Monday, August 4, 2014

EURO TRIP.. PART 1 LONDON

I went on my first ever over seas trip this year, and yes I'm 25! I know I know. I was beyond excited and started my countdown far too early. I went with D and his little brother.

LONDON - BARCELONA - ATHENS - THESSALONIKI - MYKONOS - SANTORINI - LONDON - MELBOURNE. 

We escaped the dreaded winter and went for the whole of June.
I am pretty OCD when it comes to organizing things and had an excel spread sheet to make sure that I had everything from flights, ferry to accommodation organised and locked in.

We flew with Emirates - I was freaking out and kept asking all of my friends how I would manage to sit through the long ass haul to London (It wasn't that bad, as we had a stop in KL and Dubai, but that was still 16 hours!)  



We had a 2.20am flight and got to airport with plenty of time to kill in duty free. Is this not the best place?!
The boyfriend moved me along pretty quickly as he realised I had the travel money card in my handbag.
But then I realised I have only 10kgs spare in my bag and I'm going to Europe.. Stuff duty free (or at least until the way home.)


We were already half an hour delayed for boarding time.. By this stage I was over excited and just wanted to get onto the plane and sleep, I'd been running around all day packing last minute things.. you know how it is



I'm the first to admit it - the flight was a b*tch. Worst part of my whole trip haha I told myself it was going to be bad, but yeah no dice for me. At least I could curl up and try and get comfortable, but I dont really like being in small confined places for too long. D's little (not so little) brother was sitting in the isle seat and sleeps like a log so trying to get up and get him to move so I could go for a walk was almost impossible.

It was 7 hours to KL and by the time we arrived it was 11am and freaking hot.



KL was a quick stop over - I was actually really intimated by the police in KL!! Yeah, weird I know.
We were meant to have 2 hour stop over in Dubai before getting out next flight, but because we were running so late.. We jumped off the plane to see which gate our connecting flight was linked too and it was flashing final boarding call. Worst ever! Dubai airport is huge and we had no idea where we were going, but we sprinted and made it with only minutes to spare.. Not our best moment!



Oh hey Dubai.

I really couldn't fault Emirates, staff were constantly coming around the cabin offering drinks and we got 3 solid meals (plane food, is what is it) but it wasn't that bad! The staff were amazing.
We had a baby a few rows infront of us that the mumma couldn't settle one of the flight attendants came and took the baby for a walk.. so nice of them


We arrived in London around 6pm. It took us so long to get through customs and the UK border but eventually ventured out the underground. Holy hek I thought Melbourne had alot of train lines but we have nothing on London!

We were staying just outside of Central London - I'd slept most of the leg from Dubai > London so I was wide awake.. We settled into our hotel room went for a walk to get dinner I could see the London Eye from our hotel, I was like a little kid in a candy store.

We were only in London for 1 full day so we mastered the Underground again and got off at WestMinster 



We jumped on the hop-on-hop off bus tour which went for about 1 hour but was so good to see all the sights of London. Pretty good for only $12 AUS

In true London style we went to visit the Queen at the palace. Buckingham Palace is absolutely beautiful we also go to see the changing of the guards which my god - attention to detail. I clearly would fail at that job.



We went on the river cruise down the River Thames on the boat, which again was awesome to go past some amazing well known buildings and icons. 



I got to catch up with one of the girls I went to school with as she now lives in London, (She's also a blogger, so Kristen if you're reading this.. Hi!!) And she took us to one of the local goodies for Dinner. Wahaca - Amazing Mexican food. 



London was amazing, I absolutely loved it! I could almost see myself living there. We were lucky with the weather for the 2 days we were there, no rain and the sun broke out.
Next Step.. Barcelona - I've decided to break these posts so they aren't huge posts.

Have you been to London before - Did you like it?

10 comments:

  1. I've never been but I am growing more of an interest to go. Your pics are fab!

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  2. Yes, I've been to London and it felt like home to me. If I was single and footloose I'd be living there. I found customs at Heathrow scary as I was made to get out every itinerary, every hotel booking confirmation, train ticket, plane itinerary to prove I was just visiting. Plus I had to answer questions about my sex life ("who are you staying with in London? Are they male? Are you in a relationship of any kind including a sexual relationship with this person?")! I must look suspicious.

    Can't wait for the next part of your blog :-)

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    1. Whaaaat! They actually asked you that!? I got questioned a little bit because on my immigration card I only listed the hotel and not the address, (I didn't know it!) Next minute i have Google out on my phone trying to find the address because he was giving me 100 questions as to why I didn't fill it out correctly! Opps.

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  3. YES I can't wait for Barcelona and Santorini mainly. And Athens :)

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  4. Yayy welcome back to blogging! Can't wait to read more :) xx

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  5. Great post! I too love London, I have been twice now and I could definitely live there. So many beautiful sites and I think the best part is the ability to jump on the eurostar and escape to Paris for the weekend and other countries in Europe.
    The flight from Australia to Europe is just the worst :(
    I look forward to reading more of your adventures!

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  6. Ahh yes .. I love London! Not quite sure how I would do on a 16 hour flight since it's about 10 from here but I've heard nothing but good things about Emirates.

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  7. America was my first o/s trip and I am 27! Damn house buying! I am bad bad bad on planes (and don't sleep) but can not waiiiit to go back. New York's train system was alao insane!! Xx

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  8. So excited for your Euro trip posts!!! London looks amazing - would've been awesome if you could have stayed longer. I'm hoping to do Europe for 4-6 weeks around June/July next year too to escape the cold as well! x

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  9. Absolutely adore London, one of my fave cities in the world. Every time I've been there I've fluked awesome weather, no idea how! The only thing that up would stop me from living there is the cold, I can't handle it. Loving your travel posts even if I'm getting grossed out by the thought of a flight to Europe lol

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