Post #1
London
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Wednesday, September 26 through Saturday, September 29
12:16 PM London Time, 7:16 AM Boston Time
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Saturday, September 29, 2018
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Wow. What a crazy few days it has been so far! Michaela and I departed Boston around 9:20 PM Boston Time on Wednesday Sept 26th and arrived in London around 8:00 AM London time on Thursday morning. The flight was about 6 hours long and was jam packed. We flew Norwegian and although we had a nice new plane with fun rainbow lighting, a yummy meal, and amazingly clear TV displays, it was probably 6 of the most uncomfortable hours of my life.
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Michaela and I weren’t able to get much sleep, an hour at most and spent most of our time talking, listening to music, and watching a bit of The Lucky One on our TV’s (Zac Efron can make anything better!!).
Current Situation:
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Once we arrived at the airport, got through customs (which was super speedy), and collected our bags, we headed to the Platform to catch the Gatwick Express train to Victoria Station in London. For just £19.90, we took a half hour direct train right into the city and then took a taxi from the train station to our hotel which was close by. This was by far the best option into the city compared to paying an arm and a leg for an hour and a half taxi. Although, the jam-packed train was difficult to navigate with all of our luggage (a whopping total of 4 suitcases, 2 backpacks, and 2 purses).
Apparently, the doorway doubles as a luggage storage station – who would have thought? We didn’t want to block the doorway, but some fearless passengers told us that that’s where we were “supposed” be ... oops. We really were “stupid Americans” in that situation. Anyways, it all worked out.
After the train, the taxi driver to the hotel was extremely kind and even rejected our tip, telling us that although in the US tipping is customary, this is not the case here in London. Thanks Garry!
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We arrived at our hotel in London around noon and our room was not ready, so we had two hours to kill. Thankfully they had luggage storage, so we were able to give them our bags and we spent a few minutes relaxing in the lobby with the WiFi – tears may or may not have been shed … by me. I am not sure if it was the exhaustion, excitement, relief, or the sweet words in a letter (and stuffed animal) that my dad slipped into my suitcase, but after a quick facetime with my parents I felt a bit better.
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Michaela and I took off to explore a bit and ended up getting Sim cards for our phones. We each bought 30 GB of data for £30, which will last us a month, at which point we can get a new one in Florence! The Sim allows me to use the internet in any form, so I can message other iPhone users, facetime other iPhone users, and I can use all social media platforms, Google maps, and Google!!
After our short session of exploring, we went back to the hotel and got settled in. We both felt drained and decided to allow ourselves a two-hour refresh nap. Afterwards, we did a lot more exploring and then got dinner …. Mexican!! We did try to go to a few more traditional places, but the lines were long and we were really exhausted. It was delicious, but I only had about 4 bites because I felt sick, which I’m assuming was a side effect of traveling. However, I enjoyed a fresh chocolate and hazelnut Croissant later that night … yummy!
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Friday was MUCH better all around. We were free from our bags, got a good night sleep, and were ready to take on London! Our morning started with the hotel’s continental breakfast and once again, I barely ate. I had a few bites of a fantastic blueberry muffin!
Then we walked 30 minutes to the London eye (I bought tickets for Michaela’s Birthday gift in July!) and hopped on around 11:20 AM. It took about 15 minutes to reach the top and the whole rotation was about 30 minutes!
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After that we got on our Hop-On, Hop-Off, double-decker big bus tour! This was by far the best thing we decided to do! The bus brought us to all of the locations we would want to visit which saved on cab fare and time walking, and even had both virtual and in-person guides on the busses to give us more information. When we saw something of interest we hopped off the bus and explored, and when we were all set we (you guessed it) hopped on to continue the tour!
We visited places like: The Marble Arch, Big Ben (which is under construction because last year they discovered it is leaning a bit, and they don’t want it to fall over the Palace of Westminster/Parliament. So, all we really saw was scaffolding. I guess we have to come back in 3 years!), Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace and Victoria Memorial, Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster, Kensington Palace and Gardens (my favorite, SO underrated), Royal Courts of Justice, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, London Bridge, Parliament Square, and more!
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The weather was perfect at about 65 degrees and the sunshine kept us warm. I guess it doesn’t ALWAYS rain in London, we have yet to see any! Being on the open top of the bus was a lot of fun and we got some amazing views! However, it was no surprise when I fell coming down the stairs at one of the stops. All of the stares of the fully packed bus, the driver, the tour guide, and the people on the streets waiting to come into the bus are permanently burned into my brain…yikes. “I’m good!!”
Around 7 we got off of our last bus and went to dinner at a burger restaurant that we wanted to go to Thursday night (wait was too long) and was right on river Thames called “Honest”. We sat outside under some heating lamps and it was great! I had the worst ginger ale ever, it was called Gingerella and tasted like cinnamon and then had a delicious burger and “chips”! Once again, I didn’t have much of an appetite despite not eating all day, and only ate half of my burger and a few of the “chips”. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and showered, packed, went through photos, and figured out how we were getting to the airport on Saturday.
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Today is Saturday September 29, 2018 and Michaela and I are currently sitting in a Starbucks at the Gatwick Airport. After waking up and getting our continental breakfast (once again, I had a couple bites of a blueberry muffin- I still have no appetite) we had the hotel call us a taxi to bring us to Victoria Station where we chose to try our shot at the Gatwick Express train again. We took the 10:30 AM train and this time it went MUCH smoother as we knew what to expect and the train was a LOT less crowded than last time. We got to the airport at 10:57 AM, flew through check in and security, shopped around a bit, and have been relaxing here in Starbucks for about two hours. Our flight to Florene was not scheduled to leave until 4:10 PM and has actually been delayed until 4:40 PM. As you can tell, we got here unnecessarily early, but we really wanted to make sure nothing went wrong (taxi traffic, delayed/full train, etc.).
Summary:
Once we got settled in, London was amazing and everyone we met was extremely kind! The city has awesome transportation, environmentally friendly everything, gorgeous modern buildings and skyscrapers, and beautiful, old, historic buildings and sights. It was a bit tough to remember to look right, left, right when crossing the road because the fearless cars, busses, and bikers drive on the opposite side, but the pedestrian walking signs were great! We definitely noticed that although in America people stay to the right when walking, it is a bit of a free for all here which is a bit annoying. Also, for some reason, British dogs being walked in the streets, sidewalks, and in parks aren’t on leashes and they ALL LISTEN!! So cool!
Next Stop: Firenze, Italia!
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EDIT: 2:00 PM Sunday Sept 30
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After being at the airport for 13 hours yesterday, our flight got cancelled due to apparent high winds in Florence. We were given a hotel for the night, voucher for dinner last night and breakfast this the morning, and they placed us on a flight into ROME (not Florence) for tonight. After arriving in Rome we will be loading "coaches" (aka busses) and the airline will bring us to the Florence Airport around 11pm. Thankfully dad called the hotel that Michaela and I had booked for last night in Florence and they were able to cancel without charging us. The issue is that we were supposed to check into Florence University of the Arts today between 9am and 7pm (hence the flight last night to make sure we had plenty of time). We have contacted the school and will NOT be able to check into our University and apartment tonight so Michaela and I had to book another hotel and will check into the school tomorrow morning, leave our bags in the office during orientation, and then move into our apartments afterwards. FRUSTRATING because we booked an early afternoon flight the day before to allow for bumps in the road, I guess we didn't plan for any sinkholes in the road! Wish us the best!!