It all started on July 31st, when we left home in Coventry and made tracks, first using a bus to take us to the train station and then trains, to Waterloo (changing at Basingstoke). I booked assistance ahead of travel, so station staff were ready with ramps when our trains departed and arrived.
Once we arrived at Waterloo, we made our own way to the Millennium Pier (under the London Eye) which was about three minutes away and very well sign-posted. We then boarded a Thames Clipper boat to Canary Wharf Pier, and then another boat to the Hilton Docklands where we spent the night. We were tired out after all the travel so we just spent the night chilling in our room, which was very well adapted for me as a wheelchair user.
I was really impressed by the way the boats were made accessible. Portable ramps lie ready for use of each of the piers, and when a boat docks the ramp is moved so that it bridges the gap between the floor of the pier and the floor of the boat. The only gripe is that the ramps aren’t very wide – I was in my manual chair, which isn’t very wide, and I only just scraped through. If I had been in my powerchair I wouldn’t have made it. However, much to my delight, I found that disabled people travel free on Thames Clippers. I know that other boats use wider ramps, so I would advise anyone wanting to boat it down the Thames to check before travel.
The next morning we checked out of the Hilton Docklands and caught a boat back over to the Canary Wharf Pier. About fifteen minutes of map-navigation later (I printed out street maps from the Journey Planner on the Transport for London website before I left) we reached the Hilton Canary Wharf where we checked in. We switched hotels because this was the cheapest way to do it. Our room at the Canary Wharf was beautiful – elegant and spacious – and even though the adaptations weren’t quite as good (there were handrails, but not in the right places), I’d very happily stay there again!
We then took another Thames Clipper boat from the Canary Wharf Pier to the QEII Pier, which was about thirty feet away from our destination: the O2. We arrived about three hours before the show, so we happily dodged the queues into the many restaurants. We ate at the Slug and Lettuce in the end, which was superb!
The O2 Arena before... The O2 Arena about an hour later
We then made moves towards the arena itself to see the lady who would be entertaining us for the evening, Miss Kylie Minogue! We sat right at the back of the arena, but on the gangway between the upper tiers and lower tier so we had a clear view and we were immersed in the atmosphere. I only doubted the motives of the guy sitting next to me who was watching Kylie through a pair of binoculars just a little! My ‘carer’ went free – so I got two tickets for the price of one. The O2 offers similar discounts to disabled patrons at all of its shows. 
The show was amongst the best I have seen, perhaps more because of the venue (which is amazing, and far outshines any arena in the midlands) than Kylie herself. We decided to get a cab back to our hotel as we felt a little uneasy about making our own way back so late at night. There was a manned taxi rank just outside the O2 where we got into a regular black cab (they’re all wheelchair accessible).
The next morning, after eating all the breakfast I could eat, we took another Thames Clipper to the Embankment Pier. From there I used my maps to navigate us to the Aldwych Theatre which was about twenty minutes away. Covent Garden, which is one of my favourite places in London, was two minutes away from the theatre so we ate there and had a wander around the market stalls before the show.
At the theatre we saw Dirty Dancing the Musical. Musicals are my favourite thing to do and over the past few years I have been lucky enough to see many of them. Dirty Dancing has to be up there amongst the best of them. I rated the movie as one of my all-time favourites anyway but there was a much more ‘personal feel’ to seeing the show, even if it didn’t have Patrick Swayze in it! 
In the theatre my view wasn’t perfect as there was a handrail in the way of my view of the stage. The adaptations in all theatres are a bit hit-and-miss and they’re all old and listed buildings which legally they can’t do much with, but the rail wasn’t too much of a hindrance and apart from that the theatre was very well adapted. Both my and my carer’s tickets were half price – so again two for the price of one, which also meant that I couldn’t grumble about the rail too much!
After the show we then wandered back to our hotel for the night. The next morning, suffering with a bit of motion sickness from excessive boat use (the weather had been a bit iffy throughout our stay which had meant the waters were extremely choppy), we decided to experiment with the tube, which to me was a completely new venture. We checked the Transport for London website and saw that both Canary Wharf Underground station (about five minutes away from our hotel) and Waterloo Underground station (where we needed to go to catch our train home) were both wheelchair accessible.
So we made our way to Canary Wharf Underground station which was about five minutes away from our hotel, took the lift down to the ticket centre where we bought our tickets (again, my carer travelled free!) and then we got another lift up to the platform. On the platform itself there was level access onto the tube, meaning I could wheel on and off without assistance. We had a similarly trouble-free experience when we got off at Waterloo Underground station.
Over the past four or so years I have spent so much time in London, both as a tourist and a volunteer worker. I am kicking myself that I hadn’t discovered how easy tube travel is years ago! It was a very good note to finish our lovely weekend on. I have since bought tickets to see Simply Red at the O2 in December. On this trip I am hoping to take my powerchair, so I will travel more by tube than river as I am pretty sure that the Thames Clipper ramp wouldn't be wide enough. This isn’t a problem in the least; more of an opportunity to do things a bit differently. I can’t wait for take two…