Friday, April 14 & Saturday, April 15

Our Journey begins with a train to New York, an overnight near JFK, then an early plane to London. Both were very lovely and the premium seats with Virgin Atlantic were well worth the extra travel. When we looked at flights to London, British Airways flew out of our home airport of BWI on Friday night but we chose to travel to New York to fly out via Virgin Airways instead for a few reasons:

• It was actually cheaper to take a train to NY and stay overnight than it was to fly from BWI

• This included Premium seats on Virgin Airlines, which are much like business class… larger seats, 8” more legroom, and meals and alcoholic beverages were included!

• We flew during the day instead of overnight, which was better for us since we never really get great (or much) sleep on a plane.

The flight was actually really nice, we would both highly recommend this option if traveling to London from somewhere you can easily get to JFK. We were greeted with a blanket and an adorable little necessities bag (eye mask, headphones, toiletries included), and provided Prosecco prior to takeoff. We were served a full English breakfast, had lunch/dinner (we preordered and were served first), and had a bit of wine before landing. Getting through Heathrow in the evening was a breeze, we grabbed our bags and were waiting for our Uber less than 30 minutes after landing. 

For international data, we pre-purchased eSIMs from Airalo. I’ve used this service once before, they have eSIMs that you can purchase for almost every country (or region) and a 10GB Europe card was $37 and covered our whole trip- in London and Paris! We have Verizon, so the TravelPass they offer is not great and super expensive; this is a good alternative. It is data-only though, so any phone calls must be made through FaceTime or WhatsApp (but who do we need to call on vacation anyway?). 

Once we arrived in London, we took an Uber to our hotel (the Hilton London Hyde Park), which was right by Kensington Palace. It was a nice room, but the toilets in Europe are small for large American bottoms. (Hilarious that he’s calling out the toilets but I was more concerned by the twin beds 😂) Once we set our things down, it was late in the evening so we went to an Italian restaurant down the street called Bella Italian. London is very much a credit card town, so in many places you scan a QR code and can order and pay on your phone. I had a gin and tonic to drink and a Spag Bol to eat (spaghetti bolognese for those not hip with the lingo). Cori had a pizza that was on par with Charles Entertainment Cheese (I actually believe Chuck-E-Cheese pizza is better, also I ordered a margarita pizza and they brought out a cheese pizza with two basil leaves dropped on it). Then we retired to our room to watch British TV, which I am quite fond of- especially the English channel called “Dave”. If you know Keith, he was in British television glory the whole time we were here. British game shows, comedy shows, all of it- he’s obsessed. 

Sunday, April 16 (video recap)

Sunday started late, but just in time for Sunday Brunch (the TV show, not the meal). After we oriented ourselves for the day, we took the underground to Camden to visit Camden Market. We would both highly recommend this to anyone considering a trip to London. I got business bear socks and Cori bought a ring (which I should have gotten a bit more snug because it fell off somewhere along the trip). This area of town is keeping the British Punk scene alive. We went through many shops, we stopped at some stalls for food, and of course a couple of pubs for a pint or two (The Farrier and Lockside). This was an awesome place for shopping and food, possibly one of our favorite things 

We then made our way back to the hotel to rest before heading out for a Sunday Roast. Sunday Roast is something that comes up often in Keith’s favorite podcast “Off Menu,” where comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster interview guests asking about their dream meal. After pursuing the menu, we decided to do the shared offering they had that included steak, chicken, and pork belly. On the side, there were Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, pigs in a blanket (in the UK that is cocktail sausage wrapped in bacon), buttered cabbage with leeks and peas, roasted carrots and parsnips, stuffing, and gravy. Cori also ordered a side of Mac and cheese since they did not have cauliflower cheese, which I had heard much about and wanted to order. Needless to say, that was entirely too much food and we got through as much as we could. Everything was delicious though. It was enough food for at least 4 people, but allowed us to try everything- and it really was SO good!

The pub we ate this amazing meal at was The Champion which touts that Freddie Mercury wrote “We Are the Champions” in its basement. That was a happy accident because I chose that place solely on its relative location to our hotel. The pub was built in 1838 on the grounds of an old boxing ring, which is how it earned its name- and up until the early 2000s it was regarded as a gay pub and the band Queen used to spend quite a lot of time there. They even renamed the basement lounge the “Mercury Lounge” in Freddie’s honor. As a really big Queen fan, I was super excited about us stumbling across this cool piece of history! 

