Wow...Just wow. It was an adventure getting here and it's been an adventure since! We left Topeka around 9:30 Friday morning---courtesy of the limo we reserved...FUN! :) Arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Yes, we really did go to Europe for 2 weeks with only one piece of checked luggage!! We boarded our flight to Chicago and was told we had a slight delay...starting pushing back...and stopped. Then went back to the gate and we were told that there was a 3 hour delay for flights getting into Chicago so instead of sitting on the plane they wanted to connect the jet bridge again and let us all off. Ummm wait a minute---THREE HOURS? This is not happening. We had about 3 hours and 15 minutes from when we were supposed to land to when we were supposed to take off for London...and a three hour delay was going to cut that super close. I was freaking out but trying hard to just relax. Jim waited in a huge line at the counter to find out if our flight was delayed or if they would hold it for a few minutes or what...never got to the front as the American Airlines employee decided to just walk away without helping everyone. Rude.
We boarded early enough that we would make the second flight...and then the weights and measurements (or something like that) system in KC went down...so they had to do it manually. UGH! Some people on the flight were aware that we had a tight connection...and there was another couple trying to make an even tighter connection to Paris so they were trying to keep us all calm! Pushed off around 4:30 with a one hour and eleven minute flight. It was possible...we knew it was. Unfortunately we had to put two bags on valet because our first flight was so small. We were able to get off the plane third (almost everyone let us go by them) and Jim RAN to our connecting gate so I could wait for the bags. He was going to stop at some counters on the way to have them call the gate to tell them we were there (although let's get real---the airlines can see exactly where we were, so they knew we checked in at KC and that we had just landed....) but they ALL had lines. UGH. AND our gates were super far. Anyways, he ran and I waited for the bags and took off after him. It felt like the Amazing Race!!!!
I got to the gate and saw Jim standing there with two people behind the counter. Not good and I was so sad. Then Jim says--oh no, he made it. They were still at the gate and just started pushing off when he arrived...but they wouldn't hold it. Ummm excuse me? You KNEW we had landed. You KNEW we were here and wouldn't hold it for 2 minutes? Their answer was "We don't hold the planes for anybody." That is complete crap. They actually held a plane for me before. And I have seen them do that MULTIPLE times so don't give me that line. We waited while they rebooked us on the next flight which of course I said "I sure hope those seats are first class mister." And he said "He wished he could." So I started my whole pissed off schpeel about no, you don't understand. I have planned this trip for over a year and you are ruining it. Get ME A MANAGER! He did a good job at ignoring me but I was so ticked. We went to the next gate and got our seat assignments and then I was even MORE mad. I purposely booked our flight 6 months ago so we could seat in a section of two seats by ourselves. I didn't want to be mushed in a row of 5 people. Our seats were "on the aisle" according to the guy that handed them to us. And that was true, except I knew the seats were in a row of 5. Jim went back up and he said "Oh theres nothing else". So we called since every AA counter in a mile radius had a line out the wazoo. When Jim called they actually told him that we were lucky to even get on a flight as everything for the rest of the night was booked. Hmmm really? Because our flight had row 13 in business or first class that had 2 empty seats as well as at minimum 8 empty seats in the very back section where we were. Doesn't seem full to me? This isn't over yet. They will be hearing from me when we return. If nothing more, to complain about the awful customer service.
Anyways, it ended up working out okay. We were in a full row of 5 but two of the people were part of a family that was sitting behind us and they had 1 empty seat so switched spots with the other person in their row so they could all sit together. So one kid came and sat next to me. Then he ended up moving next to someone that was in a row of 2 seats by himself. So it was some lady, 2 empty seats, me and Jim. Not too shabby and I actually spread out over two seats for much of the night. This was Jim's first time on a plane so large (I took one like this to Hawaii the first time) and he loved it. This one was pretty awesome with the tv's in the seatbacks and you could choose what movie, tv show, etc you wanted to watch. I think there were probably 8 different movies to choose from. Fun! Ate dinner on the flight...some beef and potatoes, salad, veggies, roll, brownie...it wasn't too bad! Then we settled in for the night. Jim took an anxiety pill and I took some natural sleeping pills. I don't think they ever kicked in for me!!! I think we both got about 3 hours to sleep. Not a whole lot! Breakfast was a croissant, yogurt and juice. OH! The plane entertainment tv's also had a "flight status" thing that showed where you were on a map, how far you were from certain cities (Muskegon was one! Mackinac Island too), altitude, speed, Chicago time, London time, local time, time to London, etc etc etc. It was pretty cool and we kept switching back to it.
Landed around 8:30 on Saturday morning. And walked what seemed like FOREVER to get to customs. And that line was long, long, long! But it actually moved quickly. We talked to a couple in front of us from Columbia, MO that came in on a different flight and talked about maybe getting together for dinner one night, but it didn't really work out. The customs lady that processed us was hilarious and it was super easy to get through. And they ACTUALLY STAMPED OUR PASSPORTS!! I had heard that now a days they scan them or something, they don't use actual stamps so I was quite sad. But she did stamp them. Unfortunately we won't get stamps at other places (maybe France) since France, Germany & Italy are all part of the Schengen Agreement and you can move freely within the borders. So no more customs after France.
