I absolutely love London, it is one of my all time favorite cities and I have the absolute privilidge of living a mere 22 minutes from the center. For my brothers birthday my dad treated us (plus our S.O.'s) to go 'Up the O2' and we decided why not also try out the Emirates Air Line (cable car over the thames, not an actual flight as the name may suggest haha).
The Emirates Air Line 'crosses the River Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, just five minutes from the O2 by North Greenwich Tube station'. It close proximity to the O2 made it ideal for us to try out. However, as we live North of London we did have a mammoth journey to get there in the first place on the DLR (or rollercoaster as my brother calls it). A single (if you already have a travelcard or oyster card) is only £3.40 which really isn't that bad. Whilst we were in the cable car itself the weather was beautiful, so warm in fact that we opened the very small windows to try to call it down a bit. This did however mean that the car swayed a bit. The views are very spectacular with the O2 and the 'Up the O2' experience itself being the focal point. As someone who enjoys heights this was something I was always bound to enjoy.
The actual 'Up the O2' experience was amazing. Before you are able to do anything you have to fill out a form with some basic information then watch a (overacted) safety video. But after all the formalities have finished and you have collected either the full body suit (for cold weather) or vest, trainers and harness it is actually time to climb.
The first bit of the climb is exceptionally steep and it feels like it goes on forever. The material you climb on is not the actual canvasing from the O2 but a blue walkway which is made from a similar material. This means it is a little bouncy and takes a while to get used to walking on. As you climb higher each 'section' becomes more leveled off and alot easier to climb. It isn't until you get to the top that your harness is unattached and you can freely walk around a small area and take as many photos as you want, with the guide also offering to take any group photos you may want.
The day itself was a tale of mixed weather, as it so often is in London but fortunately we never had to experience that dreaded word, rain. It was however exceptionally windy as I'm sure you can tell from the images. It was not however cold, it was actually fairly warm but no so hot that you were sweaty from the climb. Also advise for those of you with long hair bring a hair tie, they will provide you with elastic bands but come on we all know what that is like for your hair!
After you have been up the top for probably about 20 minutes you have to climb down. This is no where near as physically demanding as going up (as I'm sure you can imagine) and gradually gets steeper the closer you get to the ground (as you are doing what you have already done backwards). The feeling of getting back on the ground is bittersweet. Sweet because you are out of the insane winds and the tourture of the climb up, bitter because thats the experience done.
I would highly recommend the 'Up the O2' experience and the cable cars to anyone who likes heights like me or just wants to see London from a different angle, after all it does seem as though in London you are always underground, at ground level or simply too busy to appreciate the beauty that London does present.
Next stop for me, the shard!
Have you ever been 'Up the O2' or on the cable car? Are you interested in anything like this?
Have you ever been 'Up the O2' or on the cable car? Are you interested in anything like this?
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Oooh I sooo want to do this! Bit too expensive for me, but one day! I'd never known about the emirates cable cars, that's cool too! xo
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