How To Find your way around London - and out of London!

From left to right, tourists walking around London, an open top guided tour bus, the National Express coaches which go inter city. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Walking Around London

A London loop for walkers offers you a short or longer route.

London Loop signpost. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

If you want to stay in the city and want a guide there are several groups offering tours starting from landmarks, usually underground station. You can do tours of historical places, and Jack the Ripper, Shakespeare's London.

Bike Hire

You can hire bikes from the banks of bikes and leave them elsewhere.

Bus to Heathrow

London has buses on a loop going to Heathrow airport. The loop bus goes via Hendon and Harrow.

Night buses run along the most popular routes.

Trains in, round and out of London

Check the times of last trains.

Heathrow airport is on the wonderful new Elizabeth line.  

Driving Off  Around the UK

Get to know your own car's Satnav. If you don't have one, or can't use, use your phone for directions. 

If you are lost, you can use the google maps app on your mobile phone and listen to the voice giving you directions. This works whether you are walking or driving.

You can drive on the M4 to Wales. Be prepared to pay a toll on the Severn Bridge in at least one direction. Check the amount and if you need to pay cash or credit card.

Flights From London's City Airport

London City Airport has flights to Europe and the USA.

To leave London, you can take trains from Paddington west to Wales, and then a ferry over to Ireland.

Hotels near London City Airport

Lots of hotels from Under £100 to over £300. I noted Holiday Inn Express was in the cheaper section.

Driving Out of London

Drive north from London up the M1 to the midlands, Derby, the north, and on to Scotland. (Turning off the motorway on the M6 - check the AA or RAC for routes, or Google Maps or Michelin.)

The AIM goes to Stevenage and Welwyn, the old road predating the MI, which was Motorway one. 

Citymapper

This tells you when the next bus is coming. 

Also how long an uber (hire car) takes and how much money it costs. 

Citymapper is available for London and other cities, such as those in Europe. For example, Dublin, Ireland, which is in the EU (European Union).

 An alternative to TFL

Google Maps

You can ask for a cafe near me. A garage/petrol station (called gas station by Americans) near me.

Skyscanner 

https://www.skyscanner.net/flights-from/lcy/cheap-flights-from-london-city-airport.

Streetview

When I am driving and worried about getting lost, or whether my destination has a driveway or place to park, I use Streetview. This is good for the local area. We can discuss alternative routes, and remember where to turn off into side streets to avoid traffic jams. It is a visual video of streets which you can rewind, and change direction, even check the car park behind a pub, park, cemetery, wedding venue, conference centre or shopping mall, railway station or airport.

TFL and Tube Trains

London's underground is called the tube, because of the underground tunnels. The circle line is easy to identify, going around in a circle. The Northern line goes north. Of course returning you will be coming south back into London. 

You can specify travel times tomorrow or later, get prices of journeys, cheapest option such as walking and bike versus bus, taxi, train, quickest option, and step-free station, or least walking.

Useful Websites For Travel & Route Planning (alphabetically)

AA route planner

https://www.theaa.com/route-planner/route

Citymapper

https://citymapper.com/?lang=en

Google maps

https://www.google.com/maps/

Street View

https://www.instantstreetview.com/

TFL

https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

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Travel Tips - When Lost - Google maps

When I was lost, I went into a garae to ask the way.

 In the UK and elsewhere, if you cannot get your satnav to work, find Google maps on your phone. Type in your destination and it will show your route and read you directions.

Other systems include include waze. 

You can also use street maps to check exits from roundabouts and motorway signs.

Useful websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_navigation

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Finding The Correct Addresses Worldwide - Could Be A Matter of Life and Death, in the USA

Schools should teach map reading and the streets in a city which have similar names. Time for a board game which plays this?

You can use streetview to find out what your destination looks like.

UK

In the UK we once arrived an hour late at a dinner. Why? Because we looked up a street name in London and went to an identical street with a different postcode

If in doubt, ask a passerby. Ask twice.

In London an American asked me, 'Which is the way to Oxford?'

 I told him, 'You need to walk down to the station and take a train.' 

He said, 'I was told it was in walking distance, a few yards away'. 

I said, 'You mean Oxford street?'

USA

In the USA in 2023 a boy called Ralph Yarl was shot after going to the wrong house.

