toddandkatie.com

Considering we’ve been back for a month now, it’s time to start sharing our exciting Europe adventure with you.

Throughout the trip, we both kept journals so that many years from now we can still look back on all the things we did/saw that didn’t get documented with our camera. As we post our upcoming blogs, I’ll share some of the writings that I put in my journal to help illustrate the events.

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DAY 1: We both woke up very early on Monday so that we could be good and tired in the evening and get some sleep on the overnight flight to London (that did not work out well for me, but I always have trouble sleeping on airplanes). We were so excited and also in somewhat disbelief that all our planning and preparation was finally coming to fruition.

In getting ready for this trip, we had decided to get backpacks and travel (somewhat) lightly—instead of having to deal with wheeled luggage or duffle bags.  SO very glad we traveled that way, and I was even able to carry on my bag for the flights.  Here’s a look at all the clothes I packed for 2 1/2 weeks, not including the 2 pairs of shoes, underwear and toiletries:

1 lightweight sweater, 6 shirts, 3 tank tops, 1 hoodie, 1 rainjacket, 1 pair of hiking pants, 1 pair of jeans. That’s it.

We left Seattle on Monday afternoon and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany on Tuesday morning (or midnight Seattle time). Great flight, we’d highly recommend to anyone flying overseas to fly Lufthansa, as they treated us Economy Class folks like royalty.

After a 2 hour layover, 3 security screenings and an exchange of money, we caught our next shorter flight to London.  Happy to finally be through customs, and glad that Todd’s bag made the connections (his was too heavy to carry on), we caught the Underground to our hotel in Kensington.

Our cozy (ie: small, quaint, no-frills) home for the 5 days in London—Henley House.  It’s the dark brick walk-up with the green awning on the far right.  I fell in love with this homey place.

We knew the best thing to do in order to stave off jet lag was get out and go for a walk, try to stay awake as long as possible, and adjust to the new time zone.   After a walk around the neighborhood, we stopped by a pub for some food and drinks, then took the Tube to Westminster to enjoy the sunny evening at the foot of Big Ben.

“Walked out, surprised to see Big Ben right in front of us.  Sun was out, gorgeous, warm evening. We took some pics, walked to the Thames and then decided it was finally time to get some sleep since we were practically zombies (minus the brain eating part).  Up for 30 hours, I am completely exhausted.  It’s 1900 hours (7pm).  Good Night, London. Cheers.”

And then we slept soundly for 12 hours and it was awesome.