London-We Have Arrived - My New Life on the Trail

This was our first experience with British Airways and I’d say it went rather well. We went to the wrong terminal at O’Hare to begin with. We were supposed to be on an American Airlines flight as a BA partner. Fortunately, we didn’t have to endure all the extra charges and cramped conditions of AA (sorry Dan). The ticketing agent managed to get us an earlier BA flight on a 747 and gave us an entire center aisle of 4 seats to ourselves. Even with 2 extra seats, I couldn’t quite spread out because Pam decided horizontal riding was the way to go. We landed in London a full hour before Karen and 4 hours before George (even though he boarded his plane before we boarded ours–I guess the pilot decided to approach London from the east).

Trying to Navidate our way through Heathrow Airport

We had time for a drink with Karen while we waited. Even with the truth of advertising, we just opted for some coffeee to help keep us awake.

George finally arrived so we made our way to downtown London and the hostel we were staying at near Paddington Station.

Trying to find our way out of Paddington Station. The English want you to ask for help instead of rely on signs.

They still have phone booths in London! Pam was going through early phone withdrawal and stepped in one to calm her shakes.

After we checked into the micro-hostel, we decided to walk around for a little bit to catch a few sights before we crashed.

A private cottage just inside of Hyde Park

The Queens Gate into Hyde Park near Kensington Palace

We didn’t realize how close we were to Hyde Park so we took a stroll around Princess Di’s memorial fountain before grabbing a semi-early supper.

A Trail Marker leading to Diana’s Fountain

A large circular fountain that runs downhill in all directions. People are encouraged to soak their feet in Di’s Fountain

Enough about Di–is that an ice cream truck?

We ate at the Goat Pub and had a traditional English supper: beef pies and chips for the men while the ladies settled for the healthier fish and chips. Beer washed it all down.

Outside of the Goat Pub–the oldest continuous serving pub in Kensington

After supper, we took a short cut back to our hostel which accidentally ran through a large number of foreign embassies. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but there was a security presence outside of the Israeli Embassy. The Saudi looked most intriguing and the Russian Embassy walls were covered with rotating spikes–I wanted to touch one to see if they were sharp, but Pam wanted no part of me creating an international incident with Putin (leave that to Trump).

London is a large international city with people of all faiths

We just got a small glimpse of London before the jet lag kicked in. We will be traveling back through here a couple more times on this first leg of our journey.