Naturally, after dinner, we wanted some desserts but we took those as a takeaway from a place Keith wanted to go to called Dr. Power and had them in our hotel room as we prepped our luggage for our trek to Paris the next day. Keith had heard of an app called Bounce, we were able to pack a small carry-on for our short trip and store our large luggage near Kings Cross in London until we returned for only £10 a day! This made our train travel super easy.

Monday, April 17 (video recap)

We started our day with a quick breakfast at Pret a Manger near our hotel then took an Uber to the luggage storage spot near the train station. Once we handed off our bags (which was such a great idea!), we headed to the station to get on the Eurostar train. We didn’t realize that the check-in process for the train is a little more involved than just hopping on- we thankfully had enough time to go through security and get our passports checked/stamped before boarding shortly after. Makes sense, since we were leaving the country, but next time we’ll read the confirmation email where it says “arrive 90 minutes ahead of time” a bit better. The train ride itself was great: comfortable, clean, and quick! Highly recommend Eurostar.

Once in Paris, our main goal for that day was to see Sainte-Chapelle since we had booked tickets. We checked into our hotel, L’Empire Paris, then walked over to city island (Île de la Cité) and saw this beautiful chapel with ornate stained glass. This was a very popular site- we booked tickets ahead of time, but still waited probably 45 minutes in line to get in. It actually seemed like the line to buy tickets onsite was shorter and moved quicker because everyone had planned ahead and was in the pre-purchased ticket line. The chapel itself was awe-inspiring once we got inside, it was absolutely gorgeous and dates back to the 1200s.

Cori noted many times on Epcot’s accuracy in portraying Paris. No shame here, Disney really did a nice job of reflecting the atmosphere and food that we actually experienced in France. After visiting Sainte-Chapelle, we went to a cafe across the street to have lunch/dinner (Brasserie Les Deux Palais). I had the steak tartare and Cori had what would be the first of many Croque Madames. For dessert, I had the first of many hot chocolates and ice cream. We were also given an olive tapenade and some bread, which was pretty nice. Plus, we had to complement everything with a few glasses of wine, of course.

After our meal, we walked over to Notre Dame Cathedral and admired it from the outside, as they are still restoring it from the fire. They had a very interesting photo exhibit along the fences that lined the building, so we took a look at that and I took a ton of photos. I did get a replica window cling of one of the rose windows to put in my office, which I’m quite excited about. From there, we walked back to the hotel. We did see some protesting a few blocks away as we walked- but it seemed well-contained and not at all what is being sensationalized on the news in the US. 

We attempted to fall asleep at a reasonable time to get our sleep schedule on track. Spoiler alert: it did not work, but “Sherlock” was on TV and in English so I put that on. This was actually my downfall, Keith was able to fall asleep to the familiar show, but it happened to be my favorite episode so I stayed awake until it was over. 

Tuesday, April 18 (video recap)

After a tumultuous evening of little sleep, we started our day with a quick bagel at the shop next door, Bagelstein. I would say they were very soft, but had a decent amount of cream cheese (he called it a “New York amount,” but that was untrue). We then traveled over to our pre-arranged fun of the day, which was a baking workshop at Le Cordon Bleu where we made chocolate tarts. We had seen this experience on a show Keith likes called “Travel Man” and immediately booked the class. It was not cheap, but the workshop was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to learn from a French chef at one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world and we had an amazing time.

This is now my recommended way to bake. All of our ingredients were preportioned, someone else takes things out of the oven, places them into a blast freezer, then brings them to you when you’re ready for the next step. Although they did have a “Baking with Keith”-style mistake when they gave us the wrong chocolate for the tart and glaze, it all came out well and we each got our certificate. We both completed the course, which meant we walked away with two full-sized tarts, as well as hats, aprons, a small recipe book, and of course we grabbed a magnet for our collection.

