[Pooh Fan]

I am finally back from a fabulous trip exploring Europe. I wrote in my journal every evening so that I would be able to keep the trip fresh in my mind when I returned home. I have not had a chance to organize my pictures, so those will have to come later.

One thing that my friend and I both realized throughout our trip is how fortunate we are to be Americans. There are so many things that we take for granted that we have become thankful for such as air conditioning everywhere we go, free use of public restrooms, free drink refills, not having armed guards with machine guns watching over us at the airport to name a few.

I will try my best to get this trip report up and going quickly. I was supposed to make my dining reservations yesterday for our December trip, so I am scrambling to get that done. DH thought I had already taken care of it before my trip to Europe, so he threw all my notes about where we wanted to eat away while I was gone. Plus, my house looks like Hurricane Katrina hit. I am not sure it has ever been such a mess. My kids must have had a lot of fun since they did not have to clean up after themselves while mom was gone....

[allirella]

Can't wait to hear all about it! Sorry about the loss of your ADR info. I know that can be hard to recreate as perfectly as the first time around!!

[lovemysons]

Wow, I can't wait to hear all about it!! Welcome back!!

[daisyd]

Welcome home! I can't wait to hear about your trip

[dac921]

Welcome back...

[llama]

Welcome home!

[Peppertink]

Welcome back!

[Voldemort]

Welcome back! Looking forward to the TR. Good luck getting those ADRs taken care of.

[jk8]

Hi Welcome back! We are all looking forward to the adventure and also to know if you packed enough of the right things.

[missy H]

Welcome back!

[E&B's Mom]

Wow! That went way too quick (for you) but I'm glad you're back to tell us about it!!!

[catfish1999]

Welcome back! I can't wait to read your TR!

[Pooh Fan]

Day 1:

We arrived at the airport 3 hours early like we were told to do. We waited for 2 hours and 45 minutes because it actually took us less time to check in and go through security than it does when we flight on a domestic flight. It was ok though. We had each brought a book to read, so we read for a while, called our credit card companies to let them know we were leaving the country for a month and where we would be travelling to, and then talked about what we really wanted to do while we were there. Our flight ended up getting delayed due to weather and we almost missed our connecting flight. When we arrived at our connecting airport, we were running through the terminal like crazy women. They were closing the gate when we arrived, but we made it. The flight to London was uneventful. We tried to sleep, but neither one of us can sleep with lights on and talking and other loud miscellanious noise. We may have gotten an hour or two of interrupted sleep. That was ok though. We were on our way to Europe.

Day 2:

We arrived in London, took the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station, bought a subway pass, and headed on the subway towards our hotel. Our hotel was near St. James Park. It was ALOT more than we had budgetted for, but the location could not be beat. We could walk to everything. I had told my friend that I went with that I would pay the difference in price between the crummy hotel that was in our budget and the one I chose for us since she is getting married in August and all of her money is going towards that.

We checked into the hotel. Our room was not ready--which was a recurring theme throughout the trip--stored our luggage and were off. We saw a brochure about the London Dungeon and though that might be neat to see. It was not on our list of things we had planned to do, but it looked pretty neat. It was located near the Tower of London which was on our list, so we thought we would do both of those things and then head back to our hotel to freshen up for dinner. We took the subway there since those were the only 2 places not within walking distance of our hotel. We arrived at the dungeons to find an extremely long line. We were prepared for things to be busy since MissyH had warned us that it was a bank holiday. We waited in line for 1 1/2 hours and were not even half way there. We were passing the time as best we could, but the line was getting old really fast. We started asking people if it was worth waiting in line for another 2 1/2 or more hours. They told us there were 2 rides inside and it was like a haunted house. Since we could do something like that at home, we decided to cut our losses and give up. We walked towards the Tower of London.

We ended up spending several hours exploring the Tower of London in the cold rain. We both had decided that no matter what type of weather we had this trip, we woul dnot let the elements slow us down. Who knows how long it would be before we had a chance to return. We bought a guidebook so that we could show our friends, family, and students all about it when we got home. Towards the end, we sat down to watch a video about the uprising that was planned there, and we both nodded off. When the video was over, I asked Susan if she got to see the entire video because I had started to nodd off. She laughed and said she was hoping I could tell her what happened because she nodded off too. We decided that after being up for over 24 hours, we needed some rest.

We headed back to our hotel utilizing the subway again. (I must say that London has the most efficient and cleanest subway system either one of us has ever seen.) Our room was ready, so we got our bags and headed up to our room. We both needed a shower and some rest. While I unpacked what I would need for the next 3 days, Susan took her shower. Then, when she finished, I showered while she unpacked what she would need while we were at this hotel. Luckily, the blowdryer was located in the room outside the bathroom. We took turns drying our hair and decided we would take a nap before dinner. We fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

We woke up about 3 h ours later very hungry. There was a pub located below our hotel, but it was pretty smoke filled, so we decided to go exploring a bit and find a restaurant that was not as smoky. Our hotel was located on a very quiet street and most places were closed--they only served breakfast and lunch, so we kept walking. We choice a place called Garfunkles. I had been looking forward to fish and chips, so that is what I ordered. It was pretty good, just not as good as I had imagined. (My family had lived in England before I was born, and I grew up hearing stories about the Fish and Chips man who would go around selling Fish and Chips and how good it was. I never found anything like that, and believe me I was looking.) Susan was feeling less adventurous, so she ordered a burger and fries. After dinner, we walked around a bit to walk off some of the calaries we had just eaten, and then headed back to the hotel. We were both still tired and knew we needed to get a good night's sleep because we planned to put in a long day tomorrow.

[llama]

Can't beat the Tube in London, can you? I'm glad you chose the Tower over the dungeons. Seeing where Anne Boleyn & company got their heads chopped off has to be as gruesome as the dungeons anyway. And yes, I've never found fish & chips as good as the ones I can find at home, either. (I think it's that they leave the skin on one side of the fish - not too appealing.)

I'm enjoying your report!

[daisyd]

Other than you almost missing your connection, it sounds as if you had a good first day! Smart thinking to call your CC companies--lots of people forget to do that when they travel (like me ).

Looking forward to more!