London 2014 Day 1

Sorry for the delay in case you've been waiting. I'm finally getting around to posting our London trip here on my blog. Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Instagram are probably over it by now, but I promise that many of the photos I'll be posting in the next several days haven't yet been posted. Plus, I'd love to share a little narrative, if you don't find that it puts you to sleep.

As anyone who travels knows, there are things you learn along the way. And those things are usually quite helpful to pass on to others who might eventually travel there. So I feel it's my responsibility to share. So for the next several days I'll share our London trip and if you don't want to deal with it, then I'll be back to normal blogging mode in about a week.

Before I start, I must mention that I was very concerned about this trip not being fun. I say that because our little threesome has a difficult time getting along sometimes. And especially on trips for some reason. We're all very strong personalities with opinions and stuff. So it can create issues, and I really didn't want this very expensive trip to go badly. (It's happened to us before) So we all spoke about it here at home before the trip and agreed on one simple rule: "Think before you speak." 

Well, let me tell you those were magical words because it truly worked! We got along fabulously and had a wonderful vacation!


Here we are all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to fly to London from the Orlando International Airport. We purposely took an evening flight, thinking we'd sleep on the plane. (Um. Nope.)



It's been a long time since I've had an actual meal on an airplane. British Airways did it up right! Ravioli, salad, roll, dessert, coffee. And it was delicious!


Ohhh the flight was a long one though. 9 hours. I have a hard time sitting still for 10 minutes here at home, so you can imagine how I was doing on this flight. I watched a movie (12 Years A Slave), did some crossword puzzles, read a book, tried to sleep, read a magazine, walked around, tried to sleep, drank free wine, watched another movie (American Hustle), tried to sleep, played on my iPhone, walked around...



...then finally the sun came shining through the windows and we were landing at Gatwick Airport around 9:30 a.m. their time. (About 4:30 a.m. to our American bodies.)


We got some British pounds (do you spell it out like that? I don't know.) from the ATM machine in the airport. Then got some round-trip train tickets (cheaper to do it this way) for the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station (about a 30-minute ride), lugging our suitcases along the way, then hopped on the nearest metro to Oxford Circus close to our hotel.


This was the metro station at the late morning hour. Busy as hell! People are bustling and rushing here and there, trying to dodge the American tourists with their big suitcases. I learned pretty quickly that if you've got a giant suitcase and you're on the escalator in the tube station, you need to stand to the right so the speedy people can rush pass you on the left side; rather than firmly plunk your suitcase to the left of you, blocking everyone. But even still, the locals were quite polite about it.



After hopping off the tube we pulled our suitcases quite a ways down busy Oxford Street to a few smaller streets that led to our hotel in Soho. The Nadler. Only a year old, this hotel was fantastic. Very modern, ultra clean, quiet, exceptional staff, wonderful room. The best! By the way, I highly recommend staying in Soho if you visit London. It's the very heart and hub of London. Tons of little streets to explore, restaurants, markets, and you're within walking distance of everything London has to offer.



We were SO tired, but since it was too early to check into our hotel and we were excited to start exploring, we left our bags at The Nadler and set off. You'll hear me say it many times: I was truly enamored with the architecture of London. The age, the mixture of styles, the beauty. It was just wonderful everywhere we went. 



We suddenly came upon Covent Garden, which happened to be on my wish list of places to check out. The market was going on and it was quite a festive atmosphere. Food vendors, music, and various sellers. The food smelled so good we had to sample something so we shared an empanada...



Then some dessert and coffee.



We were now refueled and happy.



Although we were getting a little punchy.


We grabbed an early dinner at a local Thai restaurant, walked to Trafalgar Square and picked up our London Passes (more on that tomorrow), grabbed a few items from the Tesco market to stock our kitchenette and started back through the streets to our hotel.


On our way back we noticed quite the phenomenon. All the pubs were filling up and spilling out onto the streets. ALL of them. This was a common sight every night of the week. Yes, even Sunday. They started as early as noon and continued well into the wee hours of the next morning. 



You know the saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." So we did. (Only in London. Duh.)


I have to say this pint put me over the edge and I couldn't keep my eyes open much longer, so we checked into the hotel and unpacked, took hot showers and fell into bed by 9 p.m. exhausted.


See you tomorrow for Day 2's Big Red Bus Tour and more. Thanks for stopping by.


Comments

  1. I love that you're sharing travel tips Annette, thanks. I followed your trip on Facebook and thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing more tomorrow!

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  2. Hi Annette great to see you in London...my Hb and I read this and we smiled at your observations of us Brits ;0) Yes we do like our pubs especially on summer days and they are too small for everyone to get inside so we always have to spill outside. You chose a really good location, Soho is quiet yet so near to all the central sights. Looking forward to reading Day 2 x

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  3. Hi Annette, lovely to see your impressions of London from a visitor point of view! It is fascinating to see what you notice. I live about an hour from London and must admit I avoid It most of the time, just too busy and noisy. Great place to visit though, guess it's like NY , love visiting but don't think I would want to live there! I do love day trips to London to galleries and the theatre though. Looking forward to your next post to see what else you got up to! Nikki xxx

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  4. So I guess you know I loved following your time in London and now it's great to see what you got up to with even more great pictures. I'm so glad you had a fabulous time in our fair city and look forward to the next instalment. Jenny x

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  5. Great post. Have loved traveling with you guys, well virtually anyway, ha. Looking forward to day 2.

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  6. Love that you're sharing this trip. I will probably never have the chance to visit London so I'm travelling vicariously through you! I also love that you shared the little tidbit about past trips going wrong because of little personality 'clashes.' I think most people like to present this image that all families are perfect 100% of the time. I've run into this issue as well. We look so forward to a trip only to find that personalities got the best of us. Long story short; I'm relieved to know that it's not just us. TFS and I look forward to the rest of your wonderful trip!

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  7. Oh my gosh! How fun- and it's only day 1!!1 looking forward to more of your adventures Annette! Keep on-
    xo

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  8. Love reading about your trip Annette! I just read part two. Great read for those of us that might never go there!

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  9. LOVE this post! Now I really, really want to see London!

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