Day 1 - Mar 5, 2013 Last updated: 3/31/13 8:00pm PT
The flight to London from Seattle was uneventful, which is how you want a flight to be. We popped for the roomier seats based on the cramped seating I suffered through back in ’09. These seats were wider and had more leg room, almost as much as a domestic flight first class seat. And we got better food too. Had the steak filet. It’s still hard to sleep on a plane. And the 8 hour timezone change leaves you feeling loopy when you arrive.
We took the Tube into London, which takes a little over an hour. First stop was the hotel. We picked a place near Carrie’s flat. We wanted to be able to meet up with her at any time. We stayed at the Ibis on Blackfriars Road near the Southwark (pronounced: Sutherk) Tube stop. It was clean, modern, quiet, comfortable and in a great location. The first time through London, we had a room on the top floor and it was absolutely silent. After our return from Italy, we were on the 7th floor and heard a little more noise, but not much. The beds were very comfortable too. Ibis is a chain hotel which offers a bare minimum of necessities, but not as bad as some of the discount chains over there that charge you to watch the TV. We were very happy with this hotel.
The second stop in London was at a T-Mobile store to buy a SIM card for my phone so I could have Internet access and the ability to text Carrie. For £15, I got unlimited Internet and texts for 30 days.
We met up with Carrie and walked around a lot. She showed us her flat and her school (the guards at her school thought we were her parents, like we’re old enough to be her…, oh wait, nevermind). We saw Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and the National Portrait Gallery.
That’s not a spike coming out of Denise’s head. That’s the ‘Shard’, a 95 story skyscraper finished in 2012, and is the tallest building in the EU.
At Trafalgar Square.
Yeah, I really cut my hair. Let’s call it a work in progress for now.
Outside Carrie’s flat.
Dinner was at Masters Super Fish. Yummy.
