London - Day 1

Friday morning we sent the girls to school like normal, but we as mom’s got everything ready for the big trip we had planned for them.  We packed clothing, FOOD, & other essentials & met up around noon so we could pick up the girls at school by 1.

We picked up the girls & headed to Luxembourg Airport which is about an hour & a half from the school.  We got there around 2:30.  I stayed with the girls, while my friends parked the van & rode the shuttle back to the airport.  I hung out with the girls, took some bathroom breaks, & got some starbucks butterbeer frappuccinos for Lorien & I.  When Jennica & Emily made it back from the parking garage, we made our way to the Ryan Air check in line.  It didn’t open until 2 hours before our flight… so we were happy when 4:30 rolled around so we could check in.

Lorien & I dropped off our 1 checked suitcase & got all checked in.  Both of the other girls & their mom’s took carry ons with them instead of checking baggage, & we made our way to passport control.  There was no passport control at this airport which was strange.  However, when we checked in, the attendants did thorough checks on our passports.  They almost didn’t let Julia go through because her passport expires in June.  They like passports to not expire within 6 months of traveling so they gave her a hard time about it.  She had to show her orders, SOFA passport, & proof that she lived in Germany.  It was crazy.  Once we got through that, we joined the forever long line through security & slowly made our way through that.  It wasn’t too bad.  The Luxembourg airport was extremely well organized like a well oiled machine which made it nice.  We got through & made our way to our gate with no real issues.

Our flight was about an hour late (which is typical for Ryan Air), but we were excited to start our grand adventure in London.  Lorien & I got to sit together this time which was nice, & the flight was only one hour long.  It was SUPER short.  I was stuck in the middle seat next to a guy that brought a full fledged stinky meal on the flight with him.  He was also coughing like he had the plague.  I swear I always get to sit next to the sickies.  We landed around 8pm in London (which is an hour behind Germany time).  Passport control in London wasn’t bad at all, & our checked bag was waiting for us by the time we left the passport control area.

We went straight from the airport to the train station (which was attached to Stansted Airport) & hopped onto the Stansted Express.  We pre-bought tickets for that so we wouldn’t have to worry about it ahead of time.  That train was nice.  It had tables & plush seats.  The girls sat on one side with a table, & the mom’s sat on the other.  It was about an hour train ride into greater London.  Most of us slept the entire trip.

Once we arrived at Liverpool Station in London, we grabbed some street food burritos because we were starving, then we had to figure out the tube.  Emily had researched it a bit & it turns out that locals know all the tricks.  You can buy a 20 Pound day pass for unlimited use of the tube, but the locals have figured out that if you use an oyster travel card or a credit card that has RFID (tap & pay), you use that as your “tube ticket” as you travel throughout the day & it maxes out at 9 Pounds.  It charges both the Oyster card or your credit card $3.20 each tube ride, but then stops charging you once you hit 9 pounds.  It’s AMAZING.  We had 2 oyster cards (from a friend) that Claire & Lorien used.  We just filled the oyster cards with 25 pounds (which lasted us all 3 days we were there) Then Julia, Emily, Jennica, & I each had an RFID card that we used.  We figured out which line we needed to get to our hotel, tapped our cards on the gates & voila!  Easy access for a fraction of the cost.  We rode the tube to Elephant & Castle, got off there, & walked to our apartment from there.  There was a cute 24 hour food & wine shop that held our key for us, so we picked it up & were able to get into our apartment no problem. 

Our apartment was amazing.  We were on the 15th floor (you had to use the key fob to make the elevator go up) & we had 2 bedrooms with a queen bed, 2 sofa beds that fit 2 people (though you could only have one out at a time), & 2 bathrooms.  There was a nice kitchen & a beautiful balcony that overlooked the city part of London as well as the Tower Bridge.  It was a perfect location.  Lorien & I took one room, Julia & Jennica took another, & Claire & Emily slept on the sofa bed (which turned out to be awful!).  Before we went to bed, we found a little grocery store near our apartment & bought some food for breakfasts, lunches, snacks, & dinners in case we needed it.  I bought smoothies, fruit, half a gallon of milk, tomato soup & things to make grilled cheese, mozzarella sticks, & crepes (like the ones we used to get at costco in the states).

It was a great 1st day.  The real adventure would start on Day 2!