Guy Gadwa

Inquiring minds want to know. Any physicists out there? Why is that when you are on the ship, time moves at a breakneck speed, but when you are sitting in your hotel waiting for your cab ride time moves backwards? 

Our “ride” is here

Day one cruise outfit is on point. Gotta represent right?

Norwegian Blue nails are done too

Why is it only 8:56??!!???
 

Breakfast at the hotel this morning was decent. They had all the typical things for a full English breakfast as well as typical continental fare. The host looked at me like I had three heads when I asked him if the Thomas’s factory was nearby. I’ll keep trying when we get to London though.  A little backstory here, my stepmother is from England, and any time she and my father are in England he always asks the same thing much to her chagrin.
Stray Observation about the hotel. Typically when we check into hotels, when booking it’s specified two adults and two children. Without fail when we arrive, we have to open up the couch, if it’s that type of room, then we have to call the front desk because without fail, the spare linens are never in the room. When we arrived here and got into room, the sleeper sofa was already open and prepared with plenty of pillows, sheets blankets, and extra towels for the bathroom. After such a long day of travel and exploring, having one less thing to deal with was really appreciated.
Continental breakfast side

Hot Breakfast 

Someone was thrilled they had coco crispies, and pancakes with Nutella. (Scope the cruise lanyard that he was so excited to find in his suitcase that he just had to wear it)

 

Hubby needed a pick me up after signing off on the bill for afternoon tea, so we headed back to Covent Garden for some some shopping that he and the 16 year old wanted to do. Hubby went one way, and my daughter and I went another. Hubby found this place a few weeks ago on YouTube and put it on his “must do” list 🙄lol
My daughter and I shopped at the many other stores in the Covent Garden area.

 

After Madame Tussaud’s, we headed back to the Savoy for something that my 15 year old and I have been looking forward to ever since we started planning this vacation, Traditional Afternoon Tea.
 
No better way to experience it than at the Savoy, so we bit the bullet on the cost. While Hubby did not enjoy the cost of it, he did agree that it was good for everyone to experience once, and essentially, that is what you are paying for.
I love my tea. I am a bit of a tea snob to the point where I travel and carry my own tea to different places and restaurants, even at home. I was impressed with the teas this afternoon at the Savoy. The cakes and scones were amazing too!! 
 

From there we made our way to the event that Hubby was most excited for….

Madame Tussaud’s! What can I say, he loves his Star Wars 🤷🏻‍♀️







 

Our next stop for the morning was riding the Tube to the real King’s Cross Station. They have a makeshift Platform 9 3/4 (photo op) and a souvenir store. 
 

London- Day 4
Today was mainly “Things that Hubby wanted to do” day. But first, breakfast at the Savoy’s Thames Foyer again. We have breakfast included with our stay and true to Fairmont standards, each morning it has been tasty and super fresh. 
 

We dropped our luggage at the hotel in Southampton. We are staying in the Novotel across from the port. I didn’t get a chance to grab a picture of the room before bags were strewn everywhere, but it’s a standard room. Beds, bathroom, espresso machine (best day ever). When we got here the room wasn’t ready, so the front desk stored our bags and we went exploring. 
 
We started at the Seacity Museum that has an interesting Titanic exhibit. (Photos to follow)
After this we were feeling tired and calorie depleted, so lunch, or whatever meal our bodies felt we were on was required. There was a place close by called “Slug and Lettuce “
I love weird names, so that’s where we went. Following this, we felt a little recharged and ready to rally. We wandered around the city center and marveled at the modern buildings being built among the original walls of the city.
we wandered long enough for the room to be ready. We are now in the room, ready to crash. Tomorrow will be fun when the kids find out we are star class. They still think we are in a small room.
Here is a little photo dump for you all. 
 

