London’s surgery museums are frightening and fascinating

by Sean McLachlan on


Ah, the good old days! Everything was so simple a hundred years ago, so stress free. No television, no Britney Spears, no threat of global warming or nuclear war. Life was better then.

Rubbish.

Cities choked on coal smoke, people starved on the streets, terrorists blew up innocent people, and the medicine, well. . .

While London has dozens of museums that can tell you about the past, two museums in particular tell you about the hard facts of life more than any other. The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret and the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons give you eye-popping tours through the “good” old days of surgery and medicine.

The Old Operating Theatre is exactly that, Britain’s only intact 19th century operating theatre. Dating to the days before anesthetic and before surgeon’s thought it might be help to wash their hands, it’s a sobering reminder of what our great-great-grandparents had to endure when they got sick. The theatre was in use from 1821 to 1862 and survived only because it got sealed off and forgotten until it was rediscovered in 1957.

The theatre was where surgeons and medical students watched the best doctors of the day cut off limbs, trepan skulls, and perform other operations. Beside the operating theatre, there is a large space reserved for displays of early medical techniques and instruments. Behold the glorious cervical dilator, a multipronged monstrosity that did just what it promised! Or the bone saw, which in the hands of a skilled surgeon could cut through a leg in less than a minute. Or the leeches, which were actually quite effective at getting rid of bruises by sucking the blood out of you.

%Gallery-128964%But it’s not all horror tales. These were primitive days, to be sure, yet doctors really did try to help their patients and herbal medicine was quite advanced. Also, there were innovative minds like Dr. Joseph Lister, who realized that disinfectant could help reduce fatalities after surgery, and Nurse Florence Nightingale, who made huge advances in hospital cleanliness to make patients healthier and happier.

The museum chronicles the efforts of doctors, nurses, apothecaries, and midwives. It’s literally crammed with artifacts and displays and an interested visitor can easily spend a couple of hours here.

An equally fascinating and full museum is the Hunterian Museum. Located in the Royal College of Surgeons, it houses a huge collection of preserved human and animal specimens. If you’ve ever wanted to know what a hernia looks like from the inside, this is where to find out. You can also see the large intestine of a crocodile, Charles Babbage’s brain, an artificially deformed skull from ancient Egypt, and the bones of the Irish giant Charles Byrne.

The main draw are the medical specimens of almost every imaginable malady. To actually see what so many people get is a revealing experience. Upstairs are displays of the history of surgical techniques. Unlike the Old Operating Theatre, this museum takes you right up to the modern day and there are some graphic films of operations such as the removal of a brain tumor and an enlarged prostate. Much of this museum is not for the faint of heart, but while I was watching the brain surgery in horrified fascination one brave little ten-year-old girl plopped down next to me and sat through the whole thing. I warned her off the stereoscopic views of First World War facial injuries, though.

While the “eewww, gross” element to both of these museums is certainly present, they are both very well presented and worth the time of any visitor who wants to learn more about issues that will, sadly, affect them sooner or later. It’s strange that these two museums aren’t better known. I highly recommend them both.

Pricing travel: Be careful what you ask for

by Chris Owen on

The Price, what we pay for travel, is often a big factor in making a buying decision and rightfully so. If for no other reason, prices can vary a lot between sources. Trying to be sure we have the best price possible for exactly the same fare makes a lot of sense. When we find the price that works with our plans we call it a win and move along. Most of the time. Sometimes that low price can come back to bite us later causing buyers to be a bit more careful when pricing travel.

Gil’s Cruise Center had been a sales leader in the United Kingdom for a long time, offering low fares on major cruise line sailings. In business 55 years, Gil’s Cruise Center is closed now due at least in part to the heavy discounting of fares. Its a topic consumers ask few questions about when booking that can come back to haunt them later.

“They were discounting to unsustainable levels. Customers would ask us to ‘price-match’ the deal Gill’s were offering. When we saw the price, it was clear they were selling loss leaders.” a rival agent told the Independent.

This is a really good example of why, in most cases, we should insist that travel agents make payments directly to cruise lines. One of the most important questions we can ask a travel agent when making a booking is

“What company will the charge on my card statement show?”

If the answer is anything other than the name of the cruise line that booking is with, walk away, hang up the phone, delete the email, do whatever we have to do to avoid doing business with them. That’s not to say any given travel agency, website or other seller of travel is in financial trouble or about to go out of business, there is simply no reason for agencies to hold money these days other than to take advantage of the cash flow opportunities holding payments offer.

