TOUR OF EUROPE: London is calling!

We set off on June 1st from our local airport and had a short flight to Dallas; from there we boarded the longest flight I've ever been on, 9½ hours to London! We landed and first of all we were in shock that we were actually in a whole other part of the world. Just two cousins ready for an adventure of a lifetime. WE MADE IT.  And from there the adventure began.  From a welcome dinner were we made a solid group of friends, that we stuck with throughout the whole trip (GWC), to walking to find King's Cross and Platform 9¾. Night one was already a positive sign that this was going to be the best summer ever.  The next day consisted of a great city tour with a hilarious guide talking about how ecstatic he was that we weren't a group of coffin dodgers (aka old people) and teaching us local London slang, to going on the London Eye, seeing Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Globe Theatre, Covent Garden, Neal's Yard and Piccadilly Circus.  We rode the Underground like locals and even went on a pub-crawl and basically kicked off this trip with a BANG! 

Tips: 

• Eat Ice Cream Near the London Eye. It’s the best soft serve you’ll ever have
• Fish and Chips is a must 
• Say “Pip Pip Cheerio” and “Ello Govna!” in public at least once
• Travel via Underground, You’ll feel like a local and it’s good practice for future “Metro” rides
• If you travel via underground or metro anytime on this trip move quickly in and out of the trains, they won’t wait for you 
• Find Neal’s Yard near Covent Garden, it’s a neat sight, but good luck asking locals where it is because almost none of the ones I asked knew about it
• See Buckingham Palace
• Walk in Hyde Park
• Mail home a postcard of Queen Elizabeth, because why not?

Hostel: 

• Pros:
• Pretty great location! Less than a 5 minute walk to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens 
• Staff was nice
• Breakfast was alright (cereal, bread, nutella and fruit)
• Clean
• Cons:
• NO ELEVATOR. Sure it’s no big deal until you’re staying on the fourth floor, and have a carry on + a 50 point suitcase, and did I mention that after the second floor the staircase gets narrower and narrower.

But honestly I loved London.  And I will gladly walk up and down four flights of stairs 100x if that meant that I could go back right now.