In what way does London represent the future in the novel, The Voyage Out?

Though most of the English characters in Santa Marina do not know each other, they are almost all from London, and many have mutual friends there. When they talk about their plans for after their stay in Santa Marina, they talk of meeting up at various clubs or parlors or each others' homes. London is the reference point they all have in common, and talking about London is a way of feeling like they have a shared significance and a future to their friendships. In particular, London represents Rachel and Hewet's future, which they never get to see together. They plan to live in London, and Hewet often talks about how they will walk along the Strand together when they're married. This talk of London is sad in the context of Rachel's death and represents the perfect life they could've had together. This idea of their life together is never marred by reality, which Hewet reflects on once he realizes Rachel is dead: "It was nothing; it was to cease to breathe. It was happiness, it was perfect happiness. They had now what they had always wanted to have, the union which had been impossible while they lived" (446). In never actually having this reality, the ideal of this future is preserved for Hewet as what his life with Rachel would have been.