London 2016 – Day 1

Steps today: 21 482.

Not bad for Day 1 – it’s well after 11PM and I am not tired!!

The flight over wasn’t too bad, it was not as uncomfortable as I anticipated being with Transat… despite the baby that was slowly being tortured in the back of the plane and wanted everyone to know it, I still got about 4 hours of sleep.

Not that I mind, since all I want to do on the flight over is sleep, but do you notice anything missing here? ha! Transat is cheap for a reason.

We were sitting on the right side of the plane, and at one point the captain informed us that passengers sitting on the left could get a clear view of the Northern Lights! Damn! I tried to look across but that was futile; after I told myself the plane won’t tip over if people all move to the left side, I got up and tried to look out the windows, still nothing. I finally caught a SMALL glimpse out the window of the door at the back of the plane – had to get on all fours to do it! Forget getting a picture.

Our room was ready when we got to the hotel, thank God! It’s not bad at all, small, but it’s all we need…

Vesna took a micro nap while I unpacked my bags and changed out of my sweaty airplane clothes and then off we went to explore London.

It’s Vesna’s first time in London, so I wanted her first view of the city to be a “WOW” moment. I took her to the Golden Jubilee Bridge so she could see St Paul’s and the Shard from afar, then down to Millennium Pier to gawk at The Eye, across Westminster Bridge to admire Big Ben, through White Hall Gardens and finally the Sherlock Holmes Pub for a fish and chips lunch. She loved every minute!

After lunch, we went to Trafalgar Square, then down The Mall to Buckingham Palace, checked out where we have to go on Monday for the tour (I can’t wait for that – it’s a HUGE thing for me) and then stopped for a coffee to perk ourselves up. It was about 5PM by then and we were starting to fade.

The coffees boosted us enough to keep going and we had a great stroll through Hyde Park. The weather is so freaking fantastic that we stopped for a drink at the Lido and just soaked it all in. It was marvellous!