In the evening hours of April 13, Yarl had been sent to pick up his siblings from an address in the 1100 block of NE 115th Terrace. He mistakenly went to a home less than a block away on NE 115th Street .

Terrace or street?

We live in London in a H ...ROAD. We frequently get mail or parcel deliveries clearly addressed to H....CLOSE.

Door latch

You can buy a door latch from Amaxon for about twenty pounds, and a portable door latch to take to hotels, or rental places.

Door latch from Amazon.

It is easy to go to the wrong address. The party inside is so loud that the people don't answer when you call. The house number is obscured. Several local roads have similar names, green road, green street, green drive, green hill, green lane, green avenue. We get wrong deliveries all the time due to mixed up addresses.

Houses should have clear numbers. Streets should have clear names, and arrows to other streets with similar names.

In the USA people going to the wrong house get shot. Two this week. April 2023. A girl called Kaylin Gillis died. She was in a car. 

Ralph Yarl lived. He had walked up to the front door.

 How can we stop this happening?  If every driveway was gated, with an intercom, anybody at the wrong house could simply speak to the home owner and be re-directed. Without going anywhere near the front door or front windows or back door.

Doorcam

When I searched for Doorcam in Singapore I was directed to a sales page offering an item at just under 500 dollars. However, I found doorcams around 50 dollars on the major suppliers such as Lazada and Amazon. The American popular one is Ringcam. 

Many condos offer doorcams as standard. It is a selling point for buyers, and renters.

The moral is, check the address. Check the house number. Check the street name. Check the postcode. Check the distance from the nearest landmark. Phone when you get near. Ask the people you are meeting to stand at the door. Or ask the colours of two items. 

If all the houses in the street look the same, then what? Banners? Balloons?

Party

When we had a party for a five year old, we put balloons outside. Unfortunately, another family in the looped road also had a party. A little Japanese girl spent the whole afternoon at the wrong party. Her aunt collected her, and had to retrieve the gift, and bring it to us.

It is easy to get lost.

In the UK if you knock at the wrong house, usually somebody will redirect you.

In the USA, it is a different matter. 

When children or teenagers deliberately set out to annoy, or frighten, householders, the results can be serious.

Knock and Run (Ring and Run in the USA)

This so-called game goes by many names including Ding Dong. It is not fun for the householder. They could be called out of a bath, have their TV or movie interrupted, and be terrified that a stalker, burglar or worse is going to escalate the nuisance.

Do not allow your children to play knocking on doors for annoy people for fun. 

It happened to me, once. I was called out of the bath. Summoned from watching my movie. Had a phone call interrupted. Was alone and terrified. Eventually, I stood behind the door, waited and watched. Would it be dangerous to answer?

When the doorbell rang, I heard feet scamper away. I flung open the door and chased after them. They disappeared into the house next door. I phoned my neighbour and told her what had happened and asked her if anybody in the house knew the culprits.

They had left. They were other children from further up the road, who had been visiting. 

She came round to see me. I was clearly shaking, upset, almost in tears.

She phoned the other mother.

Next day she phoned to say that the children had been told to write a note apologising for disturbing and upsetting me. She asked if she could deliver the note or if I would prefer the children to come and see me.

I did not want to see them.

She delivered the note. 

End of story.

But not in the USA. I won't go into trespass and stand your ground but you can look up the rules in the USA and any other country where you are living of visiting.

Wikipedia reports

Michael Bishop, a 56-year-old man in Louisville, Kentucky, shot at a group of children playing ding dong ditch at his house on 13 June 2011. A 12-year-old boy was hit in the back with a shotgun blast and "the boy was taken to Kosair Children's Hospital with what police call non-life-threatening injuries". The shooter was charged with attempted murder.^[18] On 8 December 2015, his final day in office, outgoing Kentucky governor Steve Beshear issued 197 pardons,^[30] including a pardon for Michael Bishop.^[31]

A 14-year-old Oklahoma teenager, Cole Peyton, was shot in the back and arm while playing "ding dong ditch" in the early hours of New Year's Day of 2016.^[32][33]

