As someone who has been on a number of flights, both international and domestic, this flight in particular, was by far the longest. The 7 and a half hour flight seemed to drag on forever. One thing that really surprised me on this British Airways flight was the fact that they began serving us dinner at midnight Pittsburgh time, then breakfast an hour or so before landing in the United Kingdom, 10 am local time. Despite the long, direct flight into London, I didn’t notice the jet lag until later on in the day.
After retrieving all of our luggage and meeting up with our tour director, David, we ventured off into the city and picked up our local tour guide to go on a quick bus tour around London. It was then that we were informed that the new royal baby was born and that it was a boy! What an exciting start to our time in the UK.
It never really felt like we were in London until we made a quick stop to see Buckingham Palace and the surrounding monuments, such as the Victoria Memorial. The monument in honor of Queen Victoria matched perfectly to the outside facade of Buckingham Palace, featuring lots of marble and intricate bronze detailing. These two special pieces of history and art to central London compliment each other so well because they were designed by the same architect, Sir Aston Webb.
After having some time to see Buckingham Palace, we drove around the city and finished our bus tour of London at Tower Bridge. Before exploring Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, we broke for lunch and ate at a UK favorite, Wagamama. After lunch, we explored the Tower of London, featuring the Royal Mint, lodging for the King, the Bloody Tower, along with many other towers.
One of the most impressive sights while touring the Tower of London was seeing the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House, which some pieces are still used by the Queen on special occasions.
It wouldn’t have been our first night in London without a fish n’ chips dinner! I can’t wait to eat this for dinner every night on this trip.. only slightly joking.
This was an exciting start to our trip! I can’t wait to start getting into our media visits for this trip and delving more into the role of public relations in London.