After the class, it was time to eat! We went to a boat that was on the water right as they were closing lunch service (Quai Liberté). We split two entrees of a chicken dish with gnocchi and mushroom risotto (the menu was only in French, so we can’t be more specific than this). The boat had a great view of the Statue of Liberty- yep, that’s right! There’s a Statue of Liberty a fourth of the size of the one in NYC given to France by US expats in Paris in 1889 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution, right in the middle of the Seine River. We were going to go to the Louvre, but we found out the hard way that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. So we headed back to the hotel to try to make up for our lost sleep.

After a nap, we went to the Trocadéro to have dinner at Café du Trocadéro. Cori had Croque Madame again and I had Truffle Pasta with Ham. We finished our meal just in time to get a great view of the Eiffel Tower lighting up for the evening, which it does at dusk. It also has sparkle lights at every hour on the hour for five minutes. After some photos (and Keith’s many references to the latest John Wick movie), we had dessert at another cafe (Carette), where I had hot chocolate and an eclair and Cori had decaf espresso and two macrons (and a dozen macrons to go). Hot chocolate in Paris is very thick, as if they just melted a chocolate bar and put a splash of milk in it. Once finished with dessert, we had another Eiffel Tower photo shoot before retiring for the evening. 

Wednesday, April 19 (video recap)

We started our day with a short walk to a patisserie for a croissant and muffin before getting on the train to Versailles, which is only about a half-hour train ride out of the city. It was a little challenging for us to navigate the train station since everything was in French, but thankfully I know east from west and was able to communicate with a French man via hand signals to make sure we got on the appropriate train.

We arrived in Versailles and took a short walk to the Palace of Versailles, taking note of some shops along the way so we could stop on the way back. We toured the palace, which itself is a monument of decadence and art. Cori really liked that all the drapes matched the walls in each room (not just that the drapes matched the walls- but that the *velvet* drapes perfectly matched the *velvet* wallpaper in color and pattern). Keith hated all of the photos I tried to make him take of me, and he showed it. We had lunch at Angelina, which I think might be somewhat of a chain since our hotel chocolates were also Angelina branded. I had a Croque Monsieur and Cori had Avocado Toast. It may have been the best I’ve ever had- it included cream cheese, feta cheese, purple cauliflower, hazelnuts, and more. For dessert, I had another hot chocolate and we split the pastry they called Antionette (it was delicious). We then took the Pokémon gym at Versailles Palace, by the way, this entire trip we both played Pokémon Go. 

Before heading back on the train to Paris, we grabbed some souvenirs and stopped at McDonald's to get a Royale with Cheese for the Pulp Fiction fans out there (this was a big Paris “to do” item for Keith). It is indeed exactly the same as a Quarter Pounder with Cheese at home, so don’t bother. We made our way back to the hotel to rest before heading out for the evening to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. It’s not as old as other churches, just about 140-some years old, but very beautiful at the top of a hill with an amazing view of the city. Because of my lengthy nap and terrible Paris traffic, we got there right at sunset, it would’ve probably been cool to sit and enjoy the music and ambiance with some wine. The Basilica kind of blew my mind with how commercial it was inside- it was really beautiful, but literally had credit card pay stations for the prayer candles and commemorative coin vending machines all throughout it. They also just had random dudes with cases of Heineken selling beer on the stairs outside!

We then walked down the stairs where John Wick was beaten up a bunch (I’m telling you, he just kept talking about John Wick the whole time we were in Paris) to grab a late dinner at a cafe (Le Saint Regis). I had Boeuf Bourguignon and Cori had a Ham, Egg and Cheese crepe (yet another version of a Croque Madame). No dessert for us that evening. And if you are curious, at many of our meals I had glasses of wine and Cori’s main drink of choice was a Kir Royale except for this evening, where she had a Coke. The wine was delicious, but details on such things are lost on me since all I know is to pair red with beef and white with chicken (side note: he doesn’t eat fish, so that’s why he didn’t mention it). We then went back to the hotel to sleep before heading back to London the next morning. 

Thursday, April 20 (video recap)

We woke up and grabbed a quick to-go breakfast from the bagel shop again, where they remembered our order from two days prior. We headed to the train station with some delay, it seemed like our Uber driver needed to take a long way to get around the protesters near the Louvre whom we could hear, but not see. We then got back on the Eurostar train back to London. 

