London 2018 - Day One

Travel day! Flight out of Columbus was delayed almost an hour. Yet we landed in Newark just a few minutes late. Made it to our London flight before boarding had started, so all was well.

Flight was bumpy, and I couldn’t sleep. Josie and Angela took melatonin, and the former slept most of the flight while the latter only dozed. Josie woke up midway crying and shivering: and was mostly just disoriented and nervous. A quick trip to the bathroom and some calming breaths with me helped her fall back asleep.

I watched “Ready Player One” and “Annihilation”, and the first part of “Avengers: Infinity War.” I tried unsuccessfully to sleep.

Took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, then got a black cab to our flat. Cabby wasn’t too great: didn’t know where to go, and wasn’t very talkative. We ended up helping him navigate via Apple Maps, and finally got to the flat.

Cute little place, with clean modern furnishing. Great window views out to a small BMX bike park across the way. Little balcony with table and chairs. Quite nice overall.

Josie fell asleep in the cab, but was fully energized when we arrived. Angela and I took a 2 hour nap while Josie watched shows on the tablet. Then we all walked through Broadway Market. Very bohemian: lots of food, stalls with craft goods, and a whole lot more. Very very busy, with pubs and cafes overflowing into the street.

Walked around a lot looking for a place to eat. Ended up about a mile away from the flat and finally used Apple Maps to locate a pub: we seemed to have found the one area of London where there wasn’t a pub on every corner! The pub we found didn’t open the kitchen until 6, but it was only 5 PM. We didn’t feel like waiting. The bartender helpfully suggested another place down the way that served food all day called The Florist. Simple little pub, but to our surprise it offered a gluten free pizza! Perfect for Josie!

After the meal, we walked home. Talked about the things that were different and the same at home. Lots to observe! Josie it soaking it all up.

Back at the flat exhaustion hit Angela and I again. We read for a bit and decompressed from the busy two days. Josie watched shows. Just before 7 PM local time we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer. Josie was not ready for sleep, though! We gave her a melatonin and Angela zonked our. I laid with Josie while she fussed. She was much more tired than either she or I realized, as she started crying and said she wanted to go home to our real house. Also cried that she wanted Tessy. Some soothing talk from me finally got her to relax and the she zonked out.

I fell asleep immediately after.