Across the Pond

So things never quite work out like you plan. Murphy's law is in effect especially in the case of travel. I made it to Chicago with no problem. But the next morning when I was checking in for my flight at 7am, I was informed that it had been canceled and I was rescheduled for the 5pm flight. There went my hopes of flying during the day and arriving at night. Then after a phone conference with Lorrie, who had received a 4am call about the cancellation which I had missed, we discovered that we were no longer seated next to each other. At one point, just before the flight we thought we had fixed the seat arrangement only to find stubborn neighbors that would not be persuaded to change with us. So I sat with a young mom, pinned in my bulkhead seat by a bassinet and Lorrie with a grumpy woman 10 rows back.

We arrived at 6am, stood in a very long customs line, and then took a bus to the hotel we had booked and paid for... but which we only spend 3 short hours in... enough to shower and re-group. The tube took us to our stop and we found our hotel with no problem. The room... 5th floor with no elevator. So we are getting good exercise. We headed out to find a meal and then to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. On our subway ride home it was all we could do to keep our eyes open. We bought sandwiches at the train station and ate them in our room to the BBC and promptly fell asleep with the tv on and still in our clothes. An hour or so later we woke and really went to bed... I think it was 9pm.

This morning we let ourselves sleep in before heading to the British Gallery and Westminster Abby. We had some yummy fish and chips this evening... with terrible service. But here we are back at the hotel and thinking about heading to bed.

More to come...