Home Sweet Home

Our bags are packed. One more breakfast on the road. Did I mention breakfast is complimentary? One more 10k walk from our room to the lifts. So we say goodbye to the Marriott and London as we head for Heathrow International at 10:00am for our flight. We decided to have a car pick us up from the hotel and take us to the airport. Surprisingly it is cheaper than taking the train. And a lot less hassle.  After a short 11 hour flight we'll touchdown on good old San Diego. 

We have experienced much on this trip. What I will remember most are the people. Especially the people of Malawi. Their culture is genuinely friendly and respectful. Even the teenage gIrls are polite and respectfu!  Malawi has earned its title as the warm heart of Africa. The people of London have been very welcoming in a wonderfully stuffy British way. They were overwhelmingly helpful and even laughed at my jokes. Collectively they have helped to make this a great trip. 

I  felt called by God to go on this trip (Africa, not London) because I thought I could do something to serve people who are in need and to be blessings to others. God has blessed Ranie and me greatly materially, and more importantly, with tremendous family and friends. Because we are so blessed we know God wants us to find ways to be a blessing others. We try do that regularly and I hope we accomplished that on this trip. 

Our bags are packed. One more breakfast on the road. Did I mention breakfast is complimentary? One more 10k walk from our room to the lift. So we say good bye to the Marriott and London as we head for Heathrow International Airport at 10am for our flight. We decided to have a car pick us at the hotel and take us to the airport. Surprisingly, it was cheaper than taking the trains. And a lot less hassle!  After a short  11 hour flight we'll touch down in good old San Diego. Speaking of touchdowns. The Chargers can't score a touchdown from the two foot line? Seriously!? Sorry, took a little detour there. 

The trip to Heathrow took a little longer than expected. The rain was falling and a lot of roads were closed for some event but no one seemed to know what it was. The alternate route took us through some beautiful residential areas of central London. According to the driver a two bedroom apartment in theses areas would cost you about £1.5 million. They aren't kidding when they say London is an expensive place to live. 

Surprisingly, the airport wasn't crowded. And security was easy. The English, at least at Heathrow, have a much more organized method of moving people through the lines. It wasn't nearly as hectic or rushed as at Lindbergh. It's funny, each country has it's own security idiosyncrasies. In the African country they made everyone take their shoes off and completely empty their pockets but they didn't make a big deal about the metal detectors. I set them off with my watch, I assume that's what did it, every time and they never said a word to me. 

In London you could leave your shoes on, unless they were boots or high heels, but you had to put all your liquids in bags they supplied. We didn't understand that, probably the language barrier, so Ranie was pulled out of line and made to repackage her make up and hair products. The TSA agent we worked with was very nice and quite funny. In fact a lot of the Heathrow security guys are comedians. Even with the delays we spent over two hours waiting for our plane. I hate airports!

We decided to up grade our seats to British Airways World Traveler Plus seats. Just the name of the seats makes me feel a little pretenscious.  But the thought of 11 hours in an economy seat was more than we could bare. It was a good decision. The seats are wider.  Ranie could actually turn sideways in her seat for a little nap. They had a pop up foot rest and we were by the cross bulkhead so I actually had room to stretch my legs. I could even cross my legs if I wanted. The only glitch was the travel agent booked us seats in the same row but at opposite ends so we had two people between us. If I wasn't such a nice guy I would call him a dummy. But I'm too nice to do that. All worked out - another travel agent booked his clients with the two middle seats. They were more than happy to work a trade. 

This flight is so long I have already watched two movies, Man Of Steel and White House Down. I enjoyed them both. Channing Tatum is a hunk (that was Ranie). After the two movies, we still have 5 hours in the air. My butt is killing me!

The plane landed on time. Customs was a breeze and other than some traffic so was the drive home. Sure is nice to be home!  Ranie is happy to be with her daughter and her dog. 

