London, continued

The next day (Sunday, Sept. 12) my ever-resourceful husband found us a little b&b in London in the Lancaster area called the Ashley Hotel, which was very moderately priced. So we set out for the city we were attempting to visit once again. Now if money were no object, we could have taken a cab from our airport hotel to our city hotel, but that is not the case when you're backpacking throughout an entire continent. I am convinced there is no other way to do it other than to follow a budget (especially if you've both quit your jobs to wander across the world...that old chestnut). I'm amazed at how much money we've spent in just a week's time, and we've been quite careful. The US dollar really doesn't help either. So we took a bus back in, attempted to get on the tube, but it was closed for repairs (awesome) so we had to get on another bus then to another area to finally get on the tube....anyway, it took us about three hours to get to our hotel....just in time for check-in :)



At this point, Joey was getting pretty sick of London and we hadn't even seen anything yet! But once we dropped our stuff off, we headed to the usual places you see in the London, beginning with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We also relaxed for a bit in Hyde Park and watched a lovely Indian couple in traditional Indian wedding attire take their wedding shots. Like I said before, I studied here in college, so I have seen these sites before, but they are always amazing to see. I think Joey was surprised at the crowds that were there. We walked along the River Thames for about three miles, seeing the different sites such as the London Eye, Tate Modern, London Bridge, the beautiful Tower Bridge and the London Tower. We walked for a really long time! We had dinner near the tower at a place I had really enjoyed when I was there last, WagaMama, an Asian noodle bar. We headed back and caught a fireworks show on the river in celebration of the Thames Festival's conclusion.

Big Ben

At Tower Bridge at nightfall

Tower Bridge

Monday was our last full day in London, but unfortunately, we had some housekeeping to take care of. Our clean clothes were becoming scarce, so we found a nearby laundromat. We also spent most of the day figuring out where we were going to next....thank goodness for internet in our room and THANK THE DEAR LORD we brought our little netbook with us....this little computer has been our saving grace many a time on this trip. I think we'd have been in trouble many times without it.

That evening, we did make it out to Buckingham Palace, a must see in London. I had never seen it at nighttime, and it was quite beautiful. The beaver-headed guards (as Joey calls them) were out as always standing watch. The architectural structures in this city are really amazing. 

Buckingham Palace at nightfall

So once again, when you don't have plans, the world is your oyster, but the options can overwhelm you. We looked at flights, apartments, hotels all over Europe...I was corresponding with people regarding their studio apartments to sublet for the month and getting confused as to whom I'd spoken with. We were just trying to find the cheapest (last minute) option, which we've learned that cheap doesn't always bode well with last minute plans. Ah, the cycle continues! It's really important for our money to last as long as possible so that we can continue to travel for as long as possible.


So that evening, we decided on Greece. Then after researching on where to stay, we decided to stay on the beautiful island of Santorini, a place I have seen in pictures and movies, but never knew the name...I just knew I wanted to go there. So the next morning, we said goodbye to bustling London and headed to the airport for our flight into Athens...
 
Please let us know you were here and leave a comment! We love hearing from you!
 
Much love,

London Conundrum...

'Ello again me mates! So I'm a little behind in our journey, but we've been moving so quickly, it's hard to keep up. We last left off in London...

Waiting at the train station in Wales

We arrived via train to Euston main station Saturday evening (Sept. 11). We hadn't made any lodging arrangements for the night; we figured we could just walk around and find a suitable place to stay. How wrong we were...


Joey had found a little b&b online that seemed nice enough and a good price in the Lancaster area, but it didn't give the option to book online. So we figured we'd just head over there and see if there were vancancies. Well, after walking around for quite some time, we soon realized the establishment was no longer in existance. Awesome! So plan B, there were lots of hotels around, so we started inquiring about vacancies on foot. After about five stops with the receptionists just about laughing in our faces, we realized we might be in trouble. One of the hotels informed us that pretty much everything in London on a Saturday is booked, but they were kind enough to let us use their computer to see if we could find something. I was trying not to panic, but I was getting nervous, as it was getting pretty late and we still had nowhere to go. Everything we found to have vacancies was extremely expensive, and even more so because the dollar is a low value against the English pound (surprise, surprise). So finally Joey sucked it up and got us a room at a Holiday Inn out by Heathrow airport. At least we had somewhere to sleep. Then our trek to the darn hotel began, which was no easy feat. To take a cab to the airport from where we were would have been at least 70 pounds or $125, so we headed to the train station, took the Heathrow express (still quite expensive, about 18 pounds each or $65 total...ugh!), then walked through the huge airport (though we weren't catching a flight), caught a shuttle to our airport hotel (which wasn't a free transfer, by the way) and finally....made it to our room. It was a surprisingly jampacked hotel, with strobe lights and disco music in the bar area. I guess all these people knew the hotels in the city were booked, but they were still going to party even at a Holiday Inn at out by the airport!


Needless to say, after the full day of travel via 3-hour ferry from Ireland, 4-hour train from Wales PLUS the little excursion across the greater London area in search of a bed, we were beyond exhausted and frustrated our first night in London. I wanted to cry when I thought about all the money we were forced to spend.


A word about planning ahead: apparently it's a necessity in some cases when travelling in Europe. Which is unfortunate because that kind of goes against our free-spirited mantra guiding this little journey of ours. But obviously, we don't want to end up in a situation like this again. And things are much cheaper here when you book ahead....which I guess is why people plan European vacations months in advance. But we will not be discouraged! We will fight the good fight :) And after all, sometimes it works out when you plan on a whim.....for instance, when you're staying at a villa in the Greek Isles like we are at this very moment.....life's not so bad :) But more of that to come...
 
Thank you for your prayers as we travel. We praise God for keeping us safe and healthy thus far!
 
Love to you and yours,