Fish and Chips Please--Hold the Bed Bugs!

For the 8-hour plane ride from Minneapolis to London, Nick and I sat about 20 rows from each other. Just as I sat down between 2 men, the baby one row over started bawling. I was sickened at the thought of an 8-hour torture but, fortunately, the baby calmed down a bit. I was able to sleep for about 5/8 hours in the air—which is better than usual!

My buddy Marc Burrows, who I met in Finland, picked us up from the London Heathrow Airport. I took the front seat in amazement as I watched Marc drive on the wrong side of the road. Traffic was quite bad on the way to Winsor Castle but we eventually found a FREE parking spot. After walking around the castle of Winsor we stopped by a nearby restaurant and bought ourselves some fish and chips. Cam and Jamen would have made fun of me as I ate the unhealthiest lunch I’ve ever eaten. My entire plate was deep-fried, which causes me to wonder why aren’t the English fatter?

Eating Fish & Chips with Marc

Buckingham Palace

After hanging out with Marc, he dropped us off at the train station in Slough. It was still afternoon when we took the train into London but still we didn’t know where we were staying the night. We jumped on a bus that took us to the heart of London—Oxford Circus. From there we walked to Piccadilly Circus where we bought Phantom of the Opera tickets from Her Majesty’s Theatre for Monday evening.

We then walked like miles and miles to see such sights as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Winchester Abby, Parliament, The Eye (HUGE overpriced ferris wheel), and at around 9 pm we finally found a place to spend the night—The Elizabeth House Hotel. We asked about 5-6 different places how much they’d charge us and this place was the lowest (and for good reason too). Frankly, I’m grateful to have gotten a room. So 50 £ (25 £ each) got us a private room to share and a continental breakfast in the heart of London. We dropped off our heavy backpacks and walked the streets until 1 am. (Heidi, it was safe) I’m more nervous about bed bites, so Nick and I are both sleeping in our sleeping bags tonight. Besides the minor discomforts, Nick and I are REALLY enjoying London thus far.

Big Ben

Where we are staying tonight.