Retrieved our bags and wasn't sure where to go after that. We were supposed to have a driver waiting but we didn't know where! Eventually we just followed the pack of people and holy moly there were drivers waiting...probably 75 drivers...all standing around with signs. So we had to search for our names (felt like another amazing race task!). Jim found him first so he won that one. haha. Our driver was SO GREAT! We were a bit disoriented with the driving. Some of the roads in London are SO TINY and holy crap I don't know how we fit through them with a bus coming at us! haha. We had great conversation for the ride (which did take quite awhile). Talked about gas prices, cigarette prices, politics, the Royal Wedding (no surprise there, but Jim actually brought it up!). He talked about where our apartment is. Oh and we realized we didn't have any GB Pounds yet so asked if he could find a Barclays Bank for us. We opened up an account at Bank of America because they have agreements with different banks across the world so we can pull cash out at their ATM's (Barclays in the UK) without paying any foreign transaction fee and no ATM fee...that saves us about 2-3% plus $5 ATM fee...it's a great deal. He was awesome and took us to one. Which actually happened to be right near where our original apartment was supposed to be (oh yeah, for those that don't know...our original apartment had a damp issue and we were upgraded to a new one. That was slightly stressful for me because I had EVERY day planned out with directions on how to get to the tube, and where to go, based on where our apartment was but I said---forget about it, it will all be fine! And it is). Anyways, our original apartment was in Chelsea, a very high-end area (and in fact, the Princess Catherine---or Kate Middleton---has a flat in Chelsea) and we saw numerous high end cars. Jim did have to point out the James Bond car (Aston Martin something something 9 I think). We actually saw more of those throughout the day. He loves the cars here!
Ok, so we get money and on the way to our apartment we get the pleasure of going back Buckingham Palace (!!!), Big Ben/Houses of Parliament (!!!), London Eye (!!!), etc etc etc. I go, "I just cannot believe I AM HERE!" And our driver goes, "Believe it cause you're here!" Too funny. He is actually from Morocco but has lived in London for the past 25 years. Oh yeah, we also chatted about how easy it is and great it is for Europeans to travel. He just got back from a trip to Morocco...a 30 pound flight trip. SO CHEAP! He can fly to Rome for only 29 pounds. So we talked about how that's not even possible in the US...it costs hundreds of dollars to go ANYWHERE in the USA. They have it so much better over here!
We arrived at the apartment, which is on Waterloo Road, in the South Bank area. Not a bad area. And the maid was here to show us in. It's a very old building (oh wait....isn't everything here??!?!) and very quaint. Definitely not the 2,000 feet the landlord boasted, but it is definitely perfect for us. Enough room to spread out and cook if we want. Two bathrooms. It's just perfect. Oh and a loft with a second Queen or King sized bed if we really needed it. Two couches, table with 6 chairs, stove, microwave, washer, dryer, etc etc etc. I told Jim that I don't feel like we're on vacation and I think maybe it's because we aren't staying in a hotel...That might sound weird, but true.
We didn't have access to the full apartment because it was still getting cleaned but he was gracious enough to let us use the restroom and change our clothes (we'd been in them for over 24 hours by then!) So that helped us at least FEEL a bit refreshed. And headed off for our first adventure!
The first thing on our agenda was a hop-on / hop-off bus tour. This was planned because it would be easy to do...but out in the air if we were able to sit up top to hopefully help us stay awake. We have a tube station nearby (Waterloo station) so we walked to it, bought our Oyster Cards with travelcards and had my first mistake. The charge seemed quite high and I realized I forgot to tell the guy only zones 1-3...he gave us every zone. DANG IT. So that was about double the cost it should have been but live and learn, right? I did so much darn research though, how did I forget that? Oh well! For those that don't know---Oyster cards are loaded with money or travel cards to use at the tube station and city buses. You pay a deposit and then can get your 5 pound deposit back if you turn it back in. WELLLLLL ours have Wills and Kate on them so I don't really want to turn it back in...I kinda want to keep it!! hahahaha. We'll see what I shall do before we leave...maybe just turn Jim's in!
Figured out the navigation pretty quickly for the tube and headed on our way. Got off near oh shoot I can't remember...Piccadilly Circus maybe....it was packed and CRAZY! Walked to The Original Tour shop...good thing I brought my maps cause these roads can be confusing...and there is sooo much construction going on...but we did it. Waited for a couple buses to pass before we got on so we could definitely sit up top---better photos and wind in our faces! haha. I had our radio station meteorologist give me a weather forecast before we left. Chance of rain the day we arrived (and the entire time in Paris) but today---NO RAIN! And as of tonight, no rain for Paris. YES! It was quite chilly and we took our jackets with us today, definitely glad we had those, but the sun peeked out a couple of times.
