Lessons from London - Part 1

This is the first free moment I've had since we left LAX at 5pm on Wednesday evening!! But cheers from London! This city is more amazing than I could have imagined. I've heard great things about London but it's just something you have to experience to truly understand. I only wish we had more time to spend here.

Here's what we've been up to...

Flying into Heathrow

Accenture's in London too!

We are staying at the Marriott London County Hall which I would highly recommend! It is right in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the city. We even have a view of the London Eye and Big Ben from our room. You can hear the clock tower ring every 15 minutes.

We landed at Heathrow around 11am but spent some time collecting our bags and going through Customs. Instead of taking a cab, we chose to take the Underground or the Tube from the airport. Price difference was more than 50 pounds which is about $80!

Lesson 1: Invest in an Oyster Card. This is what you will use for the Underground and the city bus for your entire trip. We loaded 15 pounds on the card which got us from the airport and all around the city. It saves you time and money since you don't have to stop and pay every time you get on and off. We ran out tonight so will have to reload in order to get back to the airport tomorrow.The public transportation here is really quick and really easy. It can get pretty crowded during rush hour so you have to be ready to battle the crowds.

Once we got situated at our hotel we freshened up and headed out for High Tea. We walked about a mile (across the Thames River and through Trafalgar Square!) to The Rose Lounge at the Sofitel Hotel. It was very quaint and so delicious! Something I will always remember!

Lesson 2: If you plan to pay using a debit or credit card, always ask the restaurants what their service fee is. Apparently it is different for every place and is in addition to any fees your bank may charge. We ended up putting a few things on the charge card but then found a Barclays ATM and took out cash. Since Barclays is a partner of Bank of America, the service fee was just 3% (instead of the possible 10-15% at the individual restaurants).

Rose and Lichi Champagne Cocktails to Begin

An assortment of sandwiches, scones and jams.

And of course dessert to top it all off.

It was very relaxing to sit at tea for a couple hours after such a long trip AND we were still getting the English experience. We walked back to our hotel and pretty much crashed.

Lesson 3: Don't sit down after such a long trip unless you are ready for bed! We ended up going to sleep around 9 or 10. I could hardly think straight and I fell asleep so easily. The night felt like a series of naps though and I didn't feel as refreshed in the morning as I would have liked. Hopefully tonight's sleep helps!

We got up around 8 this morning and headed to breakfast at the hotel. This traditional English breakfast was included with our stay and was one of the best breakfasts I have ever had! That's saying a lot considering I am a huge breakfast person. There were eggs, bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, and lots of freshly baked breads and croissants. This might sound like your regular old continental breakfast but, believe me, it was not. What made it even more special is the way everything was presented...in cute, quaint, English jars and pots.

Lesson 4: Croissants and breads are much better when they are freshly baked! I say this because I've had a croissant in America but never freshly baked. And never with soft butter or black currant preserves. I picked the croissant thinking I'd have a little taste and before I knew it, the entire thing was gone.

Hot options. I added cheese into the mix!

Our own coffee pot.

Croissant!!!

Le Creuset

Panorama of the entire setup

We had a busy day planned and thought we'd gotten up and around early. Breakfast was so yummy and so relaxing that I think we spent more time there than planned.

Lesson 5: Everything takes more time than you think. Plan accordingly. In my case, since we only had a few days, this means come back to London soon!

First on our list today was the Westminster Abbey. Now I had heard the Abbey is a must-see and is the location of weddings, funerals and coronations for British Royalty. But I had no idea how incredible it would really be. I was in awe the entire time. It cost 18 pounds for a 1 hour self paced audio tour. The building itself was enormous and absolutely stunning. Just a few of the incredible sights included the burial places of Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, and George Frederic Handel; the Quire area where this infamous picture of Will and Kate was taken; the tombs of Henry III, Edward I, Eleanor of Castile, etc. etc. Each of them with their own amazing story and role in British and World History.

Submitted a prayer request, lit a candle and snuck a picture

It's after 11pm now and I'm exhausted so the rest of our day (and lessons) will have to wait. Tomorrow we are getting an even earlier start to get some more sightseeing in before we leave for Johannesburg at 6:30pm. Cheers!!