When you go on vacation, you expect lines. Lines at airport security. Lines for every attraction at the theme park. More lines for food after the attractions.
Well, I just went on a European vacation, and I’m happy to report, they have lines, too. In fact, I was in one line for four hours. With a ten-year-old. And I had to get up before dawn to wait in it. But what makes it a little different from the lines we have around here is: I enjoyed it.
If you must know, it was in England – a country that takes line waiting so seriously, they even have a more elegant word for it: queuing. And the queue in question was at Wimbledon – for grounds passes to the famed All England Lawn Tennis Championship.
If you must know, the Wimbledon queue is the best way to get early-round tickets. There are actually 19 courts in full operation during at least the first week of the tournament, and the difference between Centre Court matches and matches on, say, Court 11 is mostly the TV exposure and nationalities of the players involved. If you’re interested, Wimbledon sets aside 500 tickets for each of the show courts – Centre, One and Two – for queuers (is that a word?) every day.
As befits a first-rate tournament, it was a first-rate line. If you take this thing seriously, and want a guaranteed show court ticket, you go down and tent in line the day before – all with the cheerful cooperation of the tournament officials. They have a nice grassy field set aside for you. The facilities are (by camping standards) first rate. Before six, the local football club stops by in a trailer to sell you a morning fry up and coffee (or tea, if you’re in a British mood.) And the officials (gently, I’ve heard) awaken campers so they can store their equipment in a conveniently-located left-luggage trailer. By camping for tickets standards, this is truly civilized.
For our part, we showed up by Tube at first light. Immediately, we were given things. A nicely printed souvenir card that establishes your place in line (mine was 1804, if you’re curious) and an even nicer booklet on queuing etiquette that – in lesser places – might easily have sold as a souvenir for about $4.50. Later, there are free “I waited in the queue” stickers. Free Evian and sunblock (OK, those came from commercial sponsors.) As the queue really starts to move, you pass little “fun fact” signs and a Champion’s exhibit, a la professional line-makers like Disney World. And all along, the volunteers act like they’re actually happy to be there – at 6:30 am. Which makes people in line happy too, apparently by osmosis.
Oh, and lest you think all Eurpoean lines are better than ours, I have one word for you: Versailles. As in the magnificent palace just outside Paris, France, where you wait for at least an hour in the boiling sun on hard, uneven cobblestones. The palace, I grant you, once you get in, is pretty. But the lines were not.
Thanks to author Matt Caspari, Partner/Creative Director of CaspariMcCormick
Top photo by acme
by Guest Contributor · July 29th, 2008 
1 response so far ↓
It’s cool that they make such a big deal to accommodate the fans while they wait at the Wimbledon—I remember when I went to Paris (too many years ago now…) and waited in line at the Eiffel tower I was only greeted with over priced bottles of water on a really hot day. >.< And you’re right about the Versailles line! My group ended up not seeing the garden because we ran out of time for the day… disappointing.
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