July 4th, Monday - July 5th, Tuesday
Rick Steves suggests getting to the city from which your tour will depart a few days early (to adjust to the time change and ensure you arrive on time, no missed connection drama). We were only too happy to oblige.
Our plan was to leave six days early (July 4th) and fly to Edinburgh where we would meet up with Dan's sister and her family for a Scottish adventure before the 8 of us would meet up with Dan's parents in London on Friday (July 8th), two days before the official start of the tour on Sunday (July 10th).
Now.... what to do for 9 hours...
FLY with teenagers. Do it. They're amazing at flying. They just plug in and hang out and share ear buds and you don't have to carry them around and make sure they don't cry.
FLY with teenagers. Do it. They're amazing at flying. They just plug in and hang out and share ear buds and you don't have to carry them around and make sure they don't cry.
I was pretty sure I'd been flying for 14 hours when the girls gleefully informed me we were already over half-way there. What? At least 4 more hours to go. I was super ready to land and get this show on the road. But the children have no sympathy for me. They just queue up another movie.
By the end of the flight Grace and I have basically tried every snap chat filter known to man... we have discovered that we both look funny as cats. |
LOOK AT US all just flying around in the sky, watching movies and stalking ourselves on the trip tracker. We ordered beverages like professional drink hoarders and pretended that at 3pm it was dinner time since it's 6pm in eastern Canada.
Did Grace, who started in the middle seat, weasel her way into my aisle seat.....?!?!?!? She did... it took her almost no time to get there. But that just meant that I got to watch both of their movies and hang out - for so many hours.... |
With one hour to go we got pretty excited when we saw the sun lighting the horizon over the Atlantic. And that must have been the magic signal for the flight crew as well since it was only a few minutes later that they flipped on the cabin lights, undimmed the windows, and served breakfast (6am London time / 10 pm Seattle time) - a very bizarre late night snack.
We see you UK - we're COMING IN HOT!! Prepare for the invasion London!
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It does not take much to overwhelm us with happiness.
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LAND!! We're officially IN EUROPE!!!
Well, we're officially OVER Europe!!! And landing.... at 7:10... just in time to miss our 7:50 am connecting flight to Edinburgh. drats! double drats! Look how close Heathrow is to King's Cross (of Harry Potter fame). Now I'm excited to see King's Cross...
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I have a travel mantra -
I say, "it's just going to be a problem." Mostly as a joke - problems are going to happen. Missed connections, issues with reservations, coordinating travel and hotel and endless arrangements…. There are going to be issues. We don't get upset about it. We’re resourceful, but we're still going to need to deal with it. In this case, we have the option to wait 10 hours in the airport for the 5pm flight to Edinburgh (in around 6:30), or we could take a train and be there around 3pm. TO THE TRAINS!!! Well, first- to the subway!!!! And then, eventually... To the train!!!! |
Getting around in London is easy. The map is clear and there are plenty of helpful people who will point you in the right direction at every turn. So, our "problem" is going to be more of an opportunity to see the countryside on the way to Scotland. I can't wait!!!
When we got to the train station and emerged from the underground it felt like we'd finally arrived in London. Dan looks at me and goes, “why don’t we always come here?” Seriously. It was so easy to get here.
We have arrived at "King's Cross" station! The architecture in this building is fantastic.
Getting train tickets to Scotland online was easy. What we aren't used to is waiting for the train platform to be announced just a few minutes before the train's arrival. So now we're 15 minutes to departure, standing around this reader board just waiting for the signal so we can book it to the right platform.
ALL ABOARD!!! The last-minute train assignment made for a pretty exciting dash for the appropriate car. I'm pleased to say that every one of us "minded the gap" like professional gap-minders and in no time, we were speeding across the English countryside on our way to the Scottish countryside.
