North Kensington

Our final day in London, before our flight out to Crete. We were unable to get into the British Museum of Natural History the other day, so we booked early tickets on the Sunday in order to tick off a big wish list item for Campbell. The Natural History Museum is another stunning building within London, and Sarah and I continually marvel at the architecture, sometimes forgetting to admire the actual exhibits.

It was a rushed trip through the museum, however Campbell had been keen to tick off the Big Three dinosaurs - the Triceratops in Melbourne, the T-Rex in Berlin and the Stegosaurus in London. These three were the most complete skeletons of their types around the world, and we were pleased to be able to see it.

The museum had some other interesting exhibits as well, including a huge globe earth that you travel through on an escalator in the Geography section, before making your way to an earthquake room. Tom had experienced an earthquake room in New Zealand, which was, pretty cool. When he saw this one, we needed to check it out. We made our way into a replica supermarket before watching footage from the original supermarket in Kyoto. Suddenly our room started to shake. We moved side to side, a little clumsily (as I guess you would in an earthquake). It was a little underwhelming...

We were on a tight schedule, needing to get to Gatwick airport in order to catch our 4pm flight. One more Tube ride through the crowded Underground before jumping on the overground from Euston Station.

Side note - we managed to tick off a lot of Monopoly squares - we covered:

Kings Cross Station, Euston, Pall Mall, Whitehall, Northumberland, Vine, Marlborough, The Strand, Fleet St, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Regent, Oxford, Bond, Liverpool St Station, Park Lane & Mayfair. And, considering some of the historical uses of The Tower of London, we'll tick off the gaol as well. I didn't get my $200 though...

We boarded our Easyjet flight and took off into the night. Tom and I had the pleasure of window seats and enjoyed our time guessing where over Europe we were at any given time.

Eventually we landed in Chania, and were greeted by a lovely driver who took us to our apartment. When we arrived, nearly 11pm, our host was waiting for us and greeted us warmly, as if we were family. He showed us through his amazing apartment, explaining where everything was, how it worked and what facilities were available to us. He presented us with a bottle of wine from his own vineyard and toasted us with a glass of his own Raki, a take-your-breath-away spirit enjoyed by the Greeks at any occasion. It was a wonderful reception and set the tone for our stay on Greece's biggest island.Read more