I can't end this blog without telling you all what a great traveling partner Ranie is. She is unbelievably flexible, tremendously resourceful and great fun to be around. Even though she wasn't excited about going to Africa and was emotionall crushed to see how the children there live, she was always cheerful and helpful to our team mates. As the trip went on the others turned to her for leadership when our trip organizer was otherwise occupied. In London we had plans for each day and sometimes our plans didn't work out. She just goes with the flow and enjoyed what ever we ended up doing. I am tremendously blesses. 

This is the end of this series. Thank you for sharing our adventure with us. I hope you have enjoyed reading these posts as much as I have enjoyed writing them. 

London Day 4

It's our last full day in London and I have to say we're ready to go home. We've had such a great time I'm not sure I have the vocabulary to describe it. The incredibly emotional time in Malawi, the amazing experience of safari in Zambia dand the grandeur, history and civility of London have create the trip of a lifetime for me. But all good things must come to an end. The truth is I miss my daughters (and granddaughter), my dog, my house, my bed and San Diego in General. 

Both Ranie and I were feeling worn out this morning. We planned a pretty simple day. After another delicious breakfast (Did I mention breakfast is complimentary?) we made the short walk along the Westminster Bridge to Westminster Abbey. We took the self guided audio tour and learned a lot about the grand history of Westminster Abbey.  I had no idea the people who are buried there. Centuries worth of the most famous kings and queens are entombed there along with scientists, Darwin & Sir Issac Newton, the composer Handel, the author Chaucer. Even Oliver Cromwell, who led the successful civil war that brought down the Crown,was burried there. Of course that didn't last long. King Charles II was restored to the throne and he had Cromwell dug up, hanged and then beheaded. I guess those royals really know how to hold a grudge! Anyway the church is beautiful and full of history and we had a great time. Of course we hit the gift store on the way out and found a couple of nice souvenirs. 

On the grounds outside Westminster Abbey volunteers  were putting together a memorial to those who have lost ther lives fighting for and along side England in wars. A couple dozen volunteers were on their hands and knees driving miniature crosses into the ground. They won't complete their work until Thursday. When finished there will be 100,000 crosses in the grass in front of the church. It was a very touching display. 

We spent the rest of the morning walking in the Westminster area. Just across from the Abbey is Parliment Square with statues of famous statesmen and other notable individuals, including Abraham Lincoln. We had a little fun with a phone booth. You don't see phone booths in the USA much anymore but they are all over London. We strolled past the Whitehall building and garden (very pretty) on our way to the Jubilee bridges. A quick walk across the beautiful pedestrian bridge and a stroll through Jubilee Park. Then back to the room for Ranie. She wasn't feeling very well. Just a side note on Jubilee Park, it was very underwhelming. Although the park is pretty enough, I expected more from a park connected to the queen's jubilee. 

While Ranie was resting in the room I went looking for some photo opportunities. Specially, I was trying to catch some unique angles of Big Ben. Unfortunately the sun was making lighting very difficult and I lack the skill to get the quality of pictures I was hoping for. I attached a couple to give you an idea of what I was trying to do. I was absolutely enamored with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment. The architecture simply captivates me so I went back out after dinner trying to get some night shots of Big Ben. Again it didn't go as well as I hoped. 

So we are almost completely packed and ready to leave for home in the morning. Of course we'll have time for breakfast before we leave. Did I mention breakfast is complimentary?

London Day 3

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning. We haven't seen the sun since we arrived. It's still going to be cool and windy but it's nice to see the sun. 

Our plan today is do some shopping on Oxford Street, which is known as London's shopping district. Ranie would like a break from all the walking today. I don't blame her. Her left foot and ankle are hurting and my back is acting up a little. I'm sure my discomfort is age related. Ranie is so much younger I'm sure her discomfort is the result of something else. 

A little bit of conflict today. I'd like to walk through the St. James, Green and Hyde parks. So we have come up with a plan to use the Tube to get to and from our destinations. We'll see how our plan plays out. For now, it's off to breakfast. And did I mention, breakfast is included?!