I was so exhausted, but I loved sitting here watching these idyllic vignettes pass by my window. It was like snapshots - the sights and the small towns, the sheep and pastures plowed for whiskey, the bridges and stations and architecture and churches. All of it flashing by at the speed of a fast train to Scotland. I enjoyed a peaceful few hours, just getting a feel for the countryside, wishing I could stop in every small town to explore. And my family LOVED getting some sleep.
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The Harry Potter store is right by "Platform 9 & 3/4" where tourists have lined up for photos.
The platform announcement we've all be waiting for has been made. I repeat, the platform has been chosen!!! On our way to Platform 0 and SCOTLAND!
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EDINBURGH
Dan and his sister Lindsey: "Cheers" and "Goodnight" from a pub in Edinburgh.
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We took a two-hour nap upon arrival and then got up to walk around and explore Edinburgh with cousins. Dan's grandma came to the US from Scotland. He has wanted to visit Scotland for most of his life - at least as long as he can remember.
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July 6th,Wednesday
Dan and Grace were up with the sun the next morning and off in search of coffee! I'm not going to say that Dan is a coffee snob (let's just say that he really appreciates great coffee). And he and Grace found a place they loved. Wellington Coffee - look at how cute it is!! The espresso machine came from Seattle, which is a funny coincidence and I'm pretty sure the Scottish Shortbread was made in heaven (or is it just "Shortbread" if you buy it while you're IN Scotland?) One of Dan's main goals in Europe is to sample coffee everywhere he goes. In fact, besides just general European enjoyment, the coffee quest might be one of his only goals?
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Here's the sight-seeing crew. About to explore the Castle, take a whiskey barrel tour, and hop on and off on a bus tour all around town.
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July 7th, Thursday: & July 8th, Friday
On Thursday we went on an all-day tour of the Scottish Highlands (up to Loch Ness and back), seeing so many beautiful sights and towns and historically significant places along the way. It was a memorable experience, and we were so grateful to have had the opportunity to get into the highlands (if only for a brief while). Obviously, now we need to come back for a few weeks to get further acquainted with the small towns and hiking trails, and lochs and locals. The weather was a bit cold & windy, with sunbreaks and small rain showers. It felt a lot like home - we didn't mind a bit. What gorgeous country.
This is Victoria Street in Old Town Edinburgh- curving up away from Grassmarket (where we had lunch) -likely the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling. She wrote most of the books in Edinburgh (you can take a tour).
Snapshots from our morning around town.
And then, all too soon (way too soon) our time in Edinburgh is over and we go to the train station to hop the train to London to meet up with the final two Warrens!
Except... our train is cancelled. So, our time in Scotland is not QUITE over yet... Do we care? Not really.
#1 - we know that with traveling, there are frequently forced opportunities to not do what we planned.
#2- There's another train in 60 minutes AND... the railway refunded the entire cost of the train ride ($200+) at the same time it cancelled and rebooked us on the next train. So ... train disaster BONUS!!!!
It's a hassle, and our seats are all messed up - which we'll have to figure out when we board. But we are quite content to sit in the glorious weather in the public park across the street from the station, relaxing on the grass and listening to live music (all whilst lovingly gazing at the Edinburgh castle). How lucky are we for this extra hour?
We didn’t want to say goodbye to Edinburgh anyway!
Except... our train is cancelled. So, our time in Scotland is not QUITE over yet... Do we care? Not really.
#1 - we know that with traveling, there are frequently forced opportunities to not do what we planned.
#2- There's another train in 60 minutes AND... the railway refunded the entire cost of the train ride ($200+) at the same time it cancelled and rebooked us on the next train. So ... train disaster BONUS!!!!
It's a hassle, and our seats are all messed up - which we'll have to figure out when we board. But we are quite content to sit in the glorious weather in the public park across the street from the station, relaxing on the grass and listening to live music (all whilst lovingly gazing at the Edinburgh castle). How lucky are we for this extra hour?
We didn’t want to say goodbye to Edinburgh anyway!
And, eventually we all got seats together on the train. Here we are… hauling cross-country to England.
