I have had some technical difficulties with posting my blogs so I will start from the beginning of this adventure with this blog post.
It was a good thing that I got to the airport early on the 17th to start this adventure since when I went to the self serve kiosk to get my ticket there was no record of my tickets. So I went to the purchase ticket desk to find out what happened, after waiting in line I get to the counter and they tell me to go to the desk where you check in. So over to that line I go and when I got to the desk he looked for ten minutes before he gave up and sent me back to the first counter I was at. Now I am starting to wonder if I will even start this journey so while waiting in line at the ticket purchase counter I phoned the travel agency that booked the tickets. They found my ticket numbers and with that information the Air Canada agent was able to get find me in the system and get my tickets. She also took the time to answer my questions and gave me a print out to use at the other airports, she also made sure that I was not charged for my extra bag that I was checking in.
Then it was off to the security check point and for the first time in lots of flights it beeped when I went through the line. The metal snaps on my pants set it off and their wand was not working correctly because it kept beeping as well. I must have stood there for five minutes as they padded me down, I thought oh no here comes a body cavity search but thankfully they were satisfied that I did not have any weapons on me so they let me through.
When I got to London Bruce was waiting for me, I was suppose to arrive first but he could not fly to Calgary to connect because of the fog so he flew to Toronto then on to London. We then took the train to Paddington Station and had to catch a subway to Kings Cross Station. When we got off the train we took the wrong turn and had to walk all the way back with our luggage across Paddington which if you have ever been there you will know that this was not just a short jaunt. Since both of us packed two suit cases it was a workout. We got to Kings Cross and then took a cab to the hotel where we rested for a couple hours waiting for Robert to get there.
We then went in search of our first English pub to sample some of their wares the fish and chips were excellent but the beer I tried was not that good. From there we made it down to Buckingham Palace and looked around for awhile and it started to rain so we found another English pub to wait it out. I tried another English beer and so far I am two for two in the does not taste good department. After the rain quit we went back to our area and found an Italian Restaurant and had a two hour meal the food was good but the service was slow.
The next day we bought our tour bus tickets and made our way down to the bus station to start the tour we also bought our tickets to the London Eye which we went on as well. The view from the Eye was amazing you can see a long way. After we got off the Eye we went on the river cruise up to the Tower Bridge and got off on that stop. We walked around the Tower of London and then went to find something to eat. Back on the bus we saw where Captain Blye was buried and the traffic circle the Griswold's could not get off in European Vacation.
We got off the bus and walked to Piccadilly Circus and man was it crowded we spent the rest of the day exploring until we went for supper in Chinatown. We took the Underground back to Kings Cross and it was so packed in all the cars I do not think they could have put another person in the car. I am not sure how people do that on a regular basis I like people but that was too much. On our way back to the hotel we got lost again and had to ask directions London is laid out weird.
Our last day in London we rode the tour bus again and seen some of the sights we missed the day before after we got off the bus we stopped at our last English pub for lunch. Back to the hotel to check out and catch a cab to the air port for the 16 hour flight to Lilongwe. I have decided during the cab ride to the airport that driving in London is nuts. The roads are narrow and you need to know where you are going. We met Paul and Dennis as soon as we finished checking our bags and found out that Niki had some passport issues and would not join us until later in the week.
Stay tuned for stories on Malawi in the next blog.
Our Hotel, The Holiday Inn Kings Cross
London Eye
Subway in London, they are everywhere
Street scene in London
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