there again. It’s nowhere near as explicitly gay as it was back in the 70’s/80’s, but still comfortable, affordable, and a good location – a good base. Though the neighborhood has changed dramatically over the years, the Underground (Tube) station (shown here) still felt familiar and I was able to reorient myself to the area.