Time has a funny way of running away from me! I had every intention of updating this blog the moment we got home from our AMAZING Iceland/Norway cruise. That was five months ago.
I am not going to let that stop me. The trip was too wonderful not to share so I am just going to go for it! I hope you will follow along! 🙂
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June 15th–We had scheduled our departure later than we normally would for an international cruise, just one day prior to sailing. But we were hoping that Olivia would qualify for the state golf tournament. And if she did, the second round wouldn’t be over until the afternoon of June 15. She did qualify (GO OLIVIA!) but the second round had two substantial rain delays. In the end we had to leave for the airport while she still had three holes to play. It was very hard to leave her but we all knew the flight wouldn’t wait! We had to get her final results via text (18th out of 88 golfers!!), but we were very, very proud of her! 🙂
We flew Iceland Air out of HHH (Terminal 2). I love that terminal! So quick and easy. We were checked in, through security and sitting at a restaurant in under an hour! I had never flown IA before but the price, and timing, had been right for us! We were totally satisfied with the experience and wouldn’t hesitate to fly them again! After a brief delay we were finally on our way—hard to believe we are off to Europe!
We had to make a connecting flight in Keflavik (KEF) but it was very easy. The terminal was small and easy to navigate. We literally walked off one plane, moved two gates over and boarded the next plane. This aircraft was even nicer than the first with wide, leather seats. There were entertainment units in each seat and we were served bottled Icelandic water while we flew!
We landed at London Heathrow at 11:45 AM on June 16th and had quite a long line in customs. It took over an hour to get through. Luckily the driver I had set up was still waiting for us! He grabbed our luggage and we were off on our first left sided driving adventure! It took about 30 minutes to get to the Marriott Twickenham (a hotel I was able to get with a great travel agent rate). We checked in, picked up some maps and headed straight for the train to London. About 10 seconds after walking outside it started to rain. At that moment I remembered that I had taken both of our umbrellas out of the suitcase during the rain storm at the golf tournament—and never put them back! We had to just deal with getting wet as we searched for the train station. It was the first in a long line of mishaps for the afternoon. Suffice it to say that I didn’t have time to research London and map out our day. We spent a lot of time looking for train stations, figuring out tickets, asking for directions and getting wet!! I am a pretty detailed planner so this day of “winging it” really drove me crazy!! I knew our time in London was limited (half day!) and I felt like we were wasting so much time! But eventually we got into the heart of London and starting seeing the sites we had dreamed of seeing in person!
Kermit knew that one of the things I REALLY wanted to do in London was see a show. I had kind of given up on that option as our time was so short. But while we were looking for a train we came across a discount ticket booth. They had half price tickets for WICKED which was the show I wanted to see most of all! Kermit told me later that he was wavering due to the price but that once he saw my face he figured saving our marriage was more important than money! 🙂 Way to go, Kermit! We bought the tickets and headed off to the theater. We had just over an hour before show time and we were told to take bus 24 right to the theater. In keeping with our luck for the day bus 24 was delayed, and then broke down! We ended up standing in the middle of the street and calling an Uber with less than 10 minutes to go before show time. The car arrived but the traffic was so thick that we were going at a snail’s pace. When we could finally see the theater in the distance we told the driver we would just get out and run! As we got to the theater they let us just flash our tickets and said “go, go!”. We flew into the theater and into our (5th row!!) seats. The overture started less than 30 seconds later!
But we were there! And the show was AMAZING!!! It was every bit as good as I had hoped it would be!! I made a stop at the gift shop and went into full tourist mode. I didn’t care. I love my WICKED umbrella! 🙂
After the show we stopped for a selfie in front of the theater. Not our best work but it’s photographic proof that we were there!
We used Uber once again to get back to our hotel. This was the third time we had used them this day. I was surprised at how easy it was—I used the same app I use at home and requested a car just the way I always do! I didn’t have to do anything different or extra to make it work in London. If we were spending more time here I would have absolutely used Uber to get around!
Kermit and I both agreed that London is a “must revisit” town for us! There is so much more we would like to see and do here! But that will have to wait–tomorrow we are off to Dover and onto the Disney MAGIC!!
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