Off we go!

Rewind....

Monday April 11th: Departing Ireland & Day 1 in London

After finishing our Irish exam we stayed up packing and preparing for the trip. Walking to the bus station  at 1:00 to catch our 1:45am bus would get us to the airport much earlier than we needed to be there. However, we did this just to be safe, incase it broke down. This happened to friends of ours on their way to Sweden. Their bus broke down between Galway and Dublin causing them to miss their flight.  To be safe we took the early bus meaning we arrived in Dublin at 4:45am. Finding the blue and yellow ryanair gates was not too difficult, neither was security.... The first time. One of the officers noticed my 110ml eye makeup remover and confiscated it because it was 10ml over the size limit. Needless to sayI wasn't thrilled, but it certainly wasn't the end of the world. Now we were in the clear. Looking at our passports we never had them stamped. Friends of mine traveling from Ireland to London had an issue with this. I didn't remember the exact details, but not wanting to run into the same issue I checked our boarding passes. It stated "All Non EU passengers must go to the bad drop/visa check desk before going through security to have their travel document checked and boarding pass stamped or travel will be refused." Seeing as though our passports weren't stamped I wasn't sure if we had fulfilled everything we needed to. Noticing this we talked to a security officer and were escorted backwards through security. Coming back to the ryanair desk they looked at our boarding pass and commented we already had the stamp we needed. Great so that was completely unnecessary and here comes security round two. Thankfully it went smoothly. No more confiscations. This left us with 2.5 hours until our flight to London.

         5:15am pb&j always makes for a good breakfast. Abby C. made trail mix with almonds, maltesers and crasins, working as a nice snack as well.

We also had a wonderful view of...a crack.

    Again when in Ireland, say yes to craic, say no to crack. Hopefully there's jobs for plumbers in London because we had just the guy.

 Sleeping in the airport is a bit difficult as the sunrises streaming it's bright rays through the giant glass windows.

Queuing early we watched a flight stewardess check baggage and boarding passes. Ryanair is much different than the states airlines for several reasons. The most dramatic differnce is price. Our flight to London cost £12. If only flights within the U.S. were so cheap! Next is the luggage size. Only one piece of luggage is allowed on ryanair flights. This includes purses and all personal items. It's a bit ridiculous as I witnessed one gentleman have to pay £35 for having two tiny bags. The size of his two minuscule bags paled in comparison to my one bag, yet he still had to pay simply because he couldn't fit one inside the other to make them "one bag". My carry on bag to come to Ireland was larger than that allowed on this flight. A bit nervous Abby C. and I packed and repacked attempting to make our bags fit within the regulations.

Boarding the plane is also much different as there is no assigned seating. Waiting on the tarmac it's everyman for themselves as people run to the plane. With a door in the front and back people run to each end of the plane to secure a seat. A bit chaotic compared to the states. However, you never really have to worry about not being able to sit next to a traveling companion because of the lack of assigned seats.

After short 2 hours in the air we landed at London-Stansted airport. It was handy to have just one bag and not worry about baggage claim or lost luggage. No one stamped or even looked at our passports. No cool London stamp in our passports... Bummer : (

Stansted is about an 1hr 15min from downtown London. Getting a bus into the city we were worn out by the time we located our hostel. With a bar in the bottom and hostel above it was a bit sketchy. But the price was decent, so we couldn't complain. Not to mention the staff were incredibly accommodating, even offering to print out any tickets for us if needed.

Orgiginally our plan was to meet Joy and Joel, friends from Galway also on Holiday in London.

Our Canadian friend Joy & Joel

 However, we found the trip to meet them was quite a distance away and we were already wiped. Instead we chose to find cheap food and explore the area near our hostel. A baguette for £.79 and Brie cheese £1.49 was the cheapest thing we could find. Good enough for us! Studying our map, Hyde park was quite close to the hostel. We set off for green grass, sunshine and a picnic. Wow! Of course we've seen plethora of green in Ireland however, I didn't expect London, a major city to have such a large green space. This would be a reoccurring theme as we ran into park after park. It all made sense after reading London has 146 parks. When including royal parks and open green spaces the city boasts 3,000 the most of any large city it's size. With beautiful warm sunshine Abby C. And I ate our baguette and cheese taking in our new surroundings.

Brie & Baguette

Map of London. Very useful.

Finishing our picnic we walked back to our hostel to put our bags in our room, as we were unable to upon arrival. Seeing as though there was a good portion of the afternoon left we decided more exploring was in order. The infamous Abbey Road located several blocks north was a close enough walk. This was a must see destination, however a street market sidetracked us. Beautiful Clark shoes lined the street. The prices seemed too good to be true, so we moved on. Rather than head north we continued on in our current direction. Taking us to Regents Park we were immediately captivated by the parks beauty. Flowers spread across the park near and far. Every color and variety of flower was featured in endless flower beds. Weeping willows gracefully dotted the banks of several ponds, their branches dancing in the soft breeze. Whit as snow, swans swam back and forth creating delicate ripples in the water. The scene was truly out of a movie. By far the most romantic park I'd ever been in. It was difficult to keep exploring as I stood captivated by the magnificent sight in front of me. Every bend in the pat a new magical scene lie ahead.

WARNING: Ridiculous amount of pictures to follow

  
      By this time I had been up for about 34 hours. Finding a nice grassy area sloping downward we laid down to soak in the sun; quickly falling fast asleep. Waking up a full hour later I could hear passerbyes commenting on us. "Oh, how cute. Look at those girls!" "Hey, those two have the right idea." "haha did you see the girls over there? I wonder how long they've been there?" If these comments were made by several different couples in the short amount of time while I was waking up, I can't imagine how many commented on us throughout the hour.

Purses come in handy for so many things...like pillows!

I must say it tops my list as one of the best naps I've ever taken. Napping in parks is a reoccurring theme throughout this holiday. Waking from our nap we continued on with the rest of the park and home to the hostel. Although it was only 6:30pm we could hardly keep our eyes open. By 8pm we couldn't take it any longer, off to bed. Getting 12.5 hrs our sleep we still almost slept through our alarm.

More adventures form London to come tomorrow

With Love from Galway

P.S.
I just received an Easter package from Grandma Viv!

Yummmm!

Reeses Eggs my favorite!!

Thank you Grandma!