The Top Floor Flat

Of all of the London landmarks, the London Eye seems to be one of the most visitor-friendly. Unlike Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and all of the others, the London Eye is interactive, provides views of the rest of London, feels like an amusement park ride and looks damn impressive. Perhaps that’s why they charge you so much to go on the thing. Due to the price, my busy schedule and the fact that I was still hoping my parents would come visit and it would be a fun family activity, I had never actually ridden the Eye in the year and a half I’ve been in London. Yet despite the fact that I was holding out for a family outing, I was certainly not going to turn down the opportunity to take a champagne night flight on the London Eye if the opportunity presented itself.

Which, conveniently, the opportunity did last week. The evening before my epic Karma Kab ride, I, along with my good friend and coworker Alice, made our way to the South Bank to join a small group of bloggers on the flight. Alice had been on the Eye before when she was younger but during the day. I was the only one of the group who had never ridden it before.

We were first treated to a short 3D video teaser of the ride itself in the movie theatre. While there were no other riders around (a welcome change from the carnage of queues that usually extends along the South Bank for the Eye) this video seemed to be more of a pit stop for the families waiting for their turn rather than its own feature event. Still, it was an impressive showcase and include shots of the fireworks over the Eye on New Year’s.

Then it was up to the Eye itself for the 40 minute ride. We were accompanied by an attendant whose job was to serve us champagne, a nice perk (and available on all regular flights – for an added price). We were also given an aerial map of London to help us find the key landmarks from above. Although it was dark, it was still an amazing way to see the city, and we even picked out some interesting seasonal landmarks, such as the Ferris Wheel in Hyde Park (part of the Winter Wonderland event) and the Oxford Street Lights.

Overall it was an incredible experience and I’d love to go again during the day – I’m sure it’d be a totally different type of view. Although the ride is relatively short, it’s also an incredible way to get a sense of London and see a lot of the city in one go. Fortunately for my parents, sounds like I’m still happy to let them take me on the Eye when they come visit; just so long as we go for the champagne flight.