First Real Trip after Retiring ~ London

I had planned on this trip well before I wanted to call it for retirement. At times I contemplated to whether or not retiring was too soon. But the old adage somewhere I read is “if you think about it too much, it’s time to do something about it”. So prior to putting in my notice, I plotted out my plans to visit London as a post retirement adventure. It was well worth the planning, but for the most part my treks into London was spontaneous. I wanted to make sure that I had Wimbledon tennis on my mind.

As far as I can remember, as a preteen who picked up a wooden racket, I’ve glossed over the TV screen seeing the best professional tennis players make it to The All England Wimbledon Tennis Courts. All that court greenery and players making their mark was so fascinating. As a young tennis player, I would just hit a tennis ball against a wall if nobody was available or constantly head to the public recreation tennis courts and hit all day and late into the afternoon to learn and be good at playing tennis. 50 years later, I have this incredible opportunity to witness this event live and in person!

I researched the basics on how to navigate getting into Wimbledon. I knew tickets were quite pricey and difficult to obtain, but thankfully for the rest of us, we have the chance to participate in the long standing tradition of getting in the “queue” line to purchase and have a grounds pass into the hallowed sight of Wimbledon. I made it happen, 10+ hours later, but the journey was well worth it. I ended up going there the following day after arriving at Heathrow Airport. Funny, it ended up on 4th of July, an American holiday, but not to the Brits, but this journey was for the queue ticket, and then the ultimate goal of getting into the Wimbledon grounds.

After 10+ hours, I got in, a tad exhausted as the weather was quite warm that day, and it was already late in the afternoon. All I could start to do was get my second wind and start getting the grounds map and started plotting out places I wanted to head to. Mind you selfies was quite in order as everyone else who got in were doing the same. It was a surreal moment. My pictures on here do not quite share the long awaited goal of making it into Wimbledon and watching tennis among other tennis players and fans alike.

Heading back to the train station was a tad sad as I felt I could have been there much longer. But the day was well spent. At 9:00 pm, I felt also, relieved I did not bail on this queue that Wimbledon has subjected to tennis fans year after year. I can’t think of any other tennis tournament that does this. In a way it was the tennis hajj one must do to complete in one’s love of tennis. This is my second grand slam that I’ve been to, the other was the Australian Open. Next up will be US Open and the French Open. Hang tight, I have more time now. Stay tuned!