First Day in London!

Despite an 'overnight' flight and all feeling tired, we were determined to power through the day to help adjust our internal clocks better.

After a quick 30-minute express train from Gatwick to Victoria Station, we grabbed a delicious breakfast at a nearby cafe. Pancakes for the kids and eggs on toast for the parentals (smashed avocado for me....mmm!) That helped perk everyone up.

Our warm-hearted R observed a homeless man on the corner and requested to give him money. I reminded him that it was better to provide food over cash, so without missing a bear, he headed off to present him an apple (and unbeknownst to us, a few USD as well). Proud mama!

I pre-arranged a "hop-on, hop-off" double-decker tour bus - low key, yet out and about, to get our bearings and give the kids ideas of what they wanted to come back and see. We started part of the loop on the way to our flat in West Kensington, then grabbed an Uber the rest of the way. Worked perfectly as the cleaners were there, so we could drop our bags. Dragged everyone back to finish the loop around Hyde Park and then after an interminable wait, switched onto the main downtown London loop.

Frankly an excruciating experience. Top deck was full, bottom deck was hot and tough to see/listen to what we were passing. Finally grabbed seats up top, which was WAY better! Traffic was awful, so lots of stationary observation time. We finally had enough and hopped off for the last time.

Navigated our way back to the flat. via the Tube. The little one and I peeled off to hit the Tesco supermarket to obtain provisions. Tom & L were exhausted and headed to relax. We returned with backpacks full to find them both passed out. R and I enjoyed a take & bake pizza. L surfaced around 7:30pm, scarfed a couple of slices and crashed again. We all were comatose not much past 8pm and I had the first solid night sleep (9.5 hours) in three nights. Heavenly!Read more