After a quick ride, and a stop to pick up our suitcases, we made our way to the hotel. Our room was not ready, so we grabbed lunch at a French cafe nearby (Café Rouge) because Cori wanted another Croque Madame (this is NOT why we stopped here, it was close and not super crowded, they just happened to also have the sandwich I like). I had Steak Frites. In a true Smalltimore moment, at the restaurant we ran into a high school classmate of mine named Dan Lapreziosa, who was in London for his honeymoon. 

After our lunch, we were able to get into the hotel that we stayed in for the week, The Lost Property St. Paul’s London. We were right next to St. Paul’s Cathedral and we decided it was a good night to relax. So we did some light snack shopping at Sainsbury’s and returned to the hotel. Keith was very glad to be back in London, because he had his British game shows and comedies to watch on TV again as we wound down for the evening.

Friday, April 21 (video recap)

We had breakfast at Greggs for a sausage roll, which was one of Keith’s main to-do items leading up to this trip. This is the one suggestion I got from my friends Adam and Matt from their London trip. Something about sausage in the UK makes this a delicious treat that you can’t replicate in the US. Keith had quite a few sausage rolls over the course of the week- all for the experience. I was always amazed how cheap  Greggs was, we could both get breakfast and drinks for less than £10.

We started the day with a tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral. We are already getting our money’s worth from the London pass (admission to the Cathedral is £23 per person). St. Paul’s is a beautiful church with a crypt home to Lord Admiral Nelson and Florence Nightingale. As usual, I took tons of photos!

Afterward, we decided we wanted to hit Camden Market once again, so we headed up there to do a bit of shopping before having a couple of pints at different bars (I had no pints, but plenty of gin cocktails). I then had to get a Yorkshire Burrito, which has been all over my Instagram feed. It’s essentially braised beef, potatoes, spinach, and stuffing wrapped in a giant Yorkshire pudding. I added cauli cheese and horseradish sauce to mine, and it was pretty good but I only ate about half of it because it was just too much food. Cori had some mac and cheese. 

From there, we went to the Charles Dickens Museum. It’s in the home that he owned while he lived in London before he moved out of town because of the smell. Drainage and plumbing was not great in Victorian-era London, and don’t get them started on the smog- half of the museum covered information on it and how it influenced the times and Dickens’ writing. We learned much about Dickens’ life, including the fact that it was common to keep hedgehogs in your kitchen to eat the pests. They had a stuffed hedgehog by the oven, who I decided was named Mr. Norris. They also had a letter Charles wrote to his doctor about his tummy issues, which just emphasizes that even Charles Dickens was just like us. When we finished up there, we went back to our hotel to rest. You’ll notice we do this a lot. We learned this trick many years ago in our heavy Disney years, afternoon naps/breaks are not just for kids!

It was around eight o’clock when we decided to go out to eat. We first hit up a pub called Shaws Booksellers, where we had a pint and watched the start of the Arsenal game before finding out the only thing on the food menu that Cori wanted (a Caesar Salad) was 86’ed. We ate so much bad food and pub grub that I just wanted something with green in it, sorry. We went to three other pubs to find they had stopped serving food for the evening shortly before we got there. So, after our many failures, we settled on the McDonald's next to our hotel. I had a Chicken Big Mac (not great) and Cori had a McSpicy. The highlight was their McFlurry options, I had a Malteser and Cori had a Cadbury Crème Egg one. McDonald’s was actually really cool in London- they had a ton more options than we’re used to, including a full vegan menu! We then settled in for the evening to prepare for another busy day. 

Saturday, April 22 (video recap)

We arose this morning with a clear goal in mind: meeting Cori’s brother Sean and his fiance Michelle at Portobello Road Market. After a quick ride on the tube, we met them and had a great time exploring the shops, the restaurants, and meeting up with their friends Nick and Alex. For breakfast, I had an Eggslut egg sandwich. This American import was one I was excited to see and immediately had to get one. Keith apparently watches this chef on Youtube and this is one of only a few restaurants he has in the world. I had a chocolate hazelnut cupcake for breakfast, which was delicious.

