After thirteen months of travel, I’m heading back to the USA. I missed my annual medical visit, last July, while walking the Camino de Santiago. Then, I had to stay in Europe, to complete my dental implant appointments. By November, it was time to reschedule the missed appointments, spend my final days in Europe, and headed back home.

Before leaving London, I decided to attend a play. I selected a West End matinee of Hamilton. The Victoria Palace Theatre is just steps away from the Victoria Underground Station. After walking half a block, I made it to the theatre and purchased a same day ticket. I walked across the street, to a coffee shop, and waited for the doors to open. My seat was towards the back of the orchestra level, but was a really good seat.

Before my flight, I also made sure to visit Brixton, a district in South London. The area is known for its multicultural community with Caribbean roots. The first groups of the British African Caribbean immigrants arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush, from Jamaica. I also wanted to visit Brixton, because it is the birthplace of David Bowie. There’s a mural in his honor, across the street from the underground station.

Between 1948 and 1970, nearly half a million people moved from the Caribbean to Britain. The UK faced severe labor shortages, after the Second World War. By 2018, the mood in the country had changed. British Caribbean immigrants began being wrongly detained and threatened with deportation, after the government “mistakenly” classified them as illegal. The Windrush Scandal was made public the following year.

My first stop in Brixton was a visit to the Black Cultural Archives. Its mission is to collect, preserve, and celebrate UK citizens of African and Caribbean heritage. As luck would have it, the artist Zita Holburne was giving a talk on her work for the World Reimagined project. Her piece is one of 103 unique globes created to explore the history, legacy and future of the Britain’s role in Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Then, my time in the UK was done. I checked out of my hotel and made the short walk to the Earl’s Court station. Once at Victoria Station, I headed to the gate for the Gatwick Express. The train is nonstop and drops off in the South terminal. From there, I took the airport tram to the North terminal. Like the Heathrow Express train from the airport to Paddington Station, the Gatwick Express was a great way to go.

My flight to Canada was reasonably priced. I picked a hotel near the Toronto airport and planned on getting a good nights sleep and flying out in the morning. I checked in and headed to my room. It was freezing! Cold air poured out of the system, even when it was turned off. After three or four called to the front desk and two visits by maintenance, my room was finally changed! It took the front desk four hours to simply change my room! Welcome back to North America!

The following morning, I headed to the airport and began the process of clearing immigration (in Toronto) before my flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. I had planned on documenting the process and blogging about it. My Global Entry card made the airport screening process super easy. There was no line and it took seconds to clear. Next, I headed to immigration. After getting my barcode, via the Mobile Passport Control (MPC) app, I was allowed to jump the line and go directly to an immigration officer. The entire process took less than fifteen minutes.

This year marks my 40th anniversary of traveling to the United Kingdom. I took my very first solo trip there in 1984. I visited England and Scotland. I was supposed to visit the city of Liverpool, but I overslept and missed the train. The following morning at breakfast, people ran over and said, “Did you see him?” Turned out, an official ceremony for Paul McCartney had been organized by the City of Liverpool, on November 28th, 1984! My bad!

Year one is done! I can’t wait to hit the road again. Get ready! Year Two is going to be EPIC! XOXO—GGT