London Calling

Today I stepped foot in Europe for the very first time, specifically in London at Heathrow. I'm writing this particular post while standing on a floating dock waiting to board a City Cruise... on the Thames. Mind blowing. So let me tell you a little bit about what led up to this particular moment of my day.

My day kind of started yesterday when I took my seat on a Virgin Atlantic flight. Let me tell you something about Virgin: it is boujie to the max. The seats are all black and red leather, and the running lights are purple. The stewardesses we're almost all bleach blondes with bright red lipstick and skirt suits to match. Their posh British accents and the Police/Beetles/Spice Girls songs playing throughout the cabin as we boarded definitely set the mood for our trip. Aside from the fact that I only slept about 45 minutes collectively, it was a great flight. We landed at about 7:30am London time (about 2:30am home time), so that lack of sleep part was inconvenient. It got me thinking: If when you're cranky because you're hungry you are "hangry," what about when you're cranky because your tired? I think the world needs a name for that. I'd like to hear your suggestions.

After playing hide-and-seek with our driver and concluding that my lost denim jacket is pretty much lost forever (R.I.P.), we set out to take on England for the first time. An hour drive brought us into the heart of Westminster where my cranky-tiredness (we need a word, people) reached a high point and we decided food was a good answer. We asked some locals to direct us to a decent pub and ended up at the White Swan. Now if you're wondering what I ordered, do you even know me? I've had "Eat fish and chips in London" on my bucket list since I was about nine. So that's going to be a big ✔️ for me today! It was yummy and I'd highly recommend it if you ever make it across the pond. After fueling up, we did what we usually like to do at new cities where we have a few days: get the overview. We hopped on the London Big Bus (most major tourist hubs have one), and saw most of the city. This included Buckingham Palace, Baker Street (sobs internally), the Victoria complex, Belgravia, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, and a ton of other random amazing gems. Tomorrow we'll zero in on some of our top picks. We'll also try another bus route that takes us to a few places we haven't seen yet.

And that brings us to the current moment: standing on a floating dock, in the shadow of Big Ben with a great view of the London Eye. To be honest, I don't think it's really hit me yet. I feel like we're in Epcot at Disney.

Update:

The river cruise gave us killer views of several cool historically and architecturally significant buildings, as well as the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, and the London Tower. It was a super great way to see Westminster and the city of London. I learned that the London bridges truly did fall down. The current bridge is the fifth to be built in that location; the first was build out of wood by the Romans about 2,000 years ago, the second was literally falling down, the third had to be destroyed to keep the Great Fire of London from spreading, and the fourth was sinking and was disassembled and sold to an American. I found that fascinating. Anyways, I highly recommend getting an offshore view any time you travel. If you research well, it's not usually too expensive at all. Pro tip: most cities that have a Big Bus also have a City Cruise (provided that there is water nearby, of course).

Before I sign off, some fun facts that I leaned about British culture today:

• If you see "jackets" on a pub menu, it probably means stuffed baked potatoes.

• If your fish 'n chips are authentic, they'll come with mashed peas; possibly even minted mashed peas.

• British people are very irritated by our soccer/football dynamic.

• While in the U.S. we tend to rope off our historic sites and monuments to keep them from being harmed, England's historic sites are fully integrated into daily life. For example, it is not unusual to hear that homes of historical figures, like Sir Isaac Newton, have been converted into boutiques and shops.

I'm sure there will be more of those to come. For now, 'ello from England!

From: The Expeditioner