Back to London

I travelled again to one of my most favourite cities and this time i went there on my own, for the first time, C. alone in London. As usual i was super nervous beforehand and planned it with military precision.
Booking the flight and the hotel was the easiest part. As i was taking the same late flight as last year i wanted to make sure again to already have the tickets for the Stansted Express train to not lose time at the ticket machine. I wanted to order them from directly from their website and then came across my first obstacle. When i wanted to pay them with my credit card there was some pop up window which informed me about 3 D Secure. It turned out to be a payment system which is supposed to add extra security in money transactions. Well, it was so damn secure that i personally couldn't buy the tickets with my credit card. I did get in touch with my bank and the guy explained a lot of things to me of which i only understood very little
I had to apply for a PIN number which would be sent to me by mail. To make a long story short, that number only arrived after i had been back home from London. I had to create an account with it (it took ages to find a username which wasn't already in use!) and after that was successfully done, i could register for another "thing" (I have to call it a thing because simply i don't get it). The fun part? I will get something by mail again. So i hope that will be done with in the next 2 years, or so ;)

Finally i decided to try and get my Stansted tix from another source. I found a website to buy them but they wanted to send them by .. mail. No thanks. Ended up at some website which would send the tickets as e-tickets. good! So i ordered them there. Only to get a confirmation email in which i read that the e-tickets will be sent in an extra email, usually within 3 days?? Yikes! So i could have gone for mail as well. But they did arrive in time. I was so bloody nervous about these tickets, it was not even funny anymore, i was worrying if they are valid and legit. It turned out that all my worrying was unnecessary. At the airport while i was waiting for my luggage i would have had all the time in the world to buy a ticket, there were several ticket machines and no long queues.
Moreover when i was travelling to London no one checked my ticket in the train. And just as last year, the barriers at Liverpool Street Station were open. The nervousness came back when i was travelling back to the aiport. I asked one staff member at the barriers if he would have to scan my ticket but he said no and that i should walk straight through. Fine. Then came the best part. In the train a very friendly and sweet conductor "checked" my ticket by looking at it! :D That was so hilarious, really. He just looked at it, he didn't use a scanner for that QR code. Or maybe he had scanning eyes, maybe he was eine MenschMaschine.
Of course i was nervous about getting the last tube, of course i was nervous about getting a tube ticket in time, of course i could not remember how much credit was still on my Oyster Card, of course i could not register my Oyster card when not having used it within the last 8 weeks (it turns out i cannot register it anyway. I tried to after being back home and after they asked me a gazillion questions and made me come up with a password they refused my postcode as not valid. Funnily enough they had asked which country i am from before, only to then request a clearly British postcode. I have emailed them about it and just while i was typing that entry they have emailed me back saying ... no, it is not possible to register your Oyster card when not having a UK address, sorry for any inconvenience, and so on. This is too funny, really. Why ask for a country, actually giving a long list of countries to choose from and then it is not possible? I consider that highly bizarre, indeed.)

I caught the 11.45 p.m. train and it arrived a few minutes ahead of time at Liverpool St. Station. I was hurrying to the tube, Oyster card and £ 5 note ready. I could top up the card easily and quickly and i actually caught the second last tube, that was heroic!

So i made it to my hotel that night and the adventure could begin the next day