Portobello Road Market’s shopping was full of antiques, clothes, and in Sean’s words “Bric-à-Brac.” We all went to Leafwild Cafe, where we could have some healthy food for Sean to stay prepped for the marathon the next day. Cori and I had a pair of toasts, avocado and mushroom, respectively. One thing to say about Portobello Road Market, it is very large so we spent a fair amount of the day exploring it and I highly recommend it. 

We returned to the hotel to relax before dinner, where Michelle made reservations at Terra Rosa, an Italian restaurant that had lots of gluten-free options. We split a bottle of prosecco, and the restaurant quickly filled up! I had Orecchiette and Meatballs and Cori had Ravioli (which were very good). I also felt the need to roll out of the restaurant, so I had Tiramisu for dessert. We then went to sleep to be ready for race day. 

Sunday, April 23 (video recap)

This was the big day! Sean ran the London Marathon after finally being accepted after applying for 8 years in a row! We started off grabbing breakfast from Greggs, I am a big fan and looking to franchise in the US. After a slower pace than Cori would like to walk (my legs were not fans of the amount of walking on this trip), we made our way to Tower Bridge, the 12.5-mile mark (video). We met with Michelle and this was the first spot we told Sean to expect to see us. Sean was making incredible time and we cheered him on, seeing him only a bit after an hour from his starting time. 

Once Sean passed, we hopped on the tube to Westminister, which put us right across the street from Big Ben at 25.5-mile mark (video). We chatted with a nice French lady, who thankfully had three children that were tiring of watching the runners- so we got spots on the railing to see Sean run by. We each had a job: Michelle had a sign to display, Keith FaceTimed our sister Sarah and Sean’s friend Andrew, and I captured video of his run. In my opinion, we were a very solid spectating team. 

Sean kept up his great pace and PRed this race at 2 hours, 37 minutes, and 2 seconds!!! We took a round-about way to the meet-up area, and found him at the end to congratulate him in person. Despite beating his own record by like 20 seconds (which is huge), he still wanted to be three second faster- that’s Sean for you! After a bit of time for him to change and recover, we hit the tube again to get back to our hotel to shower and refresh. On our way back we stopped in McDonalds again to have some food in our stomach before an evening of drinks. The McDonald’s was right next to our hotel, so it was very convenient. I had a chicken wrap and Cori had a chicken sandwich. 

After showering, we headed back out to meet up with Sean, Michelle, Nick, and Alex at a cocktail bar called Cahoots Ticket Hall & Signal Station in Soho. This was a very cool place that Michelle found reservations at that had a variety of cocktails. It was a vintage-y spot that made you feel like you went back in time, themed as a 1940s train station. I had a Winston Churchill which was a tropical gin drink served in a mug shaped like Mr. Churchill’s face. I then had an Old Fashioned made with a mix of liquors. I had some Gin Brambles and a Keep Marm and Carry On, which was served in a teacup and tasted like fruit- it was delightful! This was such a cool spot, I’m so glad Michelle knew about it because we would’ve never come across it otherwise.

Drinks polished off, we walked over to Piccadilly Circus to see the sights before splitting from the gang. They proceeded to dinner elsewhere and we walked our way back to the area where we had drinks to have dinner at a sushi restaurant called OKA. Since I am not a fish fan, I had an Avocado and Kimchi Roll as well as a Fried Tofu Roll. Cori had a Red Dragon Roll and a Rainbow Roll. We walked around a bit, then headed back on the tube ack to our hotel for a good night’s sleep. 

Monday, April 24 (video recap *profanity warning*)

Today we did not set any alarms and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant for (surprisingly) the first full English Breakfast of the trip. Today, we start our three-day pass on the hop-on-hop-off bus. Our plan was to get on the first bus that stops and then stay on until we see something of interest. Once we got on though, we stayed on the bus for its whole route, taking pictures and listening to the Big Bus banter. It took us all around and after some time, we were able to get ourselves the seats right up front on the second level of the bus. 

