We've arrived!

Bleary eyed and exhausted, we met up with each other at Terminal 5 @ Heathrow airport. It turns out Kim and Edie's connecting flight was cancelled so that put a wrinkle in the plans, but Air France came through and got us on standby for our original flight! Fortunately, Sue and Deb waited for us at Heathrow (2 hours!) long enough for us to meet them. Reunited, we were off to explore our heritage!

The immediate challenge was figuring out the subway system with all our luggage. Nobody ever mentions these little details to you when you travel. Although we kept out luggage to two pieces each, the aisles are narrow, the suitcases are big, and the people who board give you looks of disgust because you are taking up more than one seat. SORRY...we can't help it. With a little jet lag angst, I was ready to pop off at anyone that said something, but fortunately the other riders saw we traveled in a regular little pack and didn't want to mess with us!

Besides, it look a little longer to find the right subway because everyone we stopped said, "It's really easy..." Perhaps it's easy if you have done it before, but since we had never ridden the London tubes it took us a little longer. Plus, none of us wanted to use the handy dandy kiosks they had in the airport that would spit out our tickets. Then there was our lengthy discussion about whether or not we wanted an Oyster card or not, whatever that was!

Fortunately, we managed, as we always do. After riding the subway and getting a taxi, we made it to the Luna Simone hotel. We couldn't wait to take a nap! But first we had to climb four flights of stairs to the top level because there was no elevator! That was after climbing up and down stairs with all of our luggage in and out of the subways. It was like we had signed up for some cruel workout vacation. When we checked in, the hotel manager asked us if we needed help bringing the luggage upstairs??? Sue gave him a look that said it all! Needless to say, the very nice man and his son brought up the luggage a few minutes after we had collapsed onto the teeny, tiny beds. After napping we walked about three miles, but it felt like a lot more and had our first fish and chips with a pint of lager! Delicious haddock, crispy fresh fries, and a hefty local brew.



Still practicing looking the other way for traffic, hailing cabs and reading bus station schedules, we managed not to get killed and carried on despite Kim losing her only jacket at the Paris airport and a walking map that we desperately needed. Sue decided she was not in charge of anything valuable from here on out! It also turns out that Sue is the cab hailing champ. She'd simply step off the curb wave her hand and the next thing we knew, a cute little black cab jetted over to us like he'd just missed an important appointment. From here on out, Sue was in charge of hailing all cabs.That night we saw Big Ben at sunset (9pm), House of Parliament and other cool sites. Topped off by a spectacular sunset, we couldn't have asked for more.

So far friendly people with a genuine interest in helping us along the way:).