TL:DR - London is amazing. I want to go back. I want to live there. Everyone should go, it's amazing.
Saturday, September 27th.
At 5pm, we left for San Francisco Airport for our 915pm flight directly to Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic. I have been flying my whole life, and I have to say that check in and security were one of the smoothest I've ever gone through. There was no line at Virgin and we were through TSA in less than 10 minutes. After that we got some dinner at Boudin and played cribbage. The flight boarded a little late, which was not a big deal, as we didn't have a connection we needed to make.
On the flight we got 2 meals, a dinner and breakfast. Other than the time I flew first class, I couldn't tell you the last time I got a meal on a plane. There was in seat entertainment, but nothing much I wanted to watch. Aaron and I watched one episode of Severance then we both dozed off and on. The flight was very smooth and uneventful.
Sunday, September 28th
We arrived in London around 3pm. Heathrow is a ginormous airport. We walked for ages to get to customs. But once we were there it was easy and quick. You don't even talk to a human. You just scan your passport and off you go. We collected our suitcase and found our way to the Underground.
At the underground
Paddington Station
In the tube
We stayed in a less tourist-y area, in Blackfriars, which is more of a business district. Near the hotel were 2 grocery store "expresses" Tesco and Sainsbury. After dropping out stuff off, we got some breakfast fixins' and began to wander. We were right by the Thames, so we walked along there for a while, and just marveled at everything. We could see Big Ben and The Eye.
Monday September 29
Our first full day in London. In the morning, we headed out towards the British Museum. You could easily spend days exploring it. It's huge and houses so many different things.
Display at an anime shop
Big Ben
10 Downing Street
Sad I couldn't sit on the lion
Trafalgar Square
Lunch before out Abbey tour
Sir Isaac Newton
A "porcupine"
After that we took the underground and went to Harrods. While we were there we ate at Gordon Ramsey Burger. It was very disappointing. The burger was not good, everything was just very underwhelming. Definitely not worth the price. But, Harrods also has a Food Hall with just about everything you could imagine. We got some pastries which were very good, and worth the price.
We walked back to the hotel around the park and found Buckingham Palace.
Tuesday, September 30th
Tuesday we got an early start, because it was our big tour, via coach day. We took the underground and walked to a coach station. Our guide was really good and gave us a lot of interesting information along the way.
The first stop was Warwick Castle. I really wanted to see a castle, so this was the express point of the tour. Part of the castle had been lived in through the 1800s, and part was just maintained. We walked up the turret, which was very tight, and a lot of steps.
At Shakespeare's house
This is a very old house. 200+ years older than Shakespeare's house
Then we drove through the Cotswolds. It was really pretty, but I missed most of it because I was feeling super carsick. (I bought some Kwells on a subsequent day, but should have thought of it for this day). So I rode with my eyes closed and Aaron described things to me.
Then it was back to London. The guide gave us a recommendation for good fish and chips. It was amazing, but too much food. And served with mushy peas, which taste like peas, lol.
Aaron got a pie, he doesn't like fish.
Wednesday, October 1
We started out on Wednesday with a trip to the NHS walk in clinic. I got a UTI from letting myself get too dehydrated on the plane. We visited a pharmacy earlier in the week. But since I'm on Humira, she wasn't able to give me antibiotics and gave me an over the counter to try. (The pharmacy can give a 3 day course, but if you're on Humira a 7-day course is indicated). I wasn't sure how much it would cost, but I was assuming either a lot, or not much. Haha, no middle ground. We were only there an hour. (Side note: the "cup" they gave me to pee in was about the size of a test tube. Seriously, the opening was probably 1.5 inches wide!) The visit cost nothing. Then we went to the pharmacy to get the antibiotics. After a 5 minute wait, we got the meds along with a box of Kwells (Dramamine) and a pair of nail clippers for 22 pounds (About $30). (Side note: all the medicine boxes in the UK, over the counter and Rx have braille printed on the boxes. Very cool). I was very pleased and impressed with the NHS (US, get your shit together).
After that, we walked over to the John Snow water pump. If you're unfamiliar with his story look it up, it's very interesting. He was able to find where a cholera epidemic was stemming from, in one of the first uses of epidemiology.
We then walked to Piccadilly Circus. Not much there, aside from a lot of shopping.
(I found "Dignity". (Simpsons joke))
Then we walked though St James Park, which was huge, amazing, and beautiful. We saw pelicans, swans, and surprisingly parrots! We got a snack, and fed some brave pigeons. Then walked around.
Parrots! and pigeons
pelicans
some kind of crane
We walked past Buckingham Palace where the Changing of the Guard was happening. The crowd was massive. We saw some guards on horseback, but that was about all. The band played Bohemian Rhapsody, which was very cool.
Me and Fergus
We stopped at Gregg's for a sausage roll lunch. I think we both ate and had drinks for 7 or 8 pounds.
Then we walked to the Natural History Museum. (Side note: nearly all the museums were free, and had a suggested donation of 5 pounds). The museum was gigantic and amazing, and probably too much to see in one day.
Me and Darwin
Archyoperyx
This huge room was all rocks and minerals.
Aaron and a slice of giant redwood.
