First off, this was by far the least stressful/anxious trip I've ever done. Usually when I know I'm going to have to fly on an airplane (even if it's just for a couple hours to Seattle); I have severe panic attacks that wake me up in the middle of the night. This can go on for weeks before the trip. For whatever reason, it only happened once this time. I did cry when the family dropped me off at the airport Friday night, but other than that, I was calm. I was ok. I didn't hyperventilate, or cling crying to my seat on the airplane, or cover my head while rocking back and forth like I usually do. For some reason, this time, the anxiety never really came; and I cannot thank my Heavenly Father enough for that!
I had direct flights over and back. It's between 9-10 hrs, depending on which direction you're going. It's actually a fantastic flight because 1. you're on the bigger jets, and so don't feel the turbulence as much; 2. it's long enough that if you're like me, and can't sleep for more than a couple hours at a time, you still can get a couple good naps in, and 3. FREE MOVIES!!! So many free movies to choose from on the back of the seat!!! I watched Fantastic Beasts and La-La-Land (I LOVE/HATE THAT MOVIE!) on the way over; and watched Me Before You (bawled my eyes out); Pitch Perfect, and PS I love you (bawled my eyes out again) on the way back. I'd never seen most of those movies before; and they weren't ones Rob would watch, so IT WAS PERFECT! I want to go again just for all the free movie time. hahaha! ;) Also, they feed you SO MUCH. It was great.
I left Friday, Apr 28 at 8:20, and got to London at 1:20pm Saturday. I flew over with my aunt, and her two daughters met us at the airport (they'd gotten there early that morning). We took the tube (London's are cleaner and easier to use than NYC) to our place on 6 Portland Rd in the Notting Hill Gate/Holland Park/Kensington area. We had a little flat with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. My older cousin and I shared a room the first couple days she was there, and then I had the room to myself..
We decided to get some dinner, and found a little pub called Hillgate. I had my first fish and chips meal, and found out that Brittish people use mayo the way we use ketchup. Now, they still had ketchup available, which meant you could potentially have fry sauce for every single meal over there.
Afterwards we did a little exploring and found Holland Park. It was beautiful! Except for in the Japanese Garden part of the park, the trees and flowers look like they've been left to grow as tall and as wild as they please! Same with the fish...they were monstrous.
We got back to our flat about 8pm, and by 8:30 I was sound asleep. End Day 1.
Sunday, April 30th
Sunday morning we got hot chocolate/coffee/tea (whatever our personal preference) and CHOCOLATE SCONES-OH MY GOSH SO MANY DELICIOUS PASTRIES!!! for breakfast at a little place called Paul's. This became a morning tradition. Well, I actually ate cereal like a boring person four of the days, but other than that. Next I went to a little Teslo grocery store that was just half a block from where we were staying and bought some milk. They don't pasteurize milk there...or something. They had an aisle just for baked beans! Which led me to learn that baked beans are part of what you call a full, English breakfast. I love baked beans....but anyway. One of my cousins could only stay a couple of days, so she went to Warner Brother Studio tours on this day.
My aunt, other cousin and I went and picked up my London Pass and Oyster card. The oyster card is what you use to pay/ride the tube, busses, trains while in London. We explored Leicster Square which has a lot of little restaurants and where many of the theaters are. It is also where a booth is to buy half-priced Broadway tickets. Lion King almost tempted me...but we each had somebody that we knew who would have been sad if we had seen Lion King without them; so we refrained. We also ran in to the theater where they do Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We stood inline to get returned tickets for that show too, but it wasn't moving, and we didn't want to spend our entire day waiting. If you want to see that play, you have to buy tickets several months in advance, and it's a two part play, so you have to have an entire day almost to spend on it. We then walked a couple blocks to Trafalgar Square. There were many street entertainers, etc.
We hopped off at Buckingham palace. This is the first palace or castle I'd ever seen, and I thought it was beautiful. There was so much gold guild (is that the word I want?) everywhere...and the architecture and carvings. WOW! The gardens were beautiful. There are swans in the numbers that we have geese; black and white swans. It was poetic. This was also my first look at the traditional red uniformed guards with the tall, black hats. I was taken back by how young they look!!! I mean, the one looked like he was a child. I believe they are older teens. I saw more at other places; some even up close, and they are young men...I guess like the high school boys who join the army here. They were so disciplined and straight. I was full of wonder and amazement.
By this time it was tea-time; so we went up to a tea shop my aunt and cousin had wanted to try and got tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. OH MY HEAVENS! Clotted cream!!! Why can't we have this in America?! I tried Chamomile...I hated it. This was my second encounter with herbal tea; the first time was back when I was working in Logan. I immediately started throwing up, so I was scared to try it again (even though it was a different flavor). It tasted the same, and I hated it, so from then on out I stuck with hot chocolate...the thickest, richest, most delicious hot chocolate you've ever had in your life!!!
We met back up with my other cousin after that at our flat. I wanted to go check out the Globe where they do the Shakespeare plays, and that area. We didn't go to a play; there wasn't one we wanted to see available, but it was fun to walk buy, and the general area is beautiful. It is right off the Thames (which in and of itself is brown, and disgusting looking), but it still has the kind of bay or dock feel like you get in CA or other places; and I love that.
We had dinner at Anchor. It was so pretty, and had a really fun but relaxed atmosphere. I found many places in London had outside and inside dining options. I had a Beetroot and Camber...cumberbatch?...Camembert! cheese pie. It may sound gross, but it was my favorite thing I had while in London. The beetroot and cheese together was almost sweet; and it was in side a pastry that was delicious and buttery and flaky...WHY CAN'T AMERICAN FOOD BE INSIDE OF DELICIOUS PASTRIES?!!! At one point I was walking to the restroom and a group of guys stops me and ask me to take their pictures...and they were yelling, "Take hundreds! Work the camera! Great job darling", etc. hahahaha!!! Oh my goodness I loved how friendly they all were! And so social and fun...great people. This was also a pub, Over there, for the most part, you seat yourself and then order and pay for your food at the bar, and then they bring your food to you. A small tip is included in the food price. I loved this because I didn't have to wait for a bill afterwards (although, over there most people just sit around after they're done eating and talk forever-I loved it); and you didn't have to pay an additional tip. It's pretty awesome. We then wandered around the area and eventually found a tube and went over to Picadilly Circus...aka Times Square or Vegas Strip of London. It wasn't very busy though that night; and it was slightly rainy...and I was tired. We took a double decker bus back home and passed a lot of fun shopping areas- including Selfridges. haha! (There's a show about it on Amazon). End of Day 2.
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