Sometimes I like to awkwardly make intro videos of places I’ve been to (Check out my Caribbean one here).
And of course with my first time in Europe, I had to make a London intro video.
Here you go, all of awkward me in London.
Cheers!
London, England – Tubes, Phone booths, and the River of Thames
The best way for me to tell you about my first European experience is by starting from the beginning.
We touched ground at Gatwick Airport (LGW) around 13:00. And after the 10 hour red eye from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Norwegian Airlines, I was ready to get off the plane and right into the UK. I had never been more excited to get off a plane in my entire life.
After going through the long line of passport control, we had finally entered Europe! I was bouncing up and down with joy, I mean that literally too.
After a small mishap with trying to take out money from the ATM (remember your cash withdrawal allowance and the current exchange rate) we were on our way to get into town and drop our stuff off at our hotel before exploring London.
We walked to the train stations and immediately were overwhelmed. It was busy, loud and everything suddenly seemed fast paced and without any phone data or Wi-Fi, we had no idea where we were going. After gawking at timetables and truly not knowing what to do, we ended up in the line to hopefully get the right tubes and trains tickets to our hotel.
The guy that serviced us was very kind and gave us all the info we needed and set us off into our train. We had luckily screenshot our directions to our hotel while we had some Wi-Fi and we were then on our way.
Considering I’m a San Diego girl where public transportation is scarce and we drive everywhere. Taking all the trains and tubes was an experience within itself. I’ve been to New York and through the subway systems there, but for some reason having to change trains to express trains to DLRS to the underground was overwhelming.
But we finally made it the underground London Bridge. And I couldn’t have been happier.
After what felt like an eternity on the packed undergrounds and trains, we made it the Premier Inn Hotel in Docklands and were able to settle in to our rather cozy hotel.
It was our first night in London and we had a travel day pass, so we decided to get into town. We went back into the tubes and made our way to London Bridge and decided to wing it.
There was no real agenda for our first night in Europe, but I wanted to get Fish N’ Chips and see a little sights and then get back to our hotel and in bed to try and beat jet lag.
The London Bridge exit was perfect for our first night. I immediately went crazy with seeing the famous red telephone booths and just had to get inside.
Paris and London – My first European Trip
Bonjour from Paris!
I know I haven’t really updated since I left the States to go on my European trek, but when you have limited Wifi you can only do so much. But my Wifi has finally worked here in the hotel and I decided to update you all on my time here in the beautiful Europe!
For more up to date info check out my instagram and twitter!!!
My first day in Europe was in London and it was a short trip until we come back for two days for our flight home on our last leg of our vacation. We were able to master the tubes and trains just fine and not get so lost that it became frightening. And even though it was a short trip, we were able to see the Tower Bridge and then get some Fish N’ Chips and everything was great.
After London, the next day we needed to catch a bullet train on the Eurostar to Paris at the St. Pancras International railway Stations and the station itself was just beautiful!
And since we had some time on our hands, the Harry Potter Geek in me had to check out Platform 9 3/4 at the Kings Cross Stations just across the street from St. Pancras.
Overall, London was amazing and I can’t wait to explore the city more next week. I’ll give you more details in later posts of my first day in London.
As for Paris, we are still here and it has already captured my heart. I am loving the city more and more and it makes me not want to leave.
Alex and I celebrated our one year anniversary today and it was an amazing way to celebrate in this beautiful city. We went to the top of the Eiffel tower and saw the Louvre and wrote our love on the Love Lock bridge (unfortunately we forgot our locks and most of the locks are now boarded up). But it was an amazing day, I wish we didn’t have to leave tomorrow. But it’s time for Amsterdam and then Italy! I am excited for what the rest of our trip has for us.
I’ll post more details on Paris and London later, but for now here’s some beautiful photos to pass you over!
Bonne nuit!!!
London Baby!
In the words of Joey from the show FRIENDS “London Baby!”
To all my friends and family and to all my travelers in the world, I am officially at the gate waiting to board my first European trek.
I am so excited I cannot contain it!
As I go through my 2 week European adventure with Alex, I will keep everyone updated with photos, videos and random posts of my time in a foreign land.
I hope everyone is having a lovely day as for tomorrow I will be in London enjoying the fall air.
Cheers my travelers! My next post I will finally be in London!
For now check out my other posts about Dreaming big and where I will be in Europe these two weeks.
Also check me out on Twitter and Instagram for up to date Europe post!
CHEERS
ABC’s of Travel
Nostalgia. That’s a big thing in the digital world right now.
Throwbacks of Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time outfit #FreeBritney and seeing N*SYNC and Backstreet Boys collab together just give you all the feels.
And so when I came across this little ABC’s of Travel questionnaire, it brought me back to my Xanga and LiveJournal days and I figured, why not?
Why not have a little fun on my blog and bring back all the nostalgic feels as I make my way back into the digital media world? Why not have an enjoyable post that will bring me back to my traveling days and get me on the up and up on this blogging thing.
So without further ado: My ABC’s of Traveling.
Two Hours in Pisa, Italy
Italy. Honestly one of my favorite countries. It has wonderful food and beautiful cities. As much as I wanted to spend days in each country if I could, all it took was just a few hours in Pisa, Italy and we were all set.
Pisa, if you did not know is where The Leaning Tower of Pisa is. And that’s basically the town.
Sliding into Amsterdam – Lost with Yvonne Video
Hello 2017! And hello to all my favorite people.
I wanted to start this year’s first post with a little video I happen to have stumbled and slide into (don’t worry you’ll get that pun later). So here’s a fun little video of one of my favorite airports in Europe.
Churches, the Sforza Castle and Milan night life
Nearing the end of my Milan adventure (I’ve already visited The Duomo and the Galleria), we ended up at the infamous castle. Surprisingly the only castle I saw and went to while I was in Europe (SAD, I know).
The Galleria and stepping on a Bull’s Balls in Milan
If you’ve been following along on my European adventure, you should know that I’ve just visited the Duomo in Milan, Italy.
It is a beautiful sight and I could stare at the details of that building forever. But we had very little time left and the rest of Milan to see.
Sono arrivato Milano, The Duomo – Part 1
I’ve decided it’s time to fly back into my European adventure. It was an amazing two week European trip that I never got to fully share with this wonderful world.
I last left off on my day trip to Amsterdam. And if I didn’t mention it before, I meant to book Amsterdam for longer than a day and have a bit of a shorter Italy trip. But the mix-up I made months prior really made Italy stand out to me.