The Great Adventure - London

We all met in Seattle on the 30th bright and early in the morning and headed to the airport. We were all so excited. We had been planning and planning for over a year and now it was here. We had our passports, various tickets, confirmations, reservations, money. We had agonized over how much to pack, what to bring. What would the weather be like. Would it rain on us the whole time. My husband and I ended up with Osprey luggage. They are a soft type of luggage, wheeled, but can also be worn as a backpack. We got 2 of the 22" size, which could be put in overhead if needed, although we checked ours on all our flights.

We also took two smaller backpacks as carryon and I bought a Fossil crossover bag for our passports, money, credit cards etc. I did bring a laptop with me - and we had a pay as you go cell phone, although we only used it a couple of times.

Long flight to London. We flew on Air Canada from Seattle to Toronto, then to London. The total price for 2 round trip tickets was $1130.94. We were happy with that fare, it was when prices were quite high because of fuel prices. Our fuel surcharge per person was $140.00. We also had to get to Seattle. We got round trip tickets on Alaska for $79.00 each.

We arrived in London and took the tube to the closest station to our hotel and then hoofed it. We were HERE!!! We got off the tube at Kings Cross. Had a little trouble finding the hotel, but called them and got on the right track. For the price we paid for the hotel we were very happy.

Here's a shot of the hotel in London. Nice room and great price. We bought oyster cards for the tube - you pay 15 pounds (I think that's what I remember) and then you load up some pounds on it. Then you use it and it will always give you the best price through the day as you use it. At the end of our time in London, we turned the cards in, and were refunded the deposit and any funds left on the card. It was a great deal in my opinion. We did walk a lot though too. After we settled in to our rooms and freshened up etc we took off walking. We got a bit of rain so ducked into our first of MANY pubs during the trip. I LOVED the pubs. They were always so inviting, warm, cozy. And the beer was always good.

Here's Ted at our first Pub in London.

And some of the others we visited that day .....

Time to eat - our first meal in London - pub food of course.

Shepards Pie and Fish and Chips! And of course Guinness!