But let’s back this up a little bit and talk briefly about how travel agencies make money.

Legitimate income for travel agencies comes in the form of commission on cruises they sell. The services of a travel agent cost consumers nothing. In most cases, working with a good travel agent actually saves consumers money due to the inside information they naturally have by working cruises every day. They will know where the legitimate discounts and sale prices are at the time of booking and on down the line between booking and final payment when other offers or discounts might become available for which consumers qualify.

The problem with that commission income model is that agencies often wait many months to be “paid” for their services, creating a real need to manage incoming cash to fund day-to-day operations, make payroll, etc. A new agency, just starting out, might not see any income from commissions at all for many months even though they are booking guests on cruises.

That commission agencies get varies too. New agencies just starting out get a lower commission than producing agencies with a track record of proven sales. Its an annually-reviewed number with sales goals created by the cruise lines that must be met to retain their current commission level or attain the next higher level available.

What happened several years ago, during the peak of the world-wide recession, was that agencies would give up part of their commission in the form of a discount to consumers. That discount made prices frequently lower than even the cruise lines themselves would charge. Those agencies were surviving by making a small amount on a whole lot of bookings. The result was that those agencies spent most of their time selling new clients which left little time to service existing bookings, a situation the cruise lines did not like one bit.

In the case of Gils Cruise Centre, cruise lines got wise to their heavy discounting and cut their commission rate from 15% to 5%, chewing up that 10% (or more) discount Gils was giving up to get the sale a few months ago. This was after serious warnings were issued by cruise lines industry-wide that discounting outside of approved programming offered by the lines was forbidden.

That situation of heavy-discounting by large, online agencies, wiped out a lot of smaller operators who could not afford to match prices. Due to the lower sales volume of smaller operators, they did not make commission as high as big-volume travel agencies. In an effort to level the playing field and make service, not price, a driving factor in the decision of where to by, cruise lines started cracking down.

Unlike the failure of a US-based travel agency, UK buyers are protected from the closure of a travel agency by ABTA, a UK travel association that backs agencies and protects payments made by consumers to agencies that, as a practice, hold payments rather than sending them directly to cruise lines. In the US, the protection burden falls on the consumers who must buy travel insurance to back their purchase and even then not all travel insurance companies cover default by the agency.

That’s a whole lot of explanation about a problem that is really easy to avoid by just asking that one simple question:

“What company will the charge on my card statement show?”

The odds of your major cruise line going out of business are slim. The cruise industry is a healthy, growing concern that will provide quality vacations of an inclusive-nature for decades to come.

Still “buyer beware” is a good couple of words to keep in our heads when dealing with any seller of travel.

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London’s South Bank, walking through old and new

by Sean McLachlan on


London is a wonderful, vibrant city. Like all big cities, however, it can be a bit overwhelming. A good way to get a bit of room and fresh(er) air is to walk along the Thames Path. This path extends 184 miles from the river’s source in the Cotswolds almost to the sea, and offers some much-needed open space as it passes through the heart of London.

For visitors to the capital, the most interesting stretch is less than a mile long, between the Tate Modern and Borough Market on London’s South Bank. On this easy stroll you’ll pass a medieval palace, tourist traps, London’s best farmer’s market, and much more.

First stop is the Tate Modern, formerly Bankside Power Station. This massive building houses a huge collection of modern and contemporary art. It stands on the south end of the Millennium Bridge, a cool-looking span of metal arching over the Thames. St. Paul’s Cathedral, a 17th century landmark that recently finished a decade-long restoration, stands at the north end of the bridge. This juxtaposition of old and new is a constant theme in London, especially along this stretch of the river.

Walking east along the Thames Path, the next stop is Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. This meticulous reconstruction of the original, minus the rats and plague, has an excellent cast of actors who perform The Bard’s plays as well as others from his time. The theatre is a semicircle facing the stage. Prices vary depending on the quality of the view, but all prices are reasonable. You can even stand in “the pit” for the peasant’s price of only £5 ($8)!

