England Vacation

I got home from England and threw myself into a huge project of refinishing furniture/painting rooms/organizing myself and so I completely and utterly copied (with her permission) my sister-in-laws post about England. It really saved me a lot of time. I figured I experienced all the same things and feelings, so what better way to post about it. She is also a much better writer. However, she did forget to mention that we went to the Mall of America in Minneapolis on our layover. It was awesome!

Here is England through Keysha Peck's eyes:

I became extremely overwhelmed when I uploaded the photos from my camera (300+); especially knowing Kelly has just as many pictures on her camera. Alas, I am trying to make some headway and recap about the best trip ever! (There are so many more pictures, and maybe I will post some more later....or maybe not.) My mom was the brains (and the wallet) behind the trip. She arranged all the tours ahead of time (she is quite the world traveler). We invited Kelly's fun and vivacious mom, Joyce to join us on our adventure. Good times were had with 'just us girls'. Some good laughs were shared and I know this trip will be right up there as one of my all-time favorites!

We saw England in a quick 6 days. Our only down time was sitting on the long airplane ride, riding the tour bus from location to location and sleeping in our little hotel room. We were on the go go go; that's the way I like it when I travel.

When we arrived in London we were feeling slightly jet-lagged from flying all night, but we didn't let that stop us. We checked-in to our hotel which was right by Hyde Park. After grabbing a bite to eat a local Pub we walked through Hyde Park and visited Kensington Palace and took in all the beautiful greenery. Sleep came early because of the lack the night before. Plus, we knew we had some busy days ahead of us.

Our first full day in England we visited Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge. I had heard from some people, "Don't waste your time going to Stonehenge." Easy for them to say; they'd been there before. This is an amazing sight that is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I don't think I will ever need to visit Stonehenge again, but how cool to see it in person! Windsor Castle had amazing history (my favorite was the Doll House). Bath reminded me a lot of Italy with all off the Roman statues.

Our second day was spent touring Oxford, Stratford-upon-avon, the Cotswolds and Anne Hathaway's Cottage. What a beautiful part of England! When we were at Oxford we were right where Harry Potter was filmed! (How cool is that!) Anne Hathaway's Cottage is straight out of a story book with a thatched roof and all. So quaint it made me want to sit down with a cup of tea and eat some crumpets.

The third day was a London tour. We visited all the main attractions--London Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abby, St. Paul's Cathedral (absolutely amazing), Big Ben, and a river boat ride on the Thames. Us and about a million other people viewed the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (which I missed the last time I was in England because I was too busy being a mindless teenager). We even had a traditional English lunch at a Pub where we ate meat pie and fish 'n chips. (Wouldn't be a trip to London without it).

Our fourth day was spent roaming around the streets of London. We visited Harrods (and picked up some delightful English chocolates). Of course we had to visit the London H&M! We walked down to Covent Garden and browsed a few shops on Oxford Street. We took the tube down to Kings Cross Train Station where we stood at Platform 9 3/4; where Harry Potter was filmed. (No, I am not a huge Harry Potter buff, but I have read almost all of the books, and love all the references to England). We saw the Broadway show "The Lion King", which is my new favorite musical! The costumes were phenomenal and my view of the show was 'perfect.' (I say this very sarcastically, because we bought our tickets off the street and the guy who we bought them from must have spotted us from a mile away. We confirmed with him they were good seats and of course he said yes. We took our tickets and noticed later the price on them....half of what we paid him for them. And, I had a lovely bar rail right in my face for the entire first half and then Kelly was kind enough to switch me so she was able to view the bar). Besides that, it really was the best musical ever!

We ate Hobnobs (a delicious biscuit), some nasty Indian food (Kelly's brilliant idea), and every morning for breakfast we had Porridge (Kelly's and my idea. Our mom's wanted to go eat some good 'ole fashioned English breakfasts, but we wanted our "Wakey Wakey Oatmeal." We didn't want to spend our $$ or calories on breakfast). Our last morning at the airport Kelly and I slipped away for a traditional English breakfast (to get rid of the rest of our Pounds...meaning English money) while our mom's ordered healthy smoothies! Kelly and I also found another food treasure in England--the best yogurt EVER. It's Greek Yogurt with organic honey and granola. Kelly found it at Starbucks and since we've been home she has researched and found the Starbuck's in the States don't carry it (yet). What a let down. It was the absolutely best thing I have ever tasted and lucky for us--just like in the States--there is a Starbuck's on every corner in London.

Our weather was perfect (didn't have to open the umbrella one time!) The company was the best part of the entire trip. It was a chance for us girls to get away from the boys and the kids and have a chance to bond and explore England. I love the bonding experience it was for all of us.

Our plane ride home was longer than long. It was an all day process, but I was anxious to see my family so I knew the end result would be worth it! (3 movies, 1 book and a few cat naps later I was finally home!)

All in all...a fantastic England adventure! I can't wait for the next mother/daughter trip. We are thinking somewhere warm next time.....