Dean Taylor, a 63 year old coach and former San Francisco Police Department officer, was arrested following an incident involving an 11-year-old boy who rang his doorbell in San Rafael, California on 12 February 2021. After two boys rang his door and ran, Taylor chased the boys in a vehicle, cut off one of the youths and emerged from the car. Then he allegedly grabbed one 11-year-old boy by the neck, pushed him to the ground and forced him into his vehicle. He drove the terrified boy around the block, and allegedly told the boy that he would "put a bullet in his head" if the prank happened again. He dropped the boy off near Point San Pedro Road and Loch Lomond Drive, and police were called. Taylor faces felony charges including kidnapping, making criminal threats, false imprisonment, battery and child endangerment.^[34]

A California man, Anurag Chandra, 42, faces several murder charges for his role in the Temescal Canyon Road crash on 24 January 2020. After one of the boys had been dared, all six teenagers drove to a nearby home on Mojeska Summit Road in Corona, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The boy rang the doorbell and returned to the 2002 Prius that they were riding in, and the group took off. Chandra, who lives at the home, chased after them in his 2019 Infiniti Q50. His car rammed into the back of the Prius, causing it to veer off the road and into a tree. Daniel Hawkins, Jacob Ivascu and Drake Ruiz, all 16-year-old passengers, were killed in the crash. The 18-year-old driver and two other boys, ages 13 and 14, were injured but survived.^[35]

Burglary

Do not let your family be criminals who knock on doors before burglary. If this behaviour becomes common in a neighbourhood, eventually people get shot just for ringing the wrong doorbell, even if it is just to ask the way.

Finding The Right House

Of course, neither Google Maps nor a satnav will take you to the right building if you have confused street, road, close and terrace, or the postcode.

Does spelling matter? Does grammar matter? Does accuracy matter? Does the correct street name or postcode matter. Yes, it can be a matter of life and death. 

Today I had a Whatsapp message telling me to go to a Toastmasters International meeting in one area. But the meeting programme gave a different address. I had to contact three people to sort this out. In the end, I did not go. Apparently, the club alternates venues.

Two ways you can help people.

1 Firstly, by being willing to turn up to an event, or drive somebody to and from the event. 

2 The other way is to ensure that they have the right address and do not waste time going to another place with a similar name. 

 This is not the first time it has happened in the USA. Another famous case, well known in Japan, was Yoshi Hatori. Halloween.

It was Halloween. Don't arrive dressed like a ghoul on somebody's doorstep. 

Take care

If you go to the wrong terminal at an airport you could miss your flight. Go to the wrong address, and you could miss your dinner reservation at a restaurant.Go to the wrong address for a party or to collect your friend in the USA you could be shot by the householder.  . .  Go to the wrong place in wartime and you could be captured by the enemy.

Google Streetview.

  

Google Maps

https://www.lightinthebox.com/en/p/video-doorbell-camera-wireless-battery-powered-wifi-video-doorbell-camera-motion-detector-2-way-talk-hd-video-night-vision-cloud-storage-battery-power_p9471176.html?

https://www.google.com/maps/@1.3738835,103.7636757,15z

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11987303/Construction-boss-charged-killing-20-year-old-Kaylin-Gillis-short-fuse.html?dicbo=v2-ooYrCrK&ico=outbrain_footer

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11988351/White-homeowner-84-RELEASED-200k-bail-charged-shooting-black-16-year-old-Ralph-Yarl.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Ralph_Yarl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Kaylin_Gillis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Yoshihiro_Hattori

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knock,_Knock,_Ginger#:~:text=Knock%2C%20knock%2C%20ginger%20(also,traditional%20holiday%20of%20Nickanan%20Night.

Why Stop At Service Stations? Why Not Stop?

Problem
Every time I pass a sign warning me about a service station on the UK motorway I have to decide whether to stop. Should you stop or not?

Answers
The reasons for stopping are:
1 tiredness,
2 toilets,
3 food and drink,
4 souvenirs,
5 information.
6 Petrol - car maintenance - rescue


The reasons for not stopping are:
7 Avoiding prolonging the journey
8 Protecting the contents / possessions in the car
9 Reaching appointments in time
10 Avoiding late in the day traffic build-up

1 Signs warn you that tiredness causes accidents.
If we are two travelling, we take turns driving and the passenger watches the road and the driver and talks to keep them alert.

2 Go before you leave home. Go whenever you stop - you don't want to have the urge to go when stuck in a three hour traffic jam. Carry some kind of container in case you need a potty in the car.