%Gallery-128678%Continuing east, you enter a narrow lane called Clink Street. This is an old part of the city. The original Globe stood not far from here, and the famous Clink Prison was on this road. Being put in the Clink was often a death sentence, what with the filthy conditions, bad food, and occasional visit by the torturer. You can learn all about it at The Clink Prison Museum, a delightfully cheesy tourist trap that does for medieval history what South of the Border does to Mexico. It’s tacky, it’s superficial, it’s embarrassingly stupid, but it’s all so ridiculous you can’t help but be entertained. I mean, who wouldn’t want to pose for a picture with your head on a chopping block while your kid threatens you with a foam axe?

Next comes the remains of Winchester Palace, pictured above, owned by the Bishops of Winchester. Built in the 12th century, most of it has been lost over the years but one wall with a magnificent rose window remains. This bit survived because it was incorporated into the wall of a warehouse for many years. London has a way of building on itself.

More touristy goodness comes a few steps further on at the Golden Hinde, a full-scale replica of the galleon Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in 1577-80. More than just a floating museum, the boat is fully seaworthy and has circumnavigated the globe just like its predecessor. There are often school groups and birthday parties taking over the ship so it’s best to check ahead before showing up.

Within sight of the Golden Hinde is Southwark Cathedral. The oldest parts date to 1206 but it underwent a major remodeling in 1836. Part of the exterior are made with flint nodules, their peculiar color giving churches built with them the nickname “puddingstone churches”. The interior is inspired by the French Gothic with an elegant altar screen dedicated in 1520. There are numerous interesting bits here, including a monument to Shakespeare, a chapel commissioned by John Harvard, and a display of some archaeological finds that suggest this was once the site of a Roman temple.

Last stop is Borough Market, a massive farmer’s market that opens every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Londoners flock here to buy all sorts of fresh food as well as luxury imports. There are plenty of stalls that prepare meals you can eat on the go, and wandering through here is a great chance to people watch.

So if walking through museums has made you weary, get out in the sunshine (or cold drizzle) and walk along the Thames Path!

Video of the Day: Pan to the head

by Mike Barish on

This video is baffling. It’s a group of Brits on a camping trip, yet it appears as if they have just set up camp in someone’s backyard (isn’t that a house behind the fence?). Why is that guy hitting the other guy in the head with a pan? What’s the deal with that second fence made of fabric? We might have more questions than answers, but summer is for camping trips and camping trips are for drunken hijinks*.

So, let’s not spend too much time figuring out what the hell is going on here and simply enjoy the fact that there’s more to life than videos of people at Renaissance fairs getting hit in the crotch.

* Please drink responsibly and away from cookware.

Snore absorption room to give travelers restful sleep

by Chris Owen on

A UK trial of a snore absorption room by Crowne Plaza Hotels promises relief for travelers without medication or specialized equipment. The new room is a result of research revealing more than half of UK couples are losing between one and five hours sleep a night due to the snoring and snuffling of their partners with three in ten couples coming close to splitting up because snoring is coming between them.

“We’ve all been there. Lying wide awake at three o’clock in the morning burying our head under a pillow to drown out our partner’s snoring. There’s nothing worse than being kept up all night and that’s why we’ve designed this specific snore absorption room to help give our guests a great night’s sleep” said Tom Rowntree, spokesperson for Crowne Plaza in a release.

The new hotel room features sound proofing on walls to absorb the loud frequencies, a special sound absorbing head board, an anti-snoring bed wedge which acts as a body pillow, an anti-snoring pillow which uses magnets and a white noise machine which is proven to help drown out the droning snoring noise and help sleep and relaxation.
“Snoring is a common problem and whilst it’s thought of as a male problem, women can suffer from it as well. Snoring is made by vibrations of the soft palate and tissue in the mouth, nose and throat. Whilst there is no cure for snoring, Crowne Plaza is trying to reduce the impact of snoring by trialing a snore absorption room.” said Dr Chris Idzikowski, sleep expert.

Crowne Plaza is big on the whole idea of sleep. Their Sleep Advantage Program features dedicated quiet zones, luxurious bedding and pre-sleep in-room Aromatherapy that includes a lavender pillow spray and eucalyptus pulse oil to help you relax, breathe easier and sleep well.

That’s good news when traveling with a stranger who snores but chronic snorers are encouraged to take a look at other, more permanent, remedies which often treat the cause. Sleep Apnea, says the Mayo Clinic, “is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. You may have sleep apnea if you snore loudly and you feel tired even after a full night’s sleep” urging “If you think you might have sleep apnea, see your doctor. Treatment is necessary to avoid heart problems and other complications.”

Flickr photo by Perfecto Insecto

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