PandasLoot went to London!

Now, while our trip to London was not all that long, it was amazing nonetheless. For those of you who have not been before, we STRONGLY suggest you go. And by STRONGLY, we mean STRONGLY!

There are a few things you may want to know beforehand, if it will be your first trip, but we will get to that later. Let's start with all the fun things!

So, where did we begin? Well, our trip started right in our home city. Makes sense, right? We traveled on American Airlines to Boston, and then traveled straight on to London through British Airways. Well, let me tell you. With us, it's never a vacation without some snag or two. Our flight was set to leave at 6:56pm EST. Wouldn't you know it, the flight was delayed. First for around 45 minutes. Then an hour. Well, In the end we were delayed over two hours. Two! Like I said before, we can't have it all be perfect, right? ;) But, in the end, both us three and our luggage made it to London in one piece.

Now for the good stuff. What did we do? Well, I'm glad you asked!

[Insert video played way too fast with every single documented event of our vacation]

Did you get that? No? Okay, let's go back then.

We stayed at the Hotel Novotel London City South and spent every single day, save for the last day, doing something. ::deep breath:: We visited Piccadilly Circus, rode the tube, walked the London Bridge, stood on the glass floor of the Tower Bridge, found Shrek's adventure, didn't watch it, found out their pigeons are nearly fearless of the people they stalk, was turned away at the Monument due to maintenance (*tear*), saw St. Dunstan in the East church garden, toured the Harry Potter set, drank butterbeer, visited the Tower of London, weren't able to get pictures of the Crown Jewels (which were amazing, by the way), got lost, found ourselves, got lost again, and walked until our feet felt like they would fall off. I doubt that was it, but three days isn't nearly enough time to even begin to scratch the surface of London. ::exhale and catch breath:: We had so much fun with the little we were able to do, and would not hesitate to do it again. V was especially smitten with the airplane rides.

I will be the first to admit, I have not ridden on a subway before. I can't be alone, right? Right? London's tube (that's what they call their subway system, the Tube) takes some time to get used to, but if you are on it everyday it may be a very short while before you understand the idea of what goes where and when. The stops are pretty much right where we needed them to be, so it cut down on all the walking we would have been forced to do. Where we live, walking isn't much of an option for us in particular. Most of where we need to go needs a car. So our feet were killing us in the end. However, it felt great to walk everywhere anyhow. We were able to take in so much more of the city than we would have just driving around. You can stop, take pictures, and probably not get into a car accident. Their drivers are a bit crazy.

So, what do you need to know before going? Well, there are a few things, and I'm sure there are more that we do not even know about. But here are some tips:

• Wear sneakers. Everywhere. You will walk until your feet feel like they're numb. And then, you will walk some more.

• Beware the drivers. While there are some that are nicer, most are just crazy. Haha. I enjoyed watching them navigate the city they live in, but sometimes I thought there was going to be one or two or a hundred car accidents.

• Look to your right. If you live in the States and are used to looking left before crossing, forget everything you learned since you learned to cross the street. Do NOT let your instincts kick in and look left.

• Check your currency exchange rate. It might not be what you think it is.

• Make an itinerary. You might not stick to it, but if you're only staying for a few days, having some idea of what you want to do beforehand will cut down on planning time and leave more time to explore.

For our first time in the UK, our trip was amazing. Just about everyone there was extremely hospitable. There is a huge diversity of people in London alone, ranging from locals, to Middle Eastern countries, to Asia. It's pretty amazing to see the range of cultures everywhere!

Here are some pictures if you didn't want to read everything above. I know, I'm guilty of "picture scroll" too. That's probably not the name of it, but I have named it that. It's when you don't want to read the article so you just scroll for the pictures. I know, I know.

So here are just a few pictures. Don't want to overload you with images! Enjoy!

Flight to Boston

Boston Airport

Harry Potter

Monies

Street Crossing

Say "Cheese"!

London Bridge

Selfie

River Thames and London Eye

Tower Bridge sign

Selfie

Selfie

Family Pic

Glass floor

Tower Bridge

Selfie

Tower of London

Seek help.

Panoramic shot

Piccadilly Circus tube

Oh, and did I mention we were able to see Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe? We stood outside the UK premier of The Nice Guys! Let me tell you, those two in person look the same as on screen. It was an amazing experience.

That was our trip! The movie premier was just icing on the cake. London is an amazing place and we cannot wait until we are able to go back and explore some more!

~ PandasLoot

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