Okay, so I'll spare you all the details of the loooong travel day associated with getting all the way across the pond to jolly old England. Let's just say I LOVED traveling via British Airways, because it meant the flight attendants were ridiculously polite and spoke softly in super pleasant British accents, AND - despite the fact that we were flying overnight - I barely slept on the plane (not too surprising, as sleeping on airplanes has never been easy for me), though I did snatch a few winks, as it were. But hey, by the time we got to England, I was too excited to feel sleepy - yet.
We made it through customs and everything with no mishaps, and then we took the long cab ride all the way to our hotel. (It was NOT cheap!) We checked in, got cleaned up and changed our clothes, and then we headed across the road so we could take the tube to the area of town where we could ride London Eye. Once we were inside the station, one of the attendants helped us purchase the most useful thing we could possibly have purchased: A week-long Oyster Card. It was good for unlimited travel on the Underground, as well as all of the buses, etc. for 7 days (we would be in London for 5 days during this stint) AND it cost just about as much as the single cab ride we took from the airport! (Of course, it was only AFTER we'd taken that long, expensive taxi trip that we found out we could have taken the train directly from the airport to Kensington, where our hotel was! Oh well, live and learn, right?)
Anyway, with the help of Ty's excellent map-reading skills, we took the train downtown and emerged from the Underground tunnel into the city of London! It was absolutely surreal walking up those stairs and being smacked in the face with the iconic sight of Big Ben! Beautiful! With some walking, we made our way over to the "line" for the London Eye. There was basically no one else waiting to board the ride, but we did get checked by a security guard. Ty had brought along his trusty pocket knife, which he always carries around with him everywhere he goes. He packed it in his checked bag on the plane, and got it all the way over to England...only to have it confiscated within an hour of arriving! We watched as the guard took the knife and placed it in a drawer along with several others. As he did so, he explained that any pocket knife with a locking blade was illegal to carry in the United Kingdom, and the police would come by later to collect the contraband knives and destroy them!!! Sigh...poor Ty. He loved that knife.
The ride on the London Eye was fantastic, especially when you consider the fact that I'm TERRIFIED of heights! We shared a pod with a nice Australian family who were visiting England and Europe for a couple of months. We chatted politely about where we were all from, and whatnot. We rode those pods all the way around, taking in the scenery as far as the eye could see. It was an incredible view!
After we disembarked, we decided to walk around London for a while. We took in the outside of Parliament, and walked all the way around that area of the city, crossed the bridge, and passed the London Eye again. Then, we took the train back to Kensington, and found some dinner. After that, we headed back to the hotel, finished settling in, and then I'm pretty sure I was knocked unconscious, because I don't remember one friggin' thing from the moment I sat on the bed until the sun was peeking through our curtains the next morning. I guess those "winks" I got on the plane weren't quite enough.
All in all, it a good beginning, I'd say. And it only got better from there...
