The less fun part of travel

I just live in airports now. 

My flight out of London left late because people don't know how to be at the gate on time.  Between that, and the fact that you apparently go through American customs at the Toronto airport, there was no way for me to make my connection. My flight was gone for a half hour before I even got through customs and security (again? I didn't leave a security area).

They threw away my water that I bought after security in London. And they told me about it with attitude, like I was somehow supposed to anticipate the super duper double security. 

Even without my flight being late, it would have been really borderline for me to make my flight. I feel like they need to have a longer minimum amount of time between flights here. They are really, really, slow. 

So now it looks like I will be getting home sometime after 7, and Buddy will have to hang out at the vet until I'm off work tomorrow.

It's been a long day, and it's technically only 2:15 here. 

The Queen's Terminal

I had to get up at 3:45 this morning. It was kind of gross after all the sleeping in I've been doing. 

I successfully managed the cab/train combo to get to the airport and then had to wait 45 minutes for the people to open up the bag drop. Then it was another 15 minutes while they tried to make their scanner work. 

Now I'm sitting in The Queen's Terminal (which she apparently just officially opened yesterday) and drinking a latte. 

Two flights (I fly home through Toronto, which was way cheaper than any direct flights) and a long drive and I will be home. 

I'm hoping to make it up to the vet to pick up Buddy before they close or I will have to wait and get him after work tomorrow. 

That's all the news for now, I hope you're having a good morning!

Sightseeing

We originally planned on doing a little less walking today, and talked about taking one of those hop-on, hop-off bus tours. Instead, we did a lot of walking again. 

We went by Harrod's, which we quickly learned wasn't really our style. 

Super-shopping madness. 

We found some tasty Lebanese food for lunch and ate way too much. It was really good. 

Some sights from around town. 

Part of Westminster Abbey. 

We missed the cutoff to actually go inside, which was a bit of a bummer, but it was cool to walk by anyway. 

Big Ben and the Eye. 

Parliament

We also stopped by Paddington Station to buy my train ticket to the airport. The train I took when I got here doesn't run as early as I need to be at the airport, which I didn't think about when I bought my ticket. 

So I'll take a short cab ride to the train station (early!) in the morning and then the train to the airport. 

Hampton Court Palace

We managed to leave the apartment relatively early today so we would have plenty of time at Hampton Court. 

It was a really nice day for it, and not insanely crowded. The audio tour was free so we grabbed little handsets and wandered around. 

We were pretty much ready for lunch by the time we got there so we stopped for a snack before we got too invested. 

The kitchens

A Henry VIII sighting

This fountain is for wine. Seriously. And they still occasionally fill it up for special events. 

The Great Hall

Some of the flowers in one of the gardens. 

And I got a rare chance to take a picture without people in the way because we were there close to when they closed. 

Lots of walking

The Millenium Bridge 

It just makes me think of Harry Potter. 

Several people told us we had to go check out The Borough Market. They didn't mention that half of London would be there. We wandered through the crowds for a bit and got some food to snack on. It was a pretty cool little open air market, but it was way too crowded. 

Then we sat with a couple of ciders and people watched outside The Anchor. It claims to have been a hangout of Shakepeare's, just down the street from where they rebuilt the Globe Theater. 

And a couple of random shots from around the city. 

We have been doing a ridiculous amount of walking the last couple of days. I think we might get out of the city for a day trip tomorrow. We will see what we feel like doing. 

Feed the birds

Tom let me sleep off some jet lag this morning - I got over 11 hours of sleep! 

We decided to go to the Tower of London today so we walked over. It is about a half hour walk from the apartment. 

We grabbed some lunch and ended up right next to a little parade (we have no idea what was actually happening). 

Next we explored the tower. 

And got a nice view of the Tower Bridge. 

And we walked by St Paul's Cathedral, but Tom didn't get my "feed the birds" reference. He clearly didn't watch Mary Poppins as much as I did as a child. 

After playing tourist, we met up with some of Tom's work people for a few beers. 

