Haven’t traveled much due to kids and you know, covid. We tried our best to avoid covid and were really successfully until the beginning of January when our two younger kids brought it back home from their school. Covid ran through our family and extended family like a wild fire and everyone got it, but fortunately everyone recovered just as quickly. Since we’ve all been vaccinated, boosted, and now infected, we figured it was a small window for us to travel without much fear of our babysitters(grandparents) and our kids getting covid while we are out of town.

We knew we wanted to travel internationally and London was the obvious choice for several reasons. UK didn’t required quarantine, didn’t require covid checks if you are vaccinated, there’s a nonstop flight from Austin. Also, since we are a little rusty from traveling, we figured an English speaking country would also be kind of nice. With that said, we made plans soon after we recovered from covid and a month later we were headed to the airport…the first time for us to fly in almost 3 years.

The airport has changed so much since I was here last. So many more parking garages.

Let’s do this.

So excited!

The security line was surprisingly long being a Sunday afternoon. Told you I was rusty from traveling, I didn’t even think about checking on my flight before leaving for the airport. We found out after we’ve arrived that our flight has been delayed an hour and a half. UK has been having a giant wind storm with over 100mph gusts the past few days, so I’m sure that’s what caused the delay.

We had signed up for Clear at the airport and skipped the long security line. But now, we’ve got to wait an hour and a half plus our original built in cushion.

Never even been to this newer part of the terminal before. Why is there a toy store here?

Did someone say oysters?

Damn covid, there are no oysters. In fact the menu was super limited and they closed the bar down super early, so we ended up leaving to go in search of dinner else where.

OK, one more drink before the search of food.

Looks like a vagina if you ask me…also, that’s a person in there right?

Dinner spot, slightly more extensive menu…very slightly. Covid ruins everything.

Tired already. In preparation for London being 6 hours ahead, we had started waking up early for the past few days…which means we are already tired during dinner time.

Got so much time to kill, this is our third drinking hole just at the airport.

Mystery stairs.

Outdoor observation deck, cool. They should have some signage for it.

There’s our plane.

Finally, it’s time.

Premium Economy gets us a little goody bag.

A hour or so into our flight, we were served dinner, which was very delicious. It was also at this time that RL started getting some severe nerve pain on her left knee. This has been an ongoing issue for her when she sits still for long periods, but we didn’t expect for it to strike so soon and so severely. We only had some Tylenol so she took that and also got an ice pack from the flight attendants. It sucked because she was in pretty bad pain and there was little that helped until she finally was able to fall asleep.

We managed to get a few hours of sleep, and this being a 9 hour flight, we were soon woken up for breakfast. Not in a breakfast mood, so did not eat much.

We’ve arrived. The landing was slightly bumpy due to some of the wind storm still being here. Being in London, of course it’s overcast.

It was a little confusing just to get to passport checks despite being well traveled and English speaking.

They had these automatic passport scanners and face recognition camera that allowed you to quickly go through passport checks…if it works. It didn’t work for me, and it didn’t work for RL. It also didn’t work for probably 10% of the other people who tried them, so we were all redirected to another line where we were checked against our passport by a living person, the old school way.

Made it through immigration and now in search for the tube to get into central London. It’s late morning over here and we are hoping to get into London at a little bit after noon.

Mind the Gap.

The refresh rate on the sign conflicted with my iphone camera, but the end of the line is COCKfosters. Speaking of camera, I’ve always brought along a dedicated camera in my previous travels, but this trip I feel like the iPhone cameras have finally gotten good enough that I can use it as my only camera for the trip. We’ll see how it works out.

Tired and jetlagged but happy to have arrived.

Public transport should never have any sort of fabric on the seats. They always get disgusting.

ZZZzzzz….

Reached central London, and up the stairs we go.

Then up a super super long escalator.

Of course, it’s raining just a little bit.

Short walk from the subway station and we’ve arrived at our home for the week.

This will do nicely.

Surprisingly roomy and bright, this is what $351 a night gets you. They even had a live plant in the room that RL was very excited to see.

Can just get a peek of the London Eye from our windows.

It’s about 1pm, so it’s time for some food and a drink. It’s only right to visit the pub right around the corner for that.

Really quite a beautiful pub inside.

Look, we are in London!!

This bar is in the theater district so they’ve got posters lining the walls heading into the basement.

