I recently returned from a terrific week in London, which I hadn’t visited for several years. Sitting on an airplane for a red-eye flight in coach for 7 hours was challenging as was dealing with the deep bathtubs, the currency conversions, the fast-moving tube escalators, the airport moving walkways and the jet lag at both ends. But the experience of having to navigate around the city, and succeeding, was positively empowering. I have no doubt my brain appreciated the exercise.

I visited the Royal Academy for the first time (and enjoyed the end-of-year student show), Fortnum & Mason (for a really lovely high tea complete with a tiered stand of crustless sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam and decadent little pastries), the National Gallery (for an up-close look at Jan Van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Wedding” and Leonardo’s “Virgin on the Rocks”). I also got to visit the Globe Theater (for a performance of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”), obtained a ticket to see “Paddington,” (a very hot commodity), visited Westminster Abbey (seeing graves of monarchs as well as some of the most prominent politicians, writers and scientists is overwhelming), and the London Eye (with it’s dizzying views of London). Some of these I did with some of my family, who joined me, but several I managed to get to on my own.

I happen to love London, but there’s no question that it was easier to experience when I was younger. However, it’s just thrilling to accomplish it now decades later than my first visits. I’m not the most facile user of GoogleMaps. And London doesn’t have the best cell signals in certain places to help with the navigation. So when I got to any planned destinations, it was especially rewarding. I hope you’d agree.

Note: For any regular readers of wrinklesmeanwisdom, you may note that my illustration above looks much less primitive. That’s because it was created with help from AI. (I may have put myself out of a job.) I’m curious what you think about that change. Certainly, it takes AI minutes to create a cartoon illustration instead of the hours it would take me. So, I can do more blog posts, more often. But I’m relinquishing the “human hand” look of the cartoon. Please do weigh in. Amy