Getting through security was my worst nightmare. I set off the detector and had to get patted down. It was literally horrible...especially for someone who has a personal bubble. It really upset me. But there were no rules on what to take off or what we could leave on...it's truly different than in the US. I also have a very difficult time understanding people who have accents. I have to ask them to repeat themselves and I have to focus really hard on what they're saying, but it didn't help this time.
On top of that, our flight was delayed for 2.5 hours. I think I was overly tired, and we really lucked out on all of our other travel. So to be delayed, I was just really annoyed that day. But it all turned out okay and we made it back to London.
We only spent one night in London since we were flying back to the US the next day. We decided that we had enough points left on our credit card that we decided to splurge on a hotel. So we found a super nice hotel that was connected to Victoria Station. We stayed at the Grosvenor Hotel in an Executive King Suite.
Tyler and I joked along the way that our hotel rooms progressively got larger. This was the biggest (and fanciest) of all of them.
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| We stayed on the very top floor of the hotel. This was our view. |
Afternoon Tea is something you must do if ever in London. But almost every hotel offers some version of it...some are way more expensive than others. I researched and researched and researched and still didn't decide on a hotel to have tea at until we were in Venice. I did have my options written down and what they offered, but it was a difficult decision. Some hotels take reservations and others offer walk-ins.
We decided to walk-in since it took so long to decide. I had heard great things about tea at the Ritz, but you have to be dressed up, and we were already squeezing our backpacks as close to full as possible. So we went right next door.
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| He was so ready to eat! |
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| Scones, pastries, and finger sandwiches |
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| The clotted cream was delish! |
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| I don't even really like tea, but their house blend with milk in it wasn't that bad. I did drink the whole pot. :) |
Oh this is a moment I would have loved to discuss with Granny. She loved having girl tea parties at her house...and actually, when we were all sending her to heaven, the girl grands had a tea party in her honor. I know she would have loved to hear all about it.
After we got done with our tea, we headed over to the British Library. We kept our Visitor Oyster Cards and added some money to it so we could use the Tube. I had really wanted to see the ancient Bibles that were displayed there, but unfortunately, all of the exhibits were closed for an event. So we hopped back on the Tube and went over to see Kensington Palace.
Kensington Palace is in Kensington Gardens. However, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park are literally right next to each other. Had we had more time on the other end of our trip, the London Pass would have let us in to tour.
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| Round Pond |
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| Kensington Palace |
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| Queen Victoria |
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| Looking toward the direction we were in from the Hyde Park side. |
Notice anything about this carousel?
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| I absolutely loved this...it's hard to remember that the English drive on the wrong side of the road. ;) |
The next morning, we did get up early enough to see some last minute sights. We started out the morning with yet another English breakfast. I loved how easy it was to keep on track with healthy eating. There were plenty of healthy eats available to us on our trip.
We then headed out to go see Buckingham Palace. We were hoping that we'd be able to see the Changing of the Guard, but with needing to head to the airport, we didn't see it. In the end, we were okay with that.
I also had a list of photos that I wanted to take while we were in London, so I was trying to finish those up...like the stereotypical phone booth! We also looked inside some shops, as I was collecting Christmas ornaments from our trip.
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| This building had plants of some sort growing on it. It was cool. |
We headed back to our hotel to finish packing up and to get ready to head to the airport. Here were a couple more cool things about the hotel:
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| I loved that you could just flip the light on! |
We took the Gatwick Express to the airport. Because we had gotten upgraded seats, we had the option to wait in the lounge. We also have a Priority Pass card that comes with our credit card that would have also afforded us this option as well. I had never been in a lounge before, but it was cool. We got food and pop and desserts. It was a great treat before we headed home.
Our flight home wasn't bad. We ended up watching movies the entire time.
Our flight got into Chicago, and we had a hotel for the night. We were so exhausted that we ended up going to bed at 7 pm. The next morning, we caught an Uber to take us to Midway since we were flying Southwest home.
My mom was already there with our pup, and we were so excited to be home.
I shared this on my facebook post right before we left Europe, and I'll share it here:
Still trying to wrap my mind, heart, and soul around what just happened these last 17 days. I’m not going to try to put it into words {yet}.
I am leaving Europe with a broader worldview, a deeper love for ALL people, and a gratefulness that I can’t even describe. I’m teary just writing this.
I am ready to be home, get back into a routine, and drink a LOT more water because I know exactly where the free bathrooms are at.
We had such a wonderful time and it was truly a trip of a lifetime. I hope that I will eventually get the opportunity to go back...maybe to visit the same places, but definitely to keep exploring the world. :)
Other Posts in this Series:
London #1
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