London Calling

Cheers mate.

Well we made it across the pond unscathed. And it’s been a bit of an adventure as expected – including wrong trains, flat tires and plenty of other minor mishaps. But we are having the time of our lives. London is full of energy – an incredibly diverse global hub of all that is great in the world. As tourists we have had to ask for help on several occasions and each time have been welcomed as the guest that we are. Additionally, our two AirBnB hosts have taken us in and become new friends that we will certainly remain in contact with.

Memorable sites have been: Big Ben (which is actually the bells inside the tower rather than the clock itself), Buckingham Palace, a boat tour up the Thames river, the Tate Modern and an amazing dinner at Gordon’s Wine Bar (est 1890). We have enjoyed our fair share of coffee, wine, cheese, pancetta, and of course wine. We walk a lot and, like the locals, take the bus and tube everywhere. Stumbling across a local Starbucks is always a bonus for Myla. (I’m sure I’ll be visiting it at the wee hours…) Also, the Greenwich Street Market was crazy and fun.

The food and drink have been incredible as well. London has everything you could imagine. We tend to keep it simple during the day – breakfast: yogurt with fruit and a croissant or bagel with jam. Lunch: we typically grab a baguette, some pancetta and cheese and make sandwiches. Dinner is worth splurging a bit: we’ve enjoyed Lebanese, British pub food of course, French, Italian and Spanish Tapas. And this weekend we’re meeting friends for the holy grail of british cuisine, Indian.

Yet as cool as the history and food are here, the real highlights have been the people we have met. We feel very fortunate to have had amazing hosts through AirBnB – Shazia and Zoya from Pakistan and Carolina and John (Columbia and Australia). This is really what this trip is about for us – connecting with people. Jett has been having fun with his new “friend” Nicole…

In the coming days we plan to round out London visiting Stonehenge, touring the Harry Potter movie set and hitting a few more pubs of course. Until then… cheerio!