Dinner was a Chinese buffet since we were right by Chinatown. It was pretty delicious. (Don't worry, I had some more traditional fish and chips for dinner last night) :)

And here's a few shots of the apartment. 

I made it!

The train I was just on kept saying "service to cockfosters." I am super tired so that may have made it extra funny. I'm not mature enough for London. 

So, the flight. 

I was super cool and put on a pair of pro compression socks in the middle of the airport. 

We were supposed to board at 9:45 and leave at ten, but we didn't end up boarding until around 10:30. Then we sat on the plane for over an hour because they took our flight crew for another (somehow more important) flight. We had to wait for a standby pilot to arrive at the airport. 

Anyway, we ended up leaving around midnight. I slept some, but I felt like I woke up every few minutes to try to get comfortable.

I made it through customs/immigration with no trouble and then walked forever to get to the train. 

Fortunately, the place Tom is staying only required me to take one train with no transfers so I managed just fine in my sleep deprived and mildly dehydrated state. 

Now I'm off to shower and possibly nap. Tom is at work for a bit still today, so I have some time to kill, relaxing and people watching from the window. 

Leaving on a jet plane!

Hello from the airport! 

I managed to get through work without too much drama today. Then I dashed home to get the dog and my stuff. I was pretty much packed so I just did a quick double check and then we were on our way. 

Buddy was psyched to go for a ride in the car and still seemed pretty happy when they took him to the back (I'm boarding him with our vet). Hopefully he still loves me when I come home. I told them he would be pretty happy as long as there was food. :)

Then I was off on the grand adventure of driving to the Newark airport. Luckily I had plenty of time so I didn't worry too much when I hit traffic. 

I made it, found the lot I had prepaid to park at and was at the check in before I knew it. 

Security took longer than I ever remember security taking, and I was super hungry. 

After wandering all the gates available in my wing, I settled on a panini and a beer at a Sam Adams brew club. All I really wanted was beer and a burger, but this airport is dumb. (I spent a lot of time in this airport when I travelled in college, I already thought it was dumb)

I have a little over an hour before I board and then I'm off on my adventure! Hopefully I can sleep on the plane. I'm almost positive that I have a window seat, which is the best. 

I'll check in when I have internet! :)

Packing, eventually

I should really be packing, or taking out the kitchen trash, or taking a shower. Instead I am watching The Big Bang Theory and blogging. That's close, right?

We had a busy day at work with all 11 kiddos (most of them napped today) and then I had a few more conferences in the afternoon. I really wish I could show you some of the cute things that happen in my classroom sometimes. Two of my kiddos were dancing together with one arm around each other's waist and holding hands. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

When I got home I moved the Jeep into the driveway so we aren't taking up three parking spaces when no one is here.

Since I got home later than usual, I did a short, but tough run. I did a quick warm up followed by 1 mile @ 8:34, 800m jog, and 1 mile @ 8:00. I was a giant puddle of sweat at the end, but it felt pretty awesome. I just kept thinking about the fact that I will be taking a few days off from running while I'm on my trip. Even if I'm sore, I'll have time to recover.

This is what Buddy looks like when he gets yelled at for tripping me.

And even though he has a bed on each floor of the house, this is where Buddy has been sleeping lately.

I'm currently charging my iPod and Kindle and thinking very seriously about getting up and packing.

Eventually.

A freak out of monstrous proportions

I keep alternating between "it's only Monday?" and "oh good, it's only Monday."

I have a lot of little things I need to get done before I leave for London, but I'm also itching to go!

We had a fun day with the kiddos until we hit nap time. Then the mood shifted and one of my generally low maintenance kids had a freak out out of monstrous proportions (we still have zero idea why) and kept pretty much everyone else from falling asleep. 

I had to work later than usual today so I didn't get a run in. I'm shooting for a good, hard run tomorrow since I probably won't be running on my trip. I had a big debate about bringing my gear and trying to run while I am there, but since I don't have a race coming up I think I'm going to just take it easy. I'm sure I'll get plenty of walking in at least.

Now I'm doing laundry so I can actually pack.

And here are few more flowers from the side yard: