Well, today is officially over and I'm go glad. I love coming on vacation, but the first day of any overseas trip is exhausting. A) I have to be "ON" - What I mean is that I typically serve as point person for my family with all arrangements, so they are looking to me for where to go / what to do. I don't mind it, I enjoy the planning, etc... but the day of it can be tiring. B) We've been traveling since 3 PM Friday and it's 4 PM Saturday in Georgia at the moment, so 24 hours of awake, minus an hour or two on the plane = tired. It's technically 9:30 PM here in London, so I'm ok going to bed lol.
We did have a good day though. The travel was uneventful, which was a blessing. This was our first time traveling with Mama's O2 and I was worried, but it went beautifully. She also had a much better flight than she did to Greece so WIN! The flight from Augusta to Atlanta was short, mercifully. There was a 7 year old behind me and I promise if I ever have kids, and he acted like that, his butt would be sore!
We then made our way to the terminal to leave for London, got some food and chilled for a minute. The layover went by very quickly and before I knew it we were leaving on another jet plane. The flight was 7 hours, but it went by fairly fast. No one really slept well, maybe 2 hours max, but it was a quick flight. My seat wouldn't recline which was a bummer, but we met some nice people. I felt so sorry for the couple in the next isle. They had twin 1 year old boys and were flying them babe in arms. I know there legs/arms had to be killing them by the end. I tried to help where I could, but not much you can do.
We then got to the airport, made our way through customs and met our driver. Now this was a hilarious exercise. There are 3 of us... this company sent a guy in a Prius to take 3 people and THEIR luggage to the hotel. Three people from another country... 3 regular sized bags would not fit in his trunk and we had 3 bags + 3 duffel bags + our carry on's. I broke the duffel bags down into the luggage and he set one of the 3 in the front seat then we crammed the others in. Then 3 tired, grumpy people, climbed into the back of a Prius to be very close to one another for 30 minutes. I emailed my travel agent to make sure this doesn't happen when they pick us back up in a week or so. It was like getting crammed in a clown car.
We got to the hotel and checked into our room. Mama's wasn't ready yet so we all came and crashed here. Jack and I got showers and Mama and Jack took a nap. I closed my eyes for a few minutes but didn't really rest. I didn't want us to completely screw our schedule with sleeping up so we got up at 2:30, got dressed and headed out.
We walked to Kensington Castle and the Gardens/Park that surround it. The house itself didn't impress me at all, maybe I'm jaded from all the fantastic architecture I've seen, but this was a little blah. The King's Quarters had some great wall paintings though and they had an exhibit of Princess Diana's cloths that was really neat.
We then wondered out and walked the gardens, which were impressive. White flowers everywhere - I loved it. The weather was also perfect for a walk around outside... nice and crisp air - like fall in the SE.
We then meandered out of the gardens into Queens Park where we watched the geese and ducks... Meandered out of the park to take pictures of the Arthur Memorial statue. I need to look up it's history and will tomorrow, but it was pretty cool to photograph.
We then went and grabbed some dinner at Bill's Kensington Restaurant. They have a bottled strawberry lemonade drink that is specific to their restaurant and it is YUMMY! We bought two big ones to drink this week. Jack had ribs, which were good and Mama had a chicken burger she thought was excellent. I did Steak and Eggs and then remembered the English can't cook, but we enjoyed the service and the food. I loved the overall atmosphere of the place.
We then came back to the hotel and i"m falling asleep as I type this very elementary blogpost - don't expect any big words here. Love you and talk more tomorrow.
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