I took many out-of-focus pictures and saw many of the sights. I took many in-focus pictures and also saw the sights. It was nice to just ride around and see a lot of the major points of interest while learning cool facts. We intended to get off at Covent Gardens to walk around and grab a bite, but they had to reroute around that stop so instead we got off near the south side of Tower Bridge for linner (lunch and dinner). We found a pub called The Two Bridges Ale House & Kitchen, where I had a Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie and Cori had a Tuna Melt. We also had a starter of Halloumi Fries, which were delicious. That, plus a few pints, and we had our fill. I had a really good IPA from Beavertown Brewery and the pub let me buy a pint glass from them, because it was really cool.

After linner, we went in search of shopping and dessert. It was raining pretty hard, but on the way to the station we stopped at Hay’s Galleria- everything was closing, so no luck there. We took the Thameslink train back across the river, but before turning in for the night we had dessert and a nightcap or two at Ye Olde London Pub. We shared sticky toffee pudding and a brownie that hit the spot perfectly.

Tuesday, April 25 (video recap)

Today we woke up early (for us), grabbed a quick breakfast bap, and took the tube to the Tower of London (Greggs had a line out the door so we pulled an audible- much to Keith’s chagrin). We made a bee-line to the Crown Jewels, which of the ones we could see were a sight to see. Keith’s elaborate phrasing means that some of the crowns and jewels were not there because they were getting them ready for the Coronation, which takes place in less than two weeks. My favorite piece was Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross, which featured a 503-carat diamond and was just incredible. I was very bummed we weren’t allowed to take any photos inside. We probably could have spent all day seeing the different sights inside the Tower of London, but we had an afternoon tea reservation to get to. 

Our afternoon tea was at a place called The Restaurant at St. Martin’s Lane London. Cori and I each had Earl Grey tea. We had scones, finger sandwiches, and petite cakes. It was very nice, but Cori thought the pictures online were much cuter than our experience. He’s right, the restaurant felt very dark and sparse, and the afternoon tea felt a little like an afterthought, but we had a nice time anyway. We then strolled around looking in shops before heading to St. Martin’s Theatre for a showing of “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie. “The Mousetrap” is a murder mystery play that has been running for 70 years, the longest-running play in the world. It was a fantastic play filled with humor, and it kept you guessing who the murderer was until the very end. 

After that, we made a pit stop at our hotel to figure out what to do with the evening. We wanted to find somewhere to do some shopping or sightseeing, but felt that there wasn’t much of that available in London after 6pm or so. After some googling, we decided to try out Brixton Market- the internet said it stayed open late and featured different vendors, shops, and restaurants every night until around midnight. Fun fact: it doesn’t on Tuesdays. After walking through once, we found one of the few restaurants that was still open and decided on Black Bear Burger for dinner. Cori and I were in agreement that it was an incredible burger (and I’m not even really a huge burger fan, but it was REALLY GOOD). Afterwards, we stopped in a supermarket for some snacks to bring home with us then headed back to the hotel and went to bed before our last full day in London. 

Wednesday, April 26 (video recap)

After some discussion, we decided on a few things that we wanted to do on our last day and we decided to kick off an action-packed day by taking the tube to Baker Street, where we were going to go to grab breakfast then go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. That was until Cori decided that she wanted to give the NHS a test run before we left, because she fell down some steps and hurt her ankle. In a moment of excitement, we walked past a staircase labeled “The Wonderpass,” and I got too excited running down the stairs to check it out. In reality, it’s just a really cool-looking themed underground walkway under the intersection, but I saw about ten feet of it before I managed to forget how walking worked.

We made our way to the nearest A&E (Accident & Emergency) at Euston Hospital with the help of an extremely nice person who also was getting off the tube. She helped us hail a black cab and get Cori into the car. She was a literal angel who did not need to take time out of her day, but I’m so thankful she was able to help us. Also, we hadn’t gotten a black cab experience yet- so I was a little excited about that! I was also trying to make light of the situation and joke around, but Keith was not really in the mood for it. I tend to be a very clumsy, injury-prone person with a high pain tolerance, but my ankle was swelling to baseball-size and it really hurt.

Once at the emergency room (A&E) the experience was not that bad. For people that complain about wait times with socialized medicine, I would say it was roughly the same as in the US, except there was not paperwork to fill out for billing purposes. Once they knew I wasn’t from England, I was given a simple form to fill out- name, birthday, address, and allergies, then sent to the waiting room. They triaged me pretty quickly and got me into a wheelchair. Having not eaten breakfast yet, Keith got me a Snickers bar from the vending machine and he had a peanut butter protein bar. I feel it’s important to tell you that, because Keith detailed every other meal we had and this one was missing. 

