Our Trip to London - Arrival - Day One - Family and the Lake House

Our trip to London started off with a red eye from Detroit, Michigan to London’s Heathrow Airport. We settled in for our 7 1/2 flight with overnight travel kits, complimentary pillows and blankets. The kids and I loved the sleep masks and little toothpastes provided in our travel kits!

We flew Delta and Jon was able to get us Comfort Plus seats so that we would all be a bit more comfy for the long flight. I’ve got to say, it sure was nice!

The kids were super excited about their in flight dinners. Henry said he felt so fancy! He also made friends with the woman sitting next to him. She was on a journey to Paris while he told her this was his first trip across the pond. She was so great with him. I stayed out of the conversation but was proud to hear him being polite and asking her questions.

I had my first ever cup-o-wine while flying. I didn’t drink the entire thing, but a few sips here and there helped settle my thoughts.

Since Jane is anaphylactic to sesame we knew we wouldn’t let her eat anything served on board. There were definitely options, but we weren’t willing to risk it. We made sure she ate Jimmy John’s before getting on the plane and I brought extra snacks and food for her. Since she didn’t eat, I didn’t eat either, but we were kind of okay not eating since it was bedtime anyway.

Trying to sleep was a challenge. At a certain point I told the kids to stop watching shows and that it was “bedtime.” But actually attempting to sleep was tough.

We had earplugs, eye masks, pillows… but it was so hard to truly relax. Jane managed to sleep a bit and slept across me and Henry, so that was good. I was mostly concerned about her because a tired five year old can make for a rough day!

We all slept as much as we could (maybe 3 hours) until about two hours before we landed, which was also when breakfast was served and the lights came on. At this point, we were all running on adrenaline! Haha!

Once in the Heathrow Airport, it was pretty easy to follow the signs and everything was mostly a breeze. However, we still needed to find the way out and our way to The Tube. Luckily, our friend, Josh, who we’d be staying with for a couple of nights, surprised us inside the airport and led the way to his house! It was incredibly helpful and so exciting to see him!

Josh’s wife, and our friend, Christina, was on a business trip, so she’d be meeting us the next day. In the meantime, Josh was our host, our tour guide, our barista and our chef!!!! He did everything and made our visit to London so easy!!!

After settling in at Josh and Christina’s place, we told the kids to try to nap…after my second cup of coffee for the day I decided I should close me eyes for a moment, as well…

I woke up a few hours later…we were definitely in need of sleep. Meanwhile, Jon and Josh went for a walk and Jon eventually joined us for a nap, too.

We woke up around 11 a.m. London time (6 a.m. Michigan time), quickly freshened up and started out to explore London!

We took The Tube and walked out to this view of Trafalgar Square! It was beautiful and warm and so dreamy!! We also had our first view of Big Ben in the distance from this area!

I really wanted to see some art, so that’s where we headed – the National Gallery!

There was something so amazing to see so much art in London at the National Gallery! Plus, it’s free!!!! Free and amazing art?!? Yes, please!!

This painting of Lady Jane Grey was on my bucket list! I had learned and read about it on social media and it’s just absolutely incredible and HUGE! The story behind it is also really sad.

Seeing multiple Vincent van Gogh paintings was surreal to me! I couldn’t believe they were right in front of me!

Also this. Whoa!

Once we saw what we wanted to see at the National Gallery, we decided to walk to the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone.

It was beautiful outside and we loved taking in the sights along the way…

China Town…

The British Museum was also free and very pretty inside!

The Rosetta Stone…

Crouching Venus…

Jon and this guy…

There was just so much beautiful art!

We eventually headed back to Josh’s neighborhood and grabbed some more coffee and then headed to a park to let the boys throw a football and the girls play at a playground.

This picture cracks me up. To say we were tired is an understatement. We were exhausted, BUT, the kids did great and just kept moving!

The neighborhood where our friends live… It was so beautiful.

Josh gave us some cups from his house to use and we had our lattes poured into his cups so that they’d stay warm. Such a great host!

Everything was so pretty.

Look at this pretty general store. Just lovely.

We sure were tired, but we were feeling accomplished from the day.

Inside the park was an old cemetery. I love walking through cemeteries, so we took a little stroll through this pretty area.

However this one without anything in it had me second guessing our decisions. Haha!

We started to head back to Josh and Christina’s place for dinner. Our kids were excited to see their kids, too! They’ve become friends over the years, so it was a treat to play with friends while in London!