Arrived in Leeds!

Our bus left London at 1:30pm yesterday afternoon, so when we set off for Victoria Station at 11:30am, we thought we had lots of time. We had to walk to the overground railway and take one train with a connection to the underground train. No problem, and we got there about 12:30pm. Except we wanted to get the £5.00 each refund for our Oyster transportation cards.

The chair police

The chair police? Yes, we almost had a run in with the chair police yesterday. We'll explain in a moment.

A visit to Greenwich

We decided to walk to Greenwich, a distance of 6.5 miles (10.5 kms). We would see some sights along the way, and it was another beautiful day. We have managed to bring the Mexican sunshine with us everywhere we have been since leaving Mexico!

Tower of London and the Crown Jewels

The second most popular fee based attraction in London is the historic Tower of London and the display of the Crown Jewels. This expensive museum attracts over 7,000 visitors per day and even though it's expensive, we think this huge fortress should be on your list of things to do.

Tower Bridge and the Fire Monument

Yesterday morning we walked down to Tower Bridge. This bridge is one of the most famous in the world, however it is often mistakenly referred to as London Bridge, which is actually the next bridge up river. Tower Bridge was built in six years and was opened in 1894. From the top of this bridge you can get some of the best views of London!

A fun time at The Million Pound Drop. Except...

it could have been much better.

We had "priority"tickets, which meant that we were guaranteed admittance provided we were there by 6:00pm. Even though the live broadcast doesn't begin until 9:00pm, they always try and overbook these shows, so we wanted to be sure we got in. So we got an early start and left home just before 3:00pm.

London. Did I mention lots of walking...?

It is 4 kms (2.5 miles) from where we are staying to the downtown area and the River Thames. Yesterday, we decided to start off walking, and if we were tired we would take the bus or the underground to get back home.

Lots of walking in London

But that's okay because we love walking. And there is so much to see that it doesn't seem like we're going that far. Yesterday morning, we walked to a grocery store, but took a roundabout route.

Off to the pub!

We had only been in London for a few hours when Ruth's aunt and uncle suggested we go for a walk and stop in at the pub. So that's what we did!

Our flight with Sunwing

I do a lot of research into travel prices and deals. One name that comes up consistently when I'm searching for a great travel deal out of Canada is Sunwing. So when I saw a fantastic price to get us from Toronto to London, England, we jumped on it!

Arrived safely in London!

We are in London, England! Almost feels a little surreal, because the whole travel experience seems to have gone by extremely quickly, even though we didn't get much sleep on our overnight flight. We landed at Gatwick Airport 15 minutes ahead of schedule, and then had to collect our bags.

Heading across the pond...

Well, here we are at Toronto's Pearson airport, waiting for our Sunwing flight to London's Gatwick airport. And, yes, they have FREE wi-fi throughout Terminal 1...assuming it is the same in the other terminals as well.

Dundas, Ontario

A bit of a late start yesterday as we left Galetta heading for Dundas, Ontario. We were with Ruth's sister Lesley, and her son Marshal, with their dog Tia. So the car was full, and so was the trunk! We didn't get going until around 11:00am, and it's at least a six hour drive.

What do we pack for a 3 to 4 month trip?

Some of you will be horrified to learn that we sometimes wear the same item of clothing two days in a row! But sorry, that's how we travel light. Even though we're only bringing a small backpack each, we're bringing along enough clothing that we'll be comfortable, and if we need something else, we'll buy it along the way.

The Olympics

Virtually every time we tell someone that we are going to England, the very first question is "Oh, you're going to the Olympics"? Actually, no, we have no intention of going to the Olympics. In fact, if I lived in London I would make sure I was away for the Olympics!