The plan came together beautifully. We hopped on the Underground and rode to St. James Park. A short walk later and we were at Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. We had a great spot right on the wall of the Victoria Monument. We got there at 11:00 as the crowd grew. The pomp and circumstance was to begin at 11:15. By noon, nothing had happened. Turns out there was no changing of the guard ceremony today. Oops. At least I got some nice photos of the Victoria Monument. 

After realizing we weren't going see the changing of the guard, we decided to wander through Green Park toward the Wellington Museum. The park was beautiful but cold. The leaves are falling off the trees and everyone is bundled up. At the end of Green Park near the museum are several monuments commissioned to remember different groups who served in various wars. They are quite impressive. Our plan was to get back on the Underground and ride to the shopping district. The parks were so beautiful we decided to continue our walk in Hyde park. 

Hyde Park is a 300 acre park was once used as Royal hunting ground. Serpentine Lake is a man made lake built in 1730 for Queen Caroline. There is no longer hunting in the park but people enjoy the lake in the middle of London's version of Central Park. We walked through the park to Speakers Corner where anyone can speak their mind about topics of the day or anything else. I noticed, just like in the United States, the only people speaking seemed to be crack pots!

We left the park, crossed the street and we were on Oxford Street. Oxford Street is an upscale shopping district. It was packed! People were shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalks. You could hardly move without bumping into someone.  Ranie had a good time visiting the stores. I had good time fighting through the crowds trying to keep up with Ranie. The highlight of our shopping experience was Selfridges Department Store. Selfridges has been at this location since 1909 and is still a family owned store. We learned about Selfridges through a series on PBS that portrayed the store as big, flamboyant and extravagant. It didn't disappoint. The store was incredible. It was huge and beautifully decorated for Christmas. Unlike stores in the U.S. there were helpful store staff everywhere. All the cash registers were open so, even though the store was packed, checking out was a breeze. 

We walked the length of Oxford Street until there were no more stores. We hopped on the Underground and headed back toward our hotel. We were looking for the Red Lion pub to have some original English pub grub. The Red Lion has been at its current location since the mid 1400s  and has been a pub the entire time. Prime ministers have dined there for years and Charles Dikens referred to it in his books. Besids all the history, the food was great. Ranie had the fish & chips and I had a meat pie. Of course Ranie sampled a local ale. We had a really nice time. 

London is a very international cosmopolitan city. Today we heard at least five languages spoken. In fact, the clerk who checked us into the hotel had an Eastern European accent, the concierge's accent was from Spain and the waitress in the pub was French. Seems hardly anyone we've met has a  British accent. 

Here are some picks from today. 

London Day 2

Well as it turned out we were too tired to watch a movie last night. It was dinner and into bed early. Which is good since we were up and at it again at 5:30 this morning. We are a little, emphasis on little, more organized this morning.  Our plan for the day is to grab another nice breakfast at the hotel, tour London in an open top double decker bus, go to Borough Market for lunch then later find a pub for a dinner of fish & chips. Yesterday, a woman gave us her ticket for the bus tour. She said she bought it before she realized she wouldn't have time to use it. That was incredibly nice of her. The cool thing about the bus is we can get on and off at any of the stops over a two day period. So we can do more in depth exploring if we wish. We'll see how our plan plays out. 

First we had to have breakfast. Did I mention it's complimentary?  Today's buffet was even better than yesterday. They added sausage and country potatoes to the menu. I must have eaten well because I felt full for the first time since we left San Diego. Did I mention breakfast was complimentary? 

