Bye bye Edinburgh, hello London

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We did not catch our train in Edinburgh until noon so we thought we had plenty of time. Wrong! We kind of woke up late. Might have something to do with mine and Kelsey's research of the bar scene the night before.

We wheel our luggage down the streets of Edinburgh to the Waverly train station. We know where the train station is because we ate at the Princess Mall which is right by the train station. Not to mention, Edinburgh isn't that big and we started to get more familiar with the side of town we were staying in.

We mosey on down to the train station. Oh boy, this place is massive. It's like a whole underground city! There are trains and platforms everywhere. People are rushing from one side of the station to another. Announcements are blaring and monitors are continuously flipping.

Right up the hill outside the train station it is a chill and relaxed place. This place, you better hustle and get out of people's way!

Our platform (where we go to get on our train) was not announced until about 5 minutes before we were to board. That is not that uncommon according to the worker lady. We hustle up the escalator and down a flight of stairs. We all were going to take the elevator (lift) but we didn't have time so we lugged our bags down two flights of stairs. Kelsey got in the elevator because she was already halfway in when I yelled to the others to go down the stairs.

We get to platform 8 and I asked where coach 'J' is and the worker guy points me to the back of the train. We have first class tickets so I thought we were actually going to the front. Nope, we were running towards the back. I couldn't see Kelsey so I was kind of freaking out in my mind.

We find out that we need to go to the opposite side of train. By now the platform is cleared and we are running, mom might have shedsome tears, I'm trying to figure out how to get Kelsey then Kelsey appears. Turns out she had eyes on us the whole time.

We get on the train and find our seats then the train pulls away. Keep in mind all of this hustle, up/down, crying and yelling all occurred in 5 minutes. Whew!

We can finally relax ad we look around. Um, I love first class!!! The seats are so nice. They have tables, outlets for your phones/laptops and free Wi-Fi. Well, our Wi-Fi wasn't working but we could go sit in a different cabin if we wanted to.

We drank hot tea, coffee, ate lunch, had snacks, played cards and napped all the way to London. It was a very relaxing ride.

When we arrived in London we got off the train and followed the signs that said 'Wayout' (that is the term for Exit). When you came up to the common area we were in shock. I felt like I just walked in to New York's Grand Central Station. There are people every where. They are all staring at the 300 monitors above our heads. I felt like when we walked into the station everyone just stared at us and said 'tourists' in their mind. I felt like we stuck out like a sore thumb.

We go out of the train station and stared walking towards the Underground (Subway). As soon as we hit the street we realized we are not in Edinburgh anymore. There are cars, buses and people everywhere. It wasn't the most relaxing feeling in the world. I figured by the time we got to the hotel maybe all of our anxiety would leave us and we could relax and begin to enjoy the city. Well, there is theory and there is reality.

My mom isn't the best walker so going up and down the stairs isn't the easiest task for her. At the first underground station we saw stairs and I thought oh no. We lugged our bags down and up and all around. We got on the underground carriage and then we got off our at our stop. I asked the gentleman worker if there was a lift and he said not until next year. Oh boy, again. We lug these things up more flights of stairs. There were several gentlemen that helped up with our bags. You have to keep in mind we have Tim (9 yrs old), Megan (13), Kirby (12), me, Kelsey and my mom. We all have one larger suitcase and we each have a backpack. We look like a pack mules trying to travel though the underground system. Thank goodness some people took pity on us. Others did not, they just kind of shoved on by.

We make it to the road and we didn't understand what we were looking at. You can see the Tower of London but then you see a modern high rise buildings. After touring Edinburgh this did not look like we were expecting. We really miss Edinburgh and think that maybe we should have just spent 2 weeks in Scotland.

I cannot get any cell phone service so I can trying to use my phone or my moms phone to figure out the actual address of the hotel. According to what I could find our hotel was .7 miles away. Ok, that's like three times around a track, we can do this.

We head down the route and we ended up walking over the Tower Bridge. The bridge was busy. There were people walking up and down the bridge. You could see the Thames River. I did not know that the river would be so fast flowing. It kind of made you dizzy when you looked down at the water.

Finally, like a beacon of light we see the Premier Inn sign. Glory, glory!

Guess what.....wrong Premier Inn! Ugh!!! Stupid Sprint, why couldn't your cell service work!!! It was really my fault because I did not make a hard copy of the hotel reservations. I just assumed by cell would work and I could access the Premier Inn app or my email when we got to London. We did not have a single issue with cell service in Edinburgh. Either way, my fault.

Props to mom, Kirby, Tim, Megan and Kelsey. They did not complain one bit. They followed me without complaint to the worng hotel and when we found out it was the wrong hotel they just laughed.

We ordered a cab and they delivered us to the proper hotel. We lugged our suitcases up one more flight of stairs and we were 'home' for the next two days.

I like the Premier Inn chain. The staff is so friendly and accommodating. The rooms are nice and the beds are very comfortable.

We found something to eat at a nearby Pizza Express and headed to bed.

Jeff and Alton arrived around midnight.

I have a friend from college that lives just outside of London. Him and his fiancé are going to meet us after the Changing of the Guards tomorrow.

Night night London. See ya in the am.

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Comments

[Dad]

Whatever
Sounds like the way I figuired!

[Duddah]

the cabs are geat fun too
When we were in London (Thanks the only place we went-except for one excursion) we used the cabs all the time - If I had to have done all the walking- well someone would have been seeing me renting a wheel chair or scooter someplace - GiGi you'll be happy to get some rest - I love you guys and thanks Alton for getting into the picture too - about time.