Hello London!

I always wanted to travel.   One day I realized that I needed to make it happen.   My assumptions and desire for travel were not resulting in actual travel.    So, in celebration of my birthday month, last August I bought a ticket to London.  London was an easy choice as I have a cousin living in London.


My flight was delayed an hour so we left Dulles International at 11:00 pm.  I enjoyed a lovely meal and glass of wine in the airport. 

The flight was enjoyable after the cabin settled.   But first, the baby onboard had to scream out all her troubles and a hipster would tire of amusing his pal with his loud talking and cursing.   Then the very British flight attendants offered a dinner of pasta or shepherd’s pie.  I sat back and watched a disgruntled older man drink bottle after bottle of wine.  I sighed out a prayer. 

Finally, about 2 hours into the trip, the plane became very quiet.  I didn't think it was possible.  It was quite wonderful.  In due time, we reached London.   I  never did go to sleep  but stared at everyone else while they slept.  I only began to nod off as the plane made its descent into Heathrow Airport. 

My cousin Walden picked me up from the airport.  We were joined by his 11-year old daughter, Morgan, who would keep me entertained.  I knew this when I spotted her at the airport with her pigtails and hot pink sweater.   Walden had a plan to keep me up until at least 8 pm to reset my internal clock.  Full of disbelief, I turned to Morgan and said, “Great, only 7 hours to go!”     

After we dropped my things off at Walden's we got on the tube and went to Harrods. If you need to stay up and want non-pharmaceutical stimulation, go to Harrods (below on right).  Here are a few pictures from my first day in London. 



I was fascinated with the food section. 



I tried something new; cockles in vinegar.  I ate them so I could say (with a British accent), "I once ate cockles in vinegar..."

Mostly, I enjoyed the energy of the streets and the holiday lights.