June 25-26...Getting There !

June 25-26: Getting There Our plane flight from Durham to London was fairly uneventful; Although I did learn the following:

• No matter how many sleeping aids you try, you cannot sleep on the plane! 
• Movies are free on flights to London 
• Airline food has come a long way, it was actually pretty good!
•  No need to bring a pillow, they gave us each one, and a blanket too, too bad we couldn't sleep! 
• Wearing layers wasn't necessary, it was actually WARM in the plane instead of FREEZING. 

Our Real ADVENTURE began when we landed. I'd bookeded us a cozy room at a B &B just outside London for the first 2 nights to give us a chance to relax and recover from jet lag. We navigated the "tube" (subway) as far as we could but then had to get a taxi to take us to the little village. When we arrived, hungry and tired we were told that our reservation had been CANCELED due to a roof leak. "Didn't you get the email? " NO! Thankfully our cabby, a nice man from Ethiopia, helped us find a place although there was only room for one night. It was a quaint little place in a village not far from where we were supposed to stay. We checked in and went looking for some food. While strolling we found a place to get SIM cards for our phones, gum, and, most importantly, COFFEE ! Sitting in the coffee shop we chatted with the owners who were from Lebanon! They gave us tips about what to see in London and graciously gave us their Wifi code which we needed in order to find a place stay for the the next few days. After a couple hours of searching I just booked what I thought to be a pretty pricey place in Zone 2. ($125 per night). The pictures looked Ok, but Trip Advisor reviews were mixed. We had no real choice at that point, we were exhausted and just wanted to know we had a place, so we booked it. Then we went to our little B&B and collapsed.  Some things I noticed that are different here in the UK from home:

• the toilets are round instead of oval. 
• They call coffee the way we drink it "white americano style". 
• No matter where we went everyone was friendly and helpful, especially in the village where we spent the night.
• WiFi is NOT easy to get here,  no anonymous users.   You  have to register even to use  "free public wifi".-- which was fine if only we can figure out how to do it!  
•  Children are still in school here till the end óf  june.
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