Bus Tour: This was fun, I guess. Got to see many of the things we might not have a chance to see...Trafalgar Square, St Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, bunches of theatres, BBC, lots of churches that I don't remember the names of, Tower of London, Bank of England, HMS Belfast, Shakespeare's Globe, Sherlock Holmes Pub, etc. We didn't make it around the entire tour because we started to fall asleep. Time to move on!
We got off and ate at a restaurant called Garfunkel's. It was a happenin' place! Jim had spaghetti carbonara and liked it. I had a burger and it was pretty good. Just what we needed to refuel. We looked at a few maps and decided to run "home" for a few minutes to catch our bearings. So we did just that! Jim napped for about 5 minutes (he was out the second he lied down) while I updated facebook and puttered around a bit. Then we went off to the British Museum.
British Museum: I planned this for today because it would be something relaxing to do...but still walking so we could stay awake. We had our first run-in with a closed tube station (they are doing a lot of work on their tube system in preparation for the Olympics which will be in London next year) but quickly switched lines without a worry. Cut through a cute little park (near Russell Square I believe) to get to the museum. It was cute---lots of Londoners lying out in the sun, picnicking, playing frisbee, etc. We walked down one street that was so quaint. Ugh I am in love with this city. The British Museum is HUMONGOUS. And it was PACKED. And HOT. We only had about 1 1/2 hours before it closed but we're not ones to really spend hours upon hours in a museum so I didn't worry. I knew there were a few things I really wanted to see. Such as...a mummy!!!! I was so excited about seeing REAL MUMMIES! And they didn't disappoint. WOW WOW WOW! I also wanted to see the Rosetta Stone (so much bigger than I expected). And I swear there were some of the Dead Sea Scrolls here but I never did find them. A great exhibit on clocks that Jim really enjoyed (he is kindof weird). Lots of amazing huge mosaics and stuff that I just can't figure out how it's lasted this long! haha. Did you know: Museums are free in London????? Yes, FREE. We gave a donation of all the change we had (the coins in London are so big and heavy---we couldn't wait to drop those off...for instance, you can get 1 and 2 pounds in coin form I think. What a pain). Anywho, it was so hot in the museum that we didn't stay all that long. Went to a souvenir shop, hahaha they are on every street corner it seems, and there is an abundance of gawdy London souvenirs---guess what everyone is getting?????? hahaha Just kidding. Didn't buy anything, hopefully we'll do more GOOD shopping tonight.
We decided to try a place near our flat for dinner. Called The Fire House Bar & Restaurant. A local hangout it seems and was quite busy. Jim had lamb for the first time (with something that looked like burnt hashbrowns---don't remember what it was called---and some vegetable that was a cross between green beans and spinach---don't remember what that was called either) and I had a delicious herb roast chicken. Service was AWFUL but the prices weren't too bad (although I have to remember the prices are in POUNDS and DOLLARS are worth soooooo much less so it may have been a bit more expensive than I am thinking haha). Oh yeah, we must also remember to ask for TAP WATER at restaurants...otherwise we get a 2.09 pound bottle of either still or sparkling water. Oops.
We ran back to Waterloo station then to go to Marks & Spencer. M&S is a grocery store chain and there's a mini store in the train station. So convenient for us! We got some water, soda, breakfast items, snacks, etc. to get us through some days at the apartment. And this way we don't have to buy a big breakfast every morning! Then we got lucky and there was a little drug store in the train station too (and a Burger King in case you're wondering hahaha). Jim forgot his special 70+ spf sunscreen and truthfully cannot go without it...otherwise we'll probably be kicked out bc it will look like he has a crazy disease with his red cheeks. We couldn't find that high of spf but found a 50spf for kids and hopefully that will work just as well.
Headed back to the flat. It was about 7:30 or so and we just did some stuff around and tried to stay awake as long as we could. Finally went to bed around 8-8:30. I slept until 6:30 this morning. Not bad. I stayed in bed until Big Ben chimed for 7am. Yes, we can hear Big Ben in the flat. That. Is. Amazing. Jim got up about 7:30.
One more note---as we were walking back from the Museum, we walked along that quaint road again. Jim said, "I could live here." I said, "Me too. Find a job. Let's move." haha...no really... As we were taking our groceries into the flat he said, "Feels like we're a young couple just starting out...walking with our groceries to the flat." hahaha. He makes me laugh. Young couple...what a joke. :)
Big agenda for today---some things Jim is very excited about so I must get going. I will update this everyday for a couple reasons. I had requests to do so but also so I don't forget things as we go along! If I try to do it all when we get back I'll likely forget much of it...or some things that didn't seem so important. I am kicking myself in the butt for not taking more photos yesterday but I will do better today.
Ok, photos to come in another post because Blogspot is a total pain when it comes to adding photos.
Love you all!!!!!
One more note---this took much longer than I thought and I must get around for the day, so I did not proofread. SORRY!
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