After 4 weeks sailing, Jean finally arrived in London. Arriving on a Saturday morning, it would’ve taken most of the day to clear through customs and travel into her accommodation in London’s Kings Cross from the Docks. Various instructions about preparing luggage for landing, customs/immigration procedures, and transfers to the city were issued in the “Notes for Passengers” booklet issued with tickets:
Jeans first impressions of London were not great! She wrote in a letter to her mother:
“Here I am in London, landed at last all too quickly. I wish the trip could have lasted another few weeks – not that I was having such a lively time, but it was such an easy-going existence – not a care in the world sort of thing. Landing certainly pulls you up with a jerk!!!
We felt terribly sad at leaving the ship – it was awfully hard to realize that we weren’t going back as we’d done at every other port.
There was no trouble at all with baggage and customs. When the taxi left me here I wondered what on earth I’d come to. Straight from the luxurious Himalaya, this seemed like a slum – dark, smelly and bare, with a pokey room to myself. Last night I was quite sure I’d be on my way to Scotland tonight or on the first ship back to Australia! However it was only natural to feel that way the first night I expect”.
From Jean’s letter to her mother, written from her accommodation at the Mary Curzon Hostel, 170 King Cross Road, London.
