This week, the UK and Commonwealth will honor Queen Elizabeth II for her 70 years on the throne. Her Platinum Jubilee is unprecedented in the history of the British monarchy. I’m on my way to London to join the celebration…and review a product I’ve been meaning to review for many months.
My Trip To London To Honor Queen Elizabeth II On Her Platinum Jubilee
I’ll offer further reflections on Queen Elizabeth II in the days ahead, but I deeply respect her life of public service and reaching 70 years on the throne is an amazing accomplishment (just think, she has been on the throne twice the number of years I’ve been alive). I will also admit the UK Daily Mail and The Crown from Netflix have turned me into a bit of a royal watcher (though I would stop far short of calling it an obsession).
I thought it would be worthwhile to be part of this unique moment in history and it also gave me a great excuse to finally review JetBlue Mint on a transatlantic flight. It’s not all that difficult to score premium cabin award space on JetBlue using Emirates Skywards, though it’s sad that JetBlue has not disrupted New York – London fares in nearly the way it has promised (in part, due to its lack of cheap one-way fares).
I’m flying Mint all the way from Los Angeles, which will give me a chance to provide a fresh update on JetBlue’s transcontinental product as well and finally get a chance to check out the lovely terrace in New York JFK Terminal 5.
For purposes of my own security, I am not going not going to reveal which hotels I am staying at, but I will be providing three reviews, including of a hotel that is less than one month old (normally I’d just stay with my sister-in-law, but she is out of town this week…perhaps a wise move considering how many millions are expected to descend upon central London on Thursday).
So I might as well ask here…because you never know: can anyone get me into the Service of Thanksgiving on Friday June 3rd at St Paul’s Cathedral? Otherwise, I’ll be heading home on a more familiar product.
CONCLUSION
I’m quite looking forward to returning to London, particularly during this momentous time period. Tomorrow I’ll offer my initial impressions of JetBlue Mint and if time permits, some thoughts or photos from the Trooping the Colour event.
image: @RoyalFamily / Twitter
Love London. The Royal family is Ok. I worked very close to the family and would say they are losing their enchant. Newer generations are challenging the way they live, their importance and their wealth. They basically do nothing and live a “royal” life. Queen Elizabeth still has a lot of respect but she won’t live forever and there are not many people in the family to replace her with the same charisma she has. I was there on the last Jubilee in 2017 and it was not as crowded as I would imagine. I didn’t travel there specifically foe the event and didn’t pay much attention to it. Hope you have fun and get good weather which is rare there
Megan Markle has just as much grace and charisma as Queen Elizabeth. She will make an excellent queen someday.
LOL!!! I almost lost my breath laughing so much while reading your post.
“would say they are losing their enchant. Newer generations are challenging the way they live, their importance and their wealth”
I’d say the sex and financial scandals are more of a challenge to the RF than anything else.
Yep.
I hope you are in United Polaris on the way back, ideally on the nonstop but I know upgrades aren’t easy on that route. I was booked on it for my London trip but ended up having to move to a Dulles flight as the upgrade wasn’t going to clear. Looking forward to the reviews. I know the Polaris dining should be improved starting June 1 so looking forward to hopefully hearing a review on that.
By the way Matthew, you should start some kind of paid membership club, patron, discord, or whatever it may be for loyal readers like myself to subscribe to and get more content. I have always wished there was a way to chat to others on this site in a more live way about travel tips and ideas.
You’ll be pleased to know I am taking United on the way back and there was PZ available at time of booking, so the upgrade cleared immediately.
Spend some time outside of zones 1 and 2 and see what you find.
Meh. She ain’t no human being.
fav song ever. its been my ringtone for last 20yrs
I love going to London and hope the crowds are manageable. Love afternoon tea at the Savoy, the Ritz, Claridges and One Aldwych. Was a little disappointed with Sketch and the one at Rocco Forte. I’ll be there at the end of the month. However, I can’t jibe with the Daily Mail after they wrote the “Nov 2, 2016 — EXCLUSIVE: Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed – so will he be dropping by for tea?” headline.
So you honor Supreme Court justices that take away rights of people and respect an institution that is not democratically elected and whose only legitimacy is based on who the parents are? Come on, Matt.
I think there is great wisdom in separating the head of state from the chief executive.
what on earth does she do besides mooching off the UK taxpayer and continuing the ‘legacy’ of an institution built of the back of colonialism??
The monarchy is still not a democratic institution. The only qualification is that the previous monarchy produced offspring.
That’s the point.
Who wants mob rule? Democracies like ours become kakistocracies. At least a monarch can look beyond the next election cycle.
She is descendant of a family that has been widely successful in its business and treated with respect now. Some of the other European monarchies are in the same group of successful families.
Some of the failed ones are bin Laden’s al Qaida and ISIS. Yup the European monarchies were just terrorists. But successful ones. And money rehabilitated their images. But they were just terrorists, enslaving men, raping women and killing children just like ISIS.
And who were the financiers to the European monarchy? Who were the money lenders in Europe?
Nice white washing of history.
So awesome to celebrate her 70 years of raping, pillaging, murdering, and colonizing other nations. Sounds about white! You go Matt!
colonizing is based bro
Arabs and Africans were killing and enslaving before the Europeans ever got around to colonizing them. Decolonize your mind!
As we honor Queen Elizabeth, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer. His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.
Or were understanding when he passed another fake $20 to buy more drugs. After all, who among us hasn’t threatened to kill a pregnant woman while under the influence of fentenyl?
Hopefully they drag the old hag out on the balcony for a photo op. No way she makes any other kind of public appearance. For all we know, she already passed and this will be a Weekend at Bernie’s type situation.
Don’t think she ever got over the kids marriage to a black woman. You know, black like Obama.
Good god you’re a vile human being.
Had a lovely time in london with my 8yo son last month. Hope you’re taking a kid! That’s my wife’s requirement now for my travel ….
Flew back via Frankfurt to take the upper deck on the 747 (special request of the boy). First class was available and we turned it down :(. But was the right decision in the end for a day flight. 7 747s lines up in a row at Frankfurt. Was aWesome.
Little Augie is an Anglophile, I’m sure he’ll be there mate.
wow! can’t wait to celebrate 70 years of outright robbery from the UK taxpayer! not to mention the continuing endorsement of a ‘legacy’ built off the back of colonizing, pillaging and murdering the global south!
The Queen is not white, but reptiles are white-adjacent and thus enact white supremacy.
A minor quibble, but only a small number of countries (15 of 54) in the Commonwealth retain the Queen as head of state. So, it’s not technically correct when you say “the UK and Commonwealth will honor…”. Only the “Commonwealth Realms” ie. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and several Caribbean and South Pacific states would directly honor the jubilee as they are the only states to retain the monarchy and the Queen as head of state.
Also, one of the most common mistakes that people make is to assume that the Queen reigns over these commonwealth realms as the Queen of the United Kingdom. As per the Statute of Westminster (1931), the Queen acts as head of state for these realms as part of 15 distinctly separate and independent monarchical institutions. So she is equally the Queen of Canada, Queen of Australia, Queen of New Zealand, Queen of the United Kingdom etc.
Appreciate this correction. Thanks Justin.
On my first trip to London I got to meet the Queen. I was randomly walking and came across a small crowd outside the Royal Albert Hall. It was November 11, 1989. And since I had nothing better to do I joined them. It was a small crowd of about 10 people. To my surprise, out comes the Queen, Prince Philip, Andrew, the Prime Minister and other royals. I was only about 10 feet away from her. Very little security.