Family Platform 9 3/4 picture time!
Our hotel for the night was supposed to be the Hotel Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt, but with the war in the Ukraine, hotels all over Europe are filled with refugees. So, we received notice (weeks in advance) that we would be at the May Fair instead. It's in a great location and we booked rooms in the same hotel that the tour leaves from for logistical reasons (and lazy reasons). It's so convenient to not have to think about switching hotels again in two days time.
To the Underground and our hotel!! |
The May Fair isn't the kind of hotel that Rick Steves tours usually book (so, we get to stay together tonight instead of in two rooms, which will be the norm for the rest of the tour). Many hotels in Europe only have two twin beds and not two queens, so the whole family won't be able to stay together for the other nights on tour. It's all part of the adventure.
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Our hotel for the night. Here's Grace celebrating our amazing bathroom :)
There are a few issues with check-in. We'll have to move rooms again tomorrow and then again when we join the Rick Steves tour group, which is kind of weird but... ok- we don't care. This place is great! |
July 9th, Saturday
Saturday in London. We go for a traditional "English Breakfast" and take a hop-on-hop-off tour until the afternoon when we book it to the Universal Studio Tour (to see the Harry Potter movie sets). We don't want to duplicate anything today that we're going to do the next two days on the tour, but even with everything we have planned and everything that's already scheduled, there is still so much we want to do and see... we couldn't fit it all in if we had two weeks so- we compromise. We are definitely missing out on some things we really wanted to do (ahem… British Museum, National Art Gallery…. Stonehenge, Bath, Cotswolds- Oh just so.many.things). We should have come two weeks early for the tour:)
We're in London - drinking tea!!!!! Yes, it’s English Breakfast Tea - why would you even ask?
And we got the "traditional" English breakfasts. The eggs were like rubber. Like what you get in a children's playset with fake plastic eggs. I was so fascinated with them. They were the most bizarre eggs I've ever had at a restaurant. This cannot be how the English actually eat their eggs. We need to do more "research." They were so bad that we're still talking about them- totally worth the weirdness for the English "egg-sperience." |
Hoping on and off - all over London!
The tour was great (we were just so excited to see London) but in hindsight, we should have used the three hours in a museum like the National Art Gallery. We didn't have enough time to see the whole city - it is MASSIVE and bad traffic meant that the tour took hours. That left us with only 45 minutes for one stop. Because our time was so limited, we chose to look into the toy store, Hamleys - it was AWESOME, the kids loved it, but we couldn't hop off anywhere else.
Universal Studio Tour
We caught a train directly from the hop on hop off bus tour to the Universal Studios Tour.
It was fun to see the original movie sets and some of the props from the films.
It was fun to see the original movie sets and some of the props from the films.
July 10th, Sunday
We all had negative covid tests last night, so we are all set to join the tour this afternoon!!!
The May Fair has what I'd like to call "the best breakfast buffet in the history of the world." We all voted. It was so fancy, and so delicious. I wanted to not be stuffed so I could eat everything again and take advantage of the amazing breakfast items. The hotel gave us this morning's breakfast free because they kept making us move rooms (recall please: "it's just going to be a problem"). Totally worth it!!! I might have offered to change rooms an extra time for another free breakfast EXCEPT.... we didn't need to because this breakfast buffet is included with the Rick Steves' tour - so we will be eating like royalty for the next two mornings as well!!
The May Fair has what I'd like to call "the best breakfast buffet in the history of the world." We all voted. It was so fancy, and so delicious. I wanted to not be stuffed so I could eat everything again and take advantage of the amazing breakfast items. The hotel gave us this morning's breakfast free because they kept making us move rooms (recall please: "it's just going to be a problem"). Totally worth it!!! I might have offered to change rooms an extra time for another free breakfast EXCEPT.... we didn't need to because this breakfast buffet is included with the Rick Steves' tour - so we will be eating like royalty for the next two mornings as well!!