arrived in London!

I don't usually use this blog to keep a narrative of my days, but I figured I could make an exception for the family Christmas-in-London-extravaganza! At least I will enjoy going back and rereading this. :)

We just arrived in London a few hours ago, so not much to report yet. The flight was not difficult--I have finally figured out that the key to not getting sick is to eat a LOT beforehand. So I had the McDonald's Big Breakfast and some Dramamine (doesn't that sound yummy) and then felt great the whole way. Mom and Dad got bumped up to First Class through a fluke (or, I believe, providence) where the airline had to switch their seats to keep them together--and the only seats were in first class. They occasionally came back to visit us plebeians in coach and both had big smiles on their faces and tales of chairs that leaned all the way back, really delicious steak, Twix bars (did you know that there are complimentary Twix bars in First Class?!) But, once I got over my minor bitterness, I was really thankful on their behalf. I know Dad was in much less pain than he could have been at the end of the flight, Mom was so comfortable she was actually able to sleep, and I think they both felt like they were having their own mini-vacation together.

Then we arrived, tried to take the Tube to the hotel, but it turned out there had been a minor accident and the Tube station at Heathrow was going to be shut down for the next few hours. So we got to ride in a nice British cab (on the WRONG side of the road!) to our hotel, unpack, get cleaned up, and by that point it was about 10 pm. But since we weren't tired, and Sam hadn't really eaten anything on the plane (he doesn't like plane food) we decided to go adventuring for dinner. Lo and behold, Sam walks around London for 5 minutes and finds a Burger King and a McDonald's. I wouldn't have believed it was possible but that kid has a sixth sense or something. So, after a little chuckling, my dad gave in and we grabbed a snack at BK. Ahhh, my family: so cultured, so refined, so adventurous. :)

I'm excited about tomorrow! Not sure what we're doing yet but I'll try to update tomorrow night...