Memories of first day-trips to London?

[Mrs Miggins]

I think the first time I came to London was in the early 80s. My strongest memory is of Trafalgar Square absolutely reeking of piss and covered in pigeon shit. It's quite a different place now.

A little later in the 80s, I was consumed by the notion that I wanted red ankle boots. There were no red ankle boots in the shops where I lived and my mum told me over and over that I was weird and wanted things nobody sold and I should stop being such a pain in the arse.

We went on a shopping trip to London and I will never forget descending the escalator into Top Shop at Oxford Circus to be greeted by what seemed to be an entire wall of red ankle boots. That was the moment I knew I was not meant to live in Cleethorpes...

 

[blossie33]

The first time I came to London was when I was about 13 with my Uncle and cousin on a day trip by coach with my Uncle's workplace.
We went to see a show at the London Palladium - no recollection of who we saw now!
On the way back the coach stopped at a pub somewhere and all the adults went inside while my cousin and I sat in the coach with a bottle of pop and some crisps

 

[marty21]

Mum did tell me she took us up to London as kids but I don't remember those trips , but big admiration for her navigating the tube with 4 kids under 7.

 

[felixthecat]

Taken up to London a few times as a kid to see various shows but the one that really stands out was 1979, 6th form A level art trip to the National Gallery.

Of course we went in the front and out the back of of NG as teenagers would and headed off to 'see the sights'. Had to be back for the bus at 4pm so were hurtling back up Whitehall so we wouldn't be late when there was this almighty bang and subsequent chaos. Yes we'd picked the same day to travel up from the west country that the IRA chose to blow up Airey Neave. We were a bit late getting home to say the least

 

[Duncan2]

About 1965 I was being cared for by my grandmother who lived in Crouch End.She took me to see Buckingham Palace but ,shockingly, a woman in a gaberdine Mac was run over by a black cab and went right underneath.More or less all I remember from that decade.

 

[JimW]

Can't remember but just asked mum and she says when we lived in Northamptonshire they'd drive down and park in Grovesnor Square.

 

[nightowl]

Family trip for three or four days from Penzance. Did all he usual tourist stuff, Madame Tussauds, getting covered with pigeons in Trafalgar Square while holding one of those little pots of seeds they used to sell etc etc. Remember I was in the middle of a childish sausages and ketchup breakfast phase so that's all I used to eat from the hotel buffet in the mornings. Remember running into another family we knew from Penzance while we were walking around one day which was a bit of an odd 'small world' moment.

 

[technical]

Family trip in about 1978 when I was 10. My sister got crapped on by a pigeon as we walked across Leicester Square which I thought was the funniest thing ever

 

[T & P]

I first visited London in 1991 as a 17-y.o, which was also my first ever overseas trip. My sister was living in London working as an au pair and she suggested I come visit her during the summer holidays.

I’d always had an affinity for the UK from various films and TV series- in particular I had long wished to experience a British pub after watching Lovejoy of all things

Anyway, I was not disappointed. From the zebra crossings to the red double decker buses to indeed the pubs that looked just like I’d hoped they would, I fucking loved London and the wonderful eccentricity of it all through the eyes of a Continental European.

 

[WouldBe]

First trip to London was in '77 on a school trip to the Pompeii exhibition. We were all hoping to witness an IRA bombing but were disappointed. When I got back close to home there was a car on fire outside the local shops so hung around incase it blew up but the fire brigade got there first.

 

[RoyReed]

I was born in Brixton in 1952, but my first trip to London was about my third birthday, so November '55. I don’t remember being in Trafalgar Square or the pigeons, but I do have a vague memory of standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street (which was still possible back in those days).

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Not sure if it was my first trip but I remember visiting some friends of my parents and just round the corner from their house seeing two blokes who'd driven down a road with too many parked cars so they couldn't pass each other, dealing with it by getting out and screaming at each other instead of backing up. Made quite an impression on a very young me.