London, England - Day 12: Going Home

     Seriously, next time I need to take into account the days spent traveling.  I felt so robbed the morning we left, like we needed just a few more days to see/do everything we wanted to.  For the first time, I saw the backyard garden area of our Airbnb and wished I had spent more time there in the evenings. 

     The trip to Gatwick airport was relatively painless.  It involved a bus ride and one train ride.  Matt and Patty decided to Uber it since they didn't want to deal with their luggage in transit.  I kinda enjoyed the public transit and knew I'd miss it once we were home. 

     Throughout our time in London, a fellow photographer friend kept recommending that we eat at this place called Nando's.  We had passed by Nando's many times throughout our trip, but we always had other dinner plans, had just eaten a meal, or had somewhere to get to.  Once we arrived at Gatwick, we dealt with a very nice man at the VAT counter and a very rude lady the Norwegian ticket counter. It was relatively busy, so we decided to find a place to eat where we could just sit down with our stuff.  Once we took the escalator up to the second floor, low and behold - Nando's! 

     These olives didn't seem like anything special, but they actually were very tasty... and expensive LOL.

     I am willing to make an educated guess that these sauces are part of the reason why Nando's is as popular as it is.  When I got my food, my suspicions were confirmed.

     I wasn't extremely hungry so I ordered a kid's meal.  This is what came in the kid's meal.  Honestly, it felt like an adult meal, and it was so good.  It tasted like the perfect blend of eating healthy and eating not so healthy.

     When I first got my "drink", the guy at the counter handed me this small bottle.  What the heck is this little thing?  A shot of something, perhaps?  I found out later that I was supposed to pour it into a cup with water, as it was a concentrate of an apple drink.  It was delicious!  (Are you tired of me saying everything is "delicious" yet?  Maybe I just like food LOL.)

      After eating, I didn't want my feet to swell inside my sneakers, so I ended up buying a pair of Nike flip flops in one of the shops.  I'm SO glad I did because my feet were BEYOND swollen when we landed at LAX.  I belonged on the Flintstones, trust me. 

     Our food on the flight back was nothing to write home about.  Luckily, I was too tired to really care.  Mental note:  Fly with a better airline next time.  

      I realized when we landed that I was just thankful to be back home safe and sound.  I have no qualms about flying usually, but this was my longest flight so far (about 12 hours), and I'm glad I survived.  

     Speaking of survival, let's face it - all of us were probably secretly surprised that we didn't kill each other or become Lord of the Flies on this trip.  It's not easy spending an extended amount of time with the same people, but somehow we made it!  I can't wait to see everyone's photos!

     Here's to hoping that the next time I see these clouds, it's on a flight to France.  Also on my radar is Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia), and Iceland.  It's been almost a month since we got back, and I still miss Germany.  I enjoyed London, but because everyone spoke English there, it didn't feel foreign enough for me.  In Germany, everything felt so foreign and new, and it was all so exciting. Can't wait to return one day. 

     If you've made it this far, thank you for following along on this journey with me!  As much as I try to capture the experience from my own perspective, there's nothing quite like actually being there.  This trip, if anything, has only awakened my sense of adventure, and given me a hunger for new experiences!

Day 6 - Travel day: On to London! :)

     Day 6 was a traveling day for us.  Like I said before, I wish I had thought about how much time you lose traveling and added a few more days to the trip to make up for it.  This was NOT a fun traveling day.  

     Getting ready to board our flight.

     A view of Berlin from the air.  Zoom in and you can see the German TV tower.

     Enjoying the window seat for the very short two hour flight.

     Note to self:  Pay a little more for a better airline next time. :)

     If I don't think about the fact that we're being shuttled hundreds of miles per hour through the sky, flying would freak me out.  However, seeing all the clouds and endless blue skies helps to balance that out. 

     I don't have a lot of photos from the moment we landed at Gatwick airport to when we arrived at our Airbnb.  The process of getting from Gatwick to central London was a bit crazy if you're not accustomed to it.  I think if I had to do it all over again, I'd have a different opinion of it.  There were hoards of people everywhere, trying to get to where they needed to go. We managed to take a train into central London, and from there we were able to buy our travel cards (we bought Oyster cards later for getting around to other zones).  If you bring a passport sized photo, you can also get 2 for 1 attraction deals.  We ended up using this on the London Eye and also got a discount on a river boat cruise.

     Once we sorted out how we would get around London, we made our way on the Jubilee line towards Surrey Quays - and yes, I'm sure you pronounced that just the way I did when I first saw it.  Apparently, it's pronounced Surrey "Keys". Our first stop was this shopping center near our Airbnb.  Here, we received further confirmation that Europe is not a fan of air conditioning. I can't even imagine what it's like when it gets REALLY hot in Europe. I don't want to know.  There was a food court upstairs at the shopping center, so we decided to grab lunch there. I opted for the most British looking place in the food court, and ended up getting this sandwich with coronation chicken.  London lesson #1:  "coronation" probably means "chicken with raisins".  It wasn't bad - kinda like chicken salad...but with raisins.  I liked how they cut up the sandwich into four little pieces.  It made me feel like I got more food for my 8 pounds.  By the way, that's around 12 U.S. dollars which, in my opinion, is highway robbery for this sandwich and a soda.  Welcome to London!

     We saw this bar/restaurant every time we left the house or were on our way home.  I was surprised we never stopped here.  It was always very lively in the evenings.

     Our subway station.

     I've heard of Piccadilly Circus before, but wasn't quite sure what it was.  I wasn't sure if it was an area, an actual building, or something completely different altogether.  It turned out to be London's version of Time's Square.  Only the buildings are older, it's more compact, and there aren't as many large LCD screens everywhere.  I didn't care for Piccadilly Circus as I found it too touristy.  It really is like Times Square because it's nice to walk through to say you've been there, but you definitely don't want to hang around.

     There were just hoards of people lulling about.  I guessed that they were just interested in people watching.  I did not want to stay in this area. 

      I wonder if people actually use these red phone booths, or if they just keep them around because they are so iconic.

     Our requirements for dinner were that it be something we don't have back at home, and that it was nearby to where we were since we were all starving. Wagamama, it is!

     I miss ice. :)  And Diet Coke!

     We decided to spend the rest of the evening just scouting locations to photography in the next couple of days.  Around this time, the sun doesn't set til almost 10pm!  That took some getting used to.  It was nice to have extra daylight hours, but when you're waiting to take long exposures, it sucks to have to wait that long for the sun to set! 

     Speaking of photos, my DSLR did not make an appearance on this day.  It was the G7x all the way! 

     Is it morbid that I wonder how many people got hit by cars that prompted the painting of these signs?