Party on the Thames

I had a wonderful idea last time I had a quick trip to London. As I visited a friend on the always fabulous Henley-on-Thames (granted, rather complicated name for a place) I started to pick up an interest on the river itself. I've never been really interested in history, even when I took one of those historic English courses London offered I had to drag myself through the history lessons, so my interest verged more on the natural landscape and wonderful views that the river offered.

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Searching around the internet and asking the locals for advice on how I could capitalize the river's charm, I heard that having a party while sailing through the river is a pretty popular thing nowadays. As my birthday was right around the corner I thought this would make for excellent way to do something different and enjoy the great scenery while we had a few drinks and a lot of fun.

Choosing a Location

It turned out that choosing a convenient location to board the private charter wasn't so easy as I had expected. There are just so many piers to choose from on the River Thames that it was almost impossible to pick. As far as the London area goes, I'm used to having my options limited. I've been there twice before, once for checking out the foreign German courses London offered and the second time to actually enrol in one of the Spanish courses London along with a friend of mine.

With no clue as to where to begin, my first choice was the one found on Henley-on-Thames itself. I soon realized that the location wouldn't be that convenient for all of my guests. Making sure that the place can be easily accessed is a must when you need to ensure the timely arrival of everyone since a boat that remains on a pier for longer than 15 minutes after the period is due incurs some heavy charges.

Choosing a pier also limits the possible routes that you can take and the sights that you will see. Luckily I had the help of some of my local friends and we could devise a lovely route that would take us through some of the countryside and later explore London from the river and finally disembark in Central London for a party on dry land. The time of departure and state of the tide are also major things to watch out for, because they can determine where you will be able to embark and disembark, in case you want to make some stops mid trip. I found that arranging for these kind of things is not hard, but you need to book pier time in advance, any delays could cause further expenses or (at worst) you might not even be able to dock at the pier.