After a little wait, Cori was given pain medicine and they took her back for an x-ray. Shortly after, she met with a doctor who told her that nothing was broken and she should continue taking pain/swelling meds and ice her ankle, which is what we did for most of the day. With my ankle wrapped, pain meds in my system, and no payment due to the hospital, we made it back to the hotel for rest and packed our suitcases for our travel the next day. Keith headed to a nearby pharmacy for medical wrap, tape, and pain meds for me.

After a few hours rest, that evening we headed over to the reservation we made at the SkyBar at Sky Garden for drinks and snacks with Sean and Michelle. Here you’re probably like, “wtf Cori?” but 1) the cancellation fee for a reservation of 4 was £100 and 2) it’s a place called SKY GARDEN and that’s my thing. It was worth hobbling around to see it. The bar was an enclosed rooftop bar with delicious cocktails to match the great views. Like, amazing views- you could see all of London and everything was lit up, it was really cool. We then went back to the hotel to sleep before starting our journey back home the next morning.

Thursday, April 27 & Friday, April 28

Keith has apparently independently decided that we no longer need to document our travel days, so I’ll wrap it up with a cute little bow here. After Keith grabbed breakfast- we headed back to Heathrow. 

We traveled back home on Virgin Atlantic in the same way we arrived, although this time I got to try out the “accessible” version of traversing the airport. They had a very rigid system for those needing wheelchair assistance- rather than just lending us a chair, we were escorted through security and then dropped off in small waiting room with others needing assistance where we were told to wait until it was time to board. They took my chair away, so Keith wandered around to find some things (ice, another medical wrap, etc) while I sat and waited. No airport shopping for me! When it was time to board, everyone in the waiting room on that flight boarded a little golf cart to go to the gate.

The flight was uneventful, I was able to ice my foot, and we had yummy food. When we landed, I buckled into my new wheelchair and breezed past insane customs lines (no joke, probably 2-3 hour wait) to the Global Entry station (where nobody was). We Ubered to our hotel near Penn Station, ordered in dinner, then called it a night. 

In the morning, we both awoke around 5:30am due to jet lag. Breakfast started at 6:30am, then we returned to our room for more ice and elevation while we watched Good Morning America. When it was time to head across the street to the train station, we utilized Amtrak’s Red Cap service, which meant that we sat in their waiting area, someone assisted us with our bags onto the train, and we were the first to board and get our seats. It was super helpful since the train was fully booked- and we grabbed a spot with some extra space so I could raise my foot up a bit.

We arrived in rainy Baltimore right on time, and coincidentally Keith’s dad was nearby and able to drive us home! We struggled to stay up past 6pm, made it to around 9pm, then passed out (just to wake up at 5:30am once more).

If you’ve made it all the way to the end- Cheers! Thanks for adventuring with us in spirit, and here’s to our next one!

Bonus: Helpful Apps We Used!

Acrobat

We always download all of our confirmations, maps, and important documents (passports, etc) as PDFs and save them into Acrobat on our phones so that we have access to everything we need even if we don’t have data or wifi.

Airalo
Great service for eSIMs, providing international data at great prices.

Note: data-only, not cell service. Calls can still be made via FaceTime or WhatsApp.

Big Bus

A hop-on-hop-off bus service with three different routes throughout London.

Bounce

Find and make reservations for luggage storage while you adventure around!

Google Maps

Provides directions walking, driving, biking, or even using public transit- telling you exactly which lines to use and stops to get off at.

Note: In London and Paris, it even factored in realtime train schedules to put you on the fastest option.

Google Translate

Provides text and verbal translation, plus will live-translate text found in photos as well.

London Pass

A one-cost pass that permits entry to a lot of different popular sites around London.

Note: a few of the more popular offerings require advanced reservations, which we did not plan ahead for.

TfL Go

The official app for London’s mass transit options.

Uber

No Lyfts here! Make sure you have Uber if you want to utilize rideshare services.