3 Remember food and water, to revive you so you are alert to drive, to raise morale.
Some drivers like coffee to keep themselves awake and alert and beat that sagging feeling. I prefer water to coffee to avoid the urge to go to the toilet.

4 The gifts are quite pricey but often very handy. If you didn't spend much on holiday and still have £20, time to buy a gift for yourself or a friend.

5 Information
At the entrance, just inside the doorway, is a large rack of leaflets about attractions in the area. Very handy. Tells you what to see, when it's open, if you can afford it, whether you will get there before closing time.

If you are near the end of your journey, time to read your directions and remember which junction you turn off. (You don't want to be distracted trying to read the junction number from a clipboard when your eyes should be on the road. An alternative is to write the destination junction and stick that where you can see it without taking your eyes off the road, or keep reading it as a reminder throughout the journey whenever you stop at traffic lights, traffic jams or for a break.

6 I stopped to call the AA from a garage at a service station, to be sure of not breaking down on the motorway. Somebody pointed out that it's a danger to run out of petrol and be stuck on the hard shoulder where a large vehicle or any driver not paying attention might run in the back of you.
If you are forced to stop, immediately put on your hazard warning lights. If you don't know where they are, ask somebody to show you - or consult the manual.

Checklist for loading your car:
Night before or week before, before you pack your suitcase, test the sapce available in the car. Put the empty suitcases in the boot (Americans say trunk). When buying new luggage, know the size of your car boot (keep the sizes in your diary or the inside cover of your holiday notebook).
Do the suitcases of the driver - and the suitcases of any passengers picked up en route fit into the boot of the car? Important to allow room for everybody to sit, avoid damage from flying objects, and make the car look empty when you park and get out to have a coffee.
Food
Drink
AA rescue number
Destination directions, written, remembered, visible.
Destination typed into Tom-Tom the night before.
Set radio or speaker for directions.
Put all luggage into one or two bags wyou can carry, in case you ever have to leave your vehicle, either to go to the toilet, or in the event or breakdown or accident.

Useful Websites
visitbritain.com
visitbritainshop.com
AA route planner
theAA.com
RAC route planner
Street view
google maps

Author
Angela Lansbury

Armchair Travelling with Google Maps and Street View

Problem
I want to find out what's on display at a museum, or what you can see at a vineyard. Is the place traditional or modern, large or small?

Answer
It's amazing how much you can see online in advance of  your travel, or armchair travel with places when it's out of season and they are closed and you are planning a trip. Or you saw the sign and wanted to visit but didn't have time.

You can look at the vineyard where your bottle of wine comes from. Check the farm where the food from your supermarket comes from. See if the chocolate manufacturer will send a Christmas hamper or a gift for a celebration.

I've looked at vineyards in France and seen how they have a slope in the sun or shade, whether they are bang in the centre of the village or town, or down a country lane.

I've tracked down the Buckwud maple syrup which I put on my breakfast porridge. I have found their Canadian premises and seen what they offer on line. (See one of my previous posts.)

I have checked opening times and prices. I have checked on Tripadvisor and found that the only complaints about a restaurant are that they don't take large groups, or are not dog friendly, which doesn't bother me if I am travelling solo without a dog.

I can do a virtual tour of the inside of many museums in America. I can find the name of that hotel where I stayed in Cambodia (Lemongrass and Ginger - see an earlier post). Or do a tour of the Cromwell Museum in England (see previous post) which I visited some time ago and see if it is just the same, and as I remember it.

I can re-read my previous posts and find out the name of the man whose statue is on Euston station.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Road Accidents In Romania, Deaths, Daily Life and Wonderful Wildlife

Problem
In Bucharest, capital of Romania, we hired a left hand drive car from Thrifty which is the budget branch of Hertz. We realised the two were related when we were directed to a Hertz shuttle van to take us from outside the arrivals hall of Bucharest International airport to the car parking area (Americans say parking lot) where we collected our hie car. Apart from driving on the left, we had no knowledge of diving conditions, vehicles we would encounter, or parking conditions, animals on the road.

Problems and Pleasures
1 Driving in Romania is a delight. Arriving in Bucharest is wonderful. Pictures of palaces, castles, mansions, museums are inside the airport. Driving from Bucharest airport into the centre of Bucharest, you approach through a wide avenue or as the French might say, Boulevard, huge trees,  huge embassies and museums and giant circles with multiple exits.