Then we went to Evensong at St Paul's cathedral, before getting some amazing Indian food at a place near our hotel.
We finished the day walking across the Thames on the Millenial Bridge. And we saw a fox! No pictures though, it was too quick.
St Paul in the background
Tower bridge in the background
A cool sculpture near St Paul
Thursday was Train Day! We took the underground to a train station and rode the train to Birmingham then a smaller train to Bournville, which was originally a company town for Cadbury. We did the Cadbury World factory tour. The kids would have loved it, as it is very much aimed at kids, but we had a good time. There were different demos and hands on parts too. Plus there was a lot of free chocolate.
Unfortunately the only Cadbury Egg I saw
We went back to Birmingham Station, which was basically attached to a mall. We went to Nando's for lunch. (Side note: Nando's was the only place I saw, outside of Costco that had fountain soda. Everywhere else was bottled).
At Nando's
A bull sculpture in the station
Then we took the train to Nottingham. When we got there we walked along a canal for most of the way. The canal had lots of long boats, which you can live in, and not pay land taxes.
Then we got to Warhammer World. Aaron was in nerd heaven. He geeked out, I tried to be present, but played on my phone. We got dinner at the onsite pub. I got a salad, which would have been good if I like vegetables. But it had beets and onions chopped up all throughout it. Aaron did a hot wings challenge and won a little pin.
They also had a near beer
The spicy wing pin
On our way back to London, there was a fatality on one of the London lines. So our train was delayed. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except both our phones were nearly dead, and the train we were on had no ports for charging. That part was boring. Then we had to switch trains, but the new one had ports, yay! We sat for a long time before taking off again. We didn't get back to the hotel til almost midnight.
We started out the day with a walk along the Thames towards the Tower of London and Tower bridge. We decided not to do the tower tour because it was something like $60 per person. We walked across Tower Bridge, passed the Globe theater and went to the Tate Modern.
Tower of London
The Globe
One of my favourite pieces from the Tate
I really wanted to visit a Primark (which is kind of like if Target's clothes and H&M had a baby). The Primark did not disappoint. It was 3 or 4 stories and had clothes for baby, kids, men and women. As well as an adaptive clothing section for each and a gently used clothing section as well. And on the top floor, within the store was a Gregg's. So we got drinks and cookies during out shop.
Aaron on the Gregg's sausage swing.
We got some Thai food for dinner before the play. That was very tasty.
The play was pretty good, very funny. Though, I missed my closed captions. Haha. It was raining pretty good when we left. We walked back to the hotel. Aaron made the bad decision to try some "authentic" tacos, which were terrible. Then we got some sweet rolls and called it a night.
Saturday, October 4th
We traveled to the North of the city to Gilwell Park, in Epping Forest. We took the above ground to Chingford, then walked about 30 minutes on country roads to Gilwell, which is a Scout camp and the birth place of Scouting. We did the self guided tour, and spent money at their shop. And I got to stand in the eastern and Western Hemispheres at the same time.
2 Hemispheres!
Then we took a bus ride across Chingford to go to Costco. I think there are 4 Costco's in London, and they are all on the outskirts of the city. This was the closest we would be, and I wanted to go. I wanted to see how similar it was to US Costco. Plus, I'd heard that international Costco's have cool food menus. We walked for a mile or so, across less pretty scenery.
Trying not to get lost
Found it!
The menu did not disappoint. In addition to the hot dog and soda combo and pizza, there were California rolls, mango smoothies, chicken salad, baked potatoes, caramel sundae and a double patty chicken sandwich.
We wandered around after lunch. We got a couple books for the kids. We took a double decker bus back to the train station and went back into London. We walked around more. And got dinner at a traditional pub.
We walked along the Thames one last time, and went back to the hotel to pack.
Sunday, October 5th
We left the hotel before 7am, pushing and lugging our bags across the city. The local underground wasn't open at that time, so we had to go to a farther away station. Once we got there, we paid a lot to take the express train to Heathrow (I think it was about $50 for both of us). We got checked in and got through security very quickly. Then they do things different. Everyone goes to this holding area, like a mall, almost. And an hour-ish before your flight, you're assigned a gate. Once your gate is assigned, you just board the plane. No zones, or first class bs. It makes it very un-harried, which is nice. While we were waiting, we went to the shops for last minute souvenirs.
The flight was uneventful, boring. The food was surprisingly good.
When we got back to the US the line for Customs was horrendous. The line for international travelers was 3-4 times as long as the citizen line. This was a big difference from us, checking into the UK. We didn't have to talk to any one, just scanned the passports and off we went. We were in our line for an hour, I'd guess 3-4 hours for international travelers. Ugh. Our suitcase was waiting for us when we finish. Then we were home again. The kids were very happy so see me.
All in all, it was an outstanding trip. I loved it. Too much. I want to move there. And with the exception of seeing the kids, and family, I was not looking forward to returning to the US. Usually, after a trip, I'm happy to be home. Aaron has been looking for UK jobs off and on since we got back. He is a "skilled worker". I loved how walkable everything was. How great the public transit was. The people were very helpful when we had questions. I love that it was a huge city, but didn't feel overwhelming. I love that there were pieces of history everywhere. Also, we walked over 70 miles, the week we were there.
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