After breakfast we headed out. On our way out we saw all the courtesy cars lined up for the people here for the pro tennis championships. When we checked in they let us know they couldn't give us the room we expected because they were prioritizing the players and support people from the tournament.  I was surprised the tournament was such a big deal. I didn't know anyone still watched tennis. But I digress. We caught The Original Tours sightseeing bus at Trafalgar Square. These are big double decker busses. The upper deck is open. The first thing we noticed was it was cold! Being in England we had no choice but to bundle up and carry on. The bus took us throughout all of London and the surrounding areas. We had seen many of the sights yesterday. We also saw sights like Hyde Park, the Duke of Wellingtons first home, the Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London for the first time. 

We hopped off the buss near the borough of Southwark, an upscale area southeast of London. Southwark is the home of Borough Market. The largest market in the London area. We wandered through this massive farmers market for about two hours. We enjoyed the best toasted cheese sandwich ever and bought a baguette, cheese and prosciutto ham for dinner in the room.

After the market we walked over to the Tower bridge. We came across some really cool areas along the River Thames.  Just across the bridge is the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are keep.  Oh, also a whole bunch of people were imprisoned, tortured and killed. We spent well over an hour exploring there. We were shocked at how big the place is. I thought the Tower of London was just a medieval prison tower. Turns out it was a royal residence that happened to be used as a prison. When you look from the outside it is very deceiving. The only down side was it was super crowded. The line to see the jewels was huge. So we passed on that and went into the White Tower. White Tower is the main structure at the center of the compound. It was super crowded and once you're in you have to work your way all the way through. We started to feel like the prisoners of old thinking we would never get out.

 

We finally escaped the tower and waleked over to All Hallows by the Tower. It was of interest because it is the church in which John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, was married. How's that for a little trivia? We were pretty wiped out so we didn't go in to look around. 

We'd had enough sightseeing for one day so we got back on the tour bus and headed back to to home base at the Marriott. All in all it was a great day. I have new appreciation for London. It is a beautiful city with beautiful, interesting architecture and historically significant buildings on almost every corner. 

Tomorrow is Sunday and we haven't decided what we are going to do. We'll let you know when we decide. 

London Day 1

Talk about culture shock! Yesterday morning we were in very rural and relatively uncivilized Africa. Today we're in super urban, highly civilized London. I'm not sure what I expected but good grief there are a lot of people here. Being slightly clostrophbic and highly clumsy I was on the edge of uncomfortable all day. Literally, there were so many people I couldn't move without bumping into someone. So enough griping. 

Today we explored London the Hunter way. We love to just go out and start wandering around. We awoke this morning and had our complimentary continental breakfast in a lovely library overlooking the Thames River. Love complimentary! Especially when it's good and this was good. Fresh made muffins, fruit and yogurt, pastries, eggs and toast. I've been craving bacon so was thrilled when I saw they had bacon. Then I opened the dish and found they boil bacon in England. It looked like a pot full of soggy ham. 

After breakfast, around 10:00am, we left and started wandering. We crossed the Thames River on the Westminster Bridge past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Of course we forgot our Rick Steves book on London at home so we had to find a book store. We walked over to Trafalgar Square to a book store. You would be surprised how hard it is to find a tourist book about London when you're in London. But we found one. Then we needed to find a coat for Ranie. It's a lot colder here than I thought it would be. Especially when it starts raining. Again, we were successful. While taking care of these mundane tasks we walked past beautiful ornate buildings and monuments in really cool public squares. 

During our travels we took a couple of wrong turns and ended up in the red light district of Soho. This used to be the seedy part of London. Now it is becoming more trendy and the hub of London's music and entertainment district. But there are still lots of strip joints, gay shops and "registered" sex shops. Ranie keep wanting to go in but I had to put my foot down. (Ha ha)

Anyway, we walked from 10am to 6pm and came back to the room exhausted. During our travels we visited Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square (they have a four story M&M store there), St. James Park, Buckingham Palace (where we spent way too many pounds in the gift shop) and the National Gallery (beautiful paintings by Renoir, Rembrandt, Monet, Manet and other masters of the canvas). 

So this evening it's a movie in the room and early to bed. Have to rest up for another busy day tomorrow.