Despite the long line, it only took us about 20 minutes to get through border control. We then had a nice surprise at baggage claim, the app was wrong and all of our luggage was on the carousel waiting for us!

 
we also booked blackberry cars for a ride to the hotel in Southampton. It was super easy. Our driver met us outside baggage claim and whisked us off to our hotel.  We landed in London at 7:35 and we’re at our hotel by 10:30. Rooms weren’t ready so we ventured off to keep ourselves busy for a while.

Welp…….we have made it to Philadelphia. We are currently relaxing in the admirals club and I think we have just encountered our first travel hiccup…
there are supposed to be 4 bags there. We watched them unload our luggage, and my garment bag with our fancy clothes did not come off the plane. Oh well, there wasn’t anything important in there so all is not lost. Maybe we will be surprised when we get to London.

Finishing off the tour was the full size model of Hogwart’s that they used for all exterior shots. This filled the room! It is hard to describe and pictures do not do it justice. 
 

This next part I loved! It was the sets to Gringott’s and the Vaults. 
 

Costume gallery. This gave you an appreciation for how elaborate each costume was. 

The Backlot, which is basically outdoor sets and props. 
 

More from inside the tour.
The Great Hall and interior sets…
 

Today was an exciting day for the girls, especially my 13 year old. She is an avid reader and a major Harry Potter fan. We could not come all the way to the UK and not take them to the Warner Bros. studio tour. This tour was time well spent. It helps you to appreciate all the time that was spent on these movies. Some of the sets and details were just amazing! 
 
We had the option to find our own way by public transit to the studio, that would have involved the Tube, a train, and a bus. In the end, we took the easier option and joined a tour who took us there directly by motor coach. Much more calm and relaxing. Gave me a chance to catch up on sleep from staying up the night before for covid testing. 
 

London - Day 3 
Another super busy day today. I cannot wait to just sit on the balcony, breathe in the sea air, and relax. We have been going non-stop since Sunday. 
 
Our day started with a great breakfast at Thames Foyer in the Savoy. This place is just so pretty. There isn’t a better word to describe it. 
 

The other neighbor (neighbour?) is on the way!!!! Currently sitting at the airport waiting for our flight. So far everything has been smooth sailing. 
 
we started our morning with 4 negative tests!!
brought this goofball to the boarder….

My dad picked us up to bring us to the airport. All morning the kids believed our white lies about why they were taking COVID tests and everything else. Conveniently my son didn’t notice that we weren’t loading up any of his TaeKwonDo gear for summer camp.
Once we got to the airport, we let them in on the secret!

needless to say, they were a little
shellshocked!
Next stop Philadelphia!
 

All our bags are packed. Checked in for our flights and hotel. Practice COVID tests all negative. Surprise is still intact. 17th hrs until we board the plane!

Praise God! We are all negative! This was the most nervous that I have ever been for a sailing! 

I will leave you with this picture. @Lovetocruise2002 pondering whether or not she and the family  will test negative and make it onto Anthem on Friday. 

My 13 year old by this point was beyond done and tired so we called it quits for the day. Took the walk back to our hotel and ate at the Coal Hole next door. The meal was nice after walking all day. 
 

The last part is where things got weird. After the cruise down the Thames, our guide said he would not be going with us. He asked for a volunteer to take a paper that had a bar code on it containing the 37 tickets for all who would he riding the London Eye. Hubby and I looked at each other and the Type A personalities took over, we did not hesitate to volunteer because at least we knew that we would make it on the flight lol. This was a 30 min flight and worth it for a one time experience. Hubby said it was a North Star on steroids lol. 
 

Kids were fading by this point but the second last activity was the Thames River cruise. This was a 30 min ride from Millennium Pier to Westminster Pier. We had an London Eye extension so they dropped us off right after the Westminster stop. 
 

Next stop was the Tower of London where we stopped for lunch and then toured the towers. This was probably the most disappointing part for me personally. I don’t blame the tour company, but because it took us a while to get to the Tower of London, we only had about 1.5 hours to spend there. The line to see the Crown Jewels was incredibly long (as I knew it would be so late in the day) so we never got a chance to see it.