Directions
We had no Satnav in the car. However, thank goodness for Google maps verbal directions from a mobile phone perched on a shelf in the front of the Skoda. Once or twice the directions were after we had heard no directions and had already chosen an exit.

Pedestrian crossing in Romania. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Pedestrians and Pedestrian Crossings
Bucharest and the second city we visited, Brasov, and the smaller villages, have lots of pedestrian crossings, a few with lights, but mostly either black and white zebra crossings or red and white crossings. Occasionally there were speed bumps or narrower rumble strips to slow cards as they approached pedestrian crossings.

As in England, pedestrians often walked across listening to phones. Sometimes another car or pedestrian would beckon a pedestrian. Occasionally the pedestrian would be beckoned into the path of a second car overtaking the stationery car.

Romanian words P E R I C O L (danger) DE (of) ACCIDENTE (accident). Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright. 

Warning Signs
Signs in cities warn you to slow, or accident black spots, danger.

Countryside
Signs in the mountains and countryside warn of slow to a certain speed in kilometres, slippery road, hair pin bends, danger, donkeys and carts, cows on road.

Animals, squirrels, birds
We encountered herds of cows. First one cow sees you, then several more. Cows were being driven downhill. Later another driver in our group saw the cows being milked.

Sheep on the road. Flocks of goats.

Birds hopping across. Some creatures, such as owls, play dead in the face of danger.

Coming around a bend we saw a baby squirrel, which made the driver brake and slow to a halt, to the consternation of the car behind. I can't remember whether the driver hooted the squirrel. I tried to look back and see if there was a mess on the road, meaning another road kill like others we had seen, saw nothing, but then we were round the next hairpin bend.

Accidents In Villages and Cities
The first accident we saw was on the main motorway. The potholes were atrocious. Cars and lorries and buses and coaches were weaving between giant potholes, often crossing to the wrong side of the road to avoid potholes. On one occasion a section of deep drop road was cordoned off sending traffic suddenly veering into oncoming traffic.

Upside down car on Romanian road. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

On two lane road we passed an upside down car. One of our UK passengers thought that the Romanian accident rate was higher than the British accident rate.

From the motorway across flat fields with conical hills in the distance, we ended up on the beautiful road to Brasov, up through forested mountains, climbing on hairpin bends. We met a traffic jam approaching one of the tourist town festooned with Cola signs, huge ads, chalet style hotels with steep rooftops, like Disneyland meets Blackpool (for my American readers, Coney island or Disney land - a combination of delightful buildings, immaculate scenery and crowds of jolly pedestrians and souvenir shops).

You hear the sirens and see flashing lights. The word for police in Romanian is almost the same but looks a bit like Political.

The word for ambulance looks the same but again add a T.

Finally we round the cause of the traffic jam. Two written-off vehicles, head on collision. That was the second accident we saw.

Pedestrian Accient
The third accident was a pedestrian. On the outskirts of the town, onto the motorway, a very fast two lane road, a few houses to the right, a vehicle parked half way across the edge of the road and slightly into the road. We saw the flashing lights. Our driver slowed down because of the vehicle partly in the lane ahead and people milling about.

Then we saw three of four people lifting somebody onto what looked like a stretcher. Good, I thought. Help on its way. Alas no.

Then we saw the helpers zip up black around the body. A body bag.

A dead pedestrian. Later, over dinner in our hotel, another of our group of thirty said their driver passed the scene earlier and had seen attempts at resuscitation by pumping on the chest. Obviously, alas, not successful.

More photos on these accidents, and warning signs, later.

We were struck by the number of accidents, three in our first week in Romania. Then we saw another major accident involving two vehicles and an upside down car at S t a n s t e d in the UK. (See previous post.) Still to come: articles on Romania, Dracula, and Romanian wines.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Finding your way to and from a station with Google maps

Problem
How do you find your way to and from a Station?

Answer
Use Google maps. This map might already be installed in your phone. If not, search for it and install it by clicking on the symbols which say install. When I installed it, I found it was free.

On my mobile screen the apps are shown on a grid which is arranged alphabetically. You might have a choice of ways of displaying the icons or symbols.

At the top of your screen you should find a search box in which you type your destination such as City Central station or Abc Business Building. Up pops a map of your local area.