Quite the pub, I’d say.

Our food was taking a little longer than usual to come out, so the bartender comes along and offers us another drink on the house. Score.

Fish and chips and Scotch Egg!

We are very tired and sleepy, but we know if we go to sleep now, it’ll be all over. We need to find some coffee and do something to stay awake.

Found coffee.

Will these always be around even though obviously no one uses a public telephone anymore?

Trafalgar Square, just a short walk from our hotel.

And the National Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Square.

Stately horse statue on one side.

Ice cream with a fly and drone on the other…odd.

Alright, into the National Gallery we go.

What’s that by his leg…??!!

Boob

Love these museum galleries with their giant domed sky lights and the museum wood floors.

Amazing painting in every way…except the horse’s head is too small, right?

Oh, what do we have here?

Look at it!

I went into the restroom and was surprised to see a couple of women inside. I saw a urinal so I knew I was in the right spot. When I came out, I saw that there were two doors both leading to the Men’s room; however, the door had the women’s restroom sign with an arrow pointing down the stairs. I can see how this is confusing.

The detail on this lobster was amazing. It makes me want to eat lobster very much.

Another beautiful naturally lit gallery.

There were actually tons of people standing by this Van Gogh.

Also a Van Gogh. I wouldn’t mind having this one in my house.

Blue Boy, the inspiration for the outfit for Jamie Foxx’s character is Django Unchained.

RL says we are the balls of Nelson’s phallic column.

Roar.

Some snacks for our hotel room.

Jetlag has kicked in hardcore, it’s time to take a nap in my spaceship before a late dinner.

Dinner spot. Both of us felt like Italian and there was this highly rated spot right around the corner. The advantage of being on a different timezone is that even when a restaurant is busy and they only have really late reservation times, that works out perfectly for us. In this case, our dinner is for 9pm.

We walked by many restaurants on the way here, most were empty, but this place was full house. Must be good. It’s bustling and high energy in here. If I haven’t already had covid, I would not step foot in here.

Got here a little early, so a drink while we wait for our counter spot to become available.

I feel like you can’t go wrong with this menu.

Our counter seats face the kitchen. There’s no hiding here if they don’t follow health protocols.

Surprise dish of the night, the kale salad. If I just said that it was the best tasting kale salad I’ve had in my life, it wouldn’t be saying much. But this kale salad was genuinely delicious and I kept on going back for more, and I never particularly care about salads.

Apparently Costco brand pepper is good enough for a nice restaurant. Noted.

Here’s an interesting part of the night. Soon after we sat down, another couple sat down next to us. The guy next to me was very friendly and was just saying hello and then talked a little, and I could tell he wanted to keep on talking. Their food came out a little after us, and they also got the kale salad. I mentioned how good that was and the the whole conversation just snowballed. Apparently one of them is married and is a judge of some sort in the EU parliament. The other is a friend, and they met on the internet just 8 weeks or so ago and just to have fun together. I am guessing open marriage? Either way, the guy was Irish and was as nice as could be and we ended up talking so long that we were the last ones to leave the restaurant. Fun times!

We left the restaurant and wanted another drink. But of course, most of the pubs and bars close down at 11pm here in central London. We were told that some of the pubs stayed open until 3am, but they were a little farther away. We decided to just head back to our room and call it a night.

3min after we got back in our room, RL says that she can’t find her phone. I thought I had heard a phone dropped on the floor when she was putting on her coat in the restaurant, but when I looked down on the floor I didn’t see a phone. Well shit, we left the restaurant so late, it might be fully closed and won’t be able to go back to search for her phone. Quickly we put our shoes and coats on and went back out heading to the restaurant. Of course, as soon as we got outside, RL puts her hands in her coat pockets and finds her phone there…doh. But, since we are already out and got freaked out, might as well get another drink.

RL takes a photo of KL

As KL takes a photo of RL.

So weird that the night life closes down so early here.

But now finally finding the area with more night life. I believe this is Soho.

Well, this immediate area is Chinatown

We walked around and found a few bars that were more like clubs. Saw a lot of gay bars open, then finally found a little bar/cafe that was more low key and our speed.

Beer and cider for our night cap. Good times.

Time to head back to our room and hope that we can overcome our jetlag and fall asleep.

To be continued in London Day 2.