Click on the picture of a figure walking. Then you get walking directions instead of driving directions.

Click on the black or blue symbol lower right and you will see a blue line of dots between your current location and the destination. This shows you where to walk.

You don't have to following w the route exactly. You might decide to take a footpath to the station to save time instead of the longer route along the main road.  Or at night when going home you might take the longer route along the main road instead of a path with puddles and shadows and mosquitos.

The map has many other good features such as telling you how many minutes away you are from a building such as a station, shopping malls or restaurant.

I wish I had learned to use Googlemaps earlier. I am very grateful to the friend who showed me how to use it on two occasions.

If none of this is new to you, take the information as a reminder of how to coach somebody else how to use the helping ap, - step by step - figuratively and literally. Anybody who is puzzling over a map or asking directions  might be glad of a first lesson or reinforcing reminder.

Please show it to someone who is lost and would love to receive help, not just once but on many journeys.

Like teaching a person how to fish, teaching them how to use an ap can be a lesson which improves not just one day and one journey but many quicker, easier travels.

Author
Angela Lansbury,  travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

How to find a place in Singapore, including nearest MRT and exit

Problem
How to find a place in Singapore, including nearest MRT (railway station) and exit?

Answers
By train. Go to street directory website. This gives you the nearest MRT as well as the exit. For example, to get to Thomson Community Centre, go to Marymount station, exit A.

Tips
streetdirectory.com
Get a map of the underground from the ticket office in any main station. If you can't get a paper map, find one on your laptop, iPad or smart mobile phone.

An alternative is Google maps.

Use a pencil to mark your route. Note the interchange stations and the end of the line. Allow an extra five minutes to exchange lines and walk around large stations such as Newton.

Direction/location maps are on the wall near the ticket office or the top of the escalator in most large stations. You can also take a picture of the map on the wall so that after you have left the station you can see which side of the road you should be on and which turning to take.

You can also ask the ticket office for directions. Sometimes they are helpful. Occasionally they don't know. You should remember that some areas have more than one Community Centre. The centres may be called Central, South, North, East or West.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my books on amazon.com and lulu.com

Planning a walk around the city or walking to a station?

Use Google maps to plan your entire walk and check local landmarks.

Google Maps
On business? In a hurry? Save time and anxiety if you are in a hurry to get to an association lunch or timed tour.
When you get a new phone, you can install a Google Maps ap on your phone.

Google Street View
Recognize landmarks so you know you are on the right route. Even if you don't speak the local language.

If you are meeting visitors, sound really knowledgeable about the local area.Take time to check the history of statue. Ancient buildings. And modern buildings.

In London, which bridge are you crossing? When was the Gherkin built and by whom and is it all offices or are there shops? Best place to take a photo? From inside or outside, underneath or across the river?

Is anything worth stopping to see and admire and take a photo for the folks back home? Note a selfie spot for your overseas or out of town visitors.

Are there major roads to delay you? Can you walk a more interested route by the river? Avoid alleyways at night? Check where the children are walking and what tie they should arrive.

Check a cafe where you can all meet if its raining and one of you is delayed in a traffic jam or railway  go-slow. Is there a free toilet nearby?

Does the pub or station have a place to park? What's the cost? A place to pick up visitors at the station without incurring a parking fine?

Can you walk home instead of taking a taxi, and burn off the calories consumed during lunch? Is the uphill walk too long for granny or the teenagers in high heels? Is there a great view from the hilltop on a fine day?

When walking from the station, what is the name of the road you must take or ask for? If you take the earlier or later turning? How do you get back on your route? Are there any long cul-de-sacs you should avoid? Is it quicker to go back retracing your steps, or can you simply continue on the new alternative route?

Printed Map from Google Maps
It may be easier to print off a map, rather than rely on satnav having a good internet connection on your hand held phone at the destination. If your phone dies you will be glad to have the map. Why should your phone die? It might if you are in an underground railway giving advice to a friend who is lost and phoned. Your phone could die if you are between high buildings and lose connection. Or if its late in the day and you've taken lots of photos and videos.

Take a phone charger and cables. You can buy a stored battery type device to carry with you, about the size of your phone, a lighter smaller one for short trips, a bigger, heavier one for longer trips. Remember to take it with you.

You can give it to anybody who goes back to the station to meet somebody who is late whilst the rest of you wait in a cafe.