Pre-Tour
Day 0
Fri June 6 - Sat June 7
101°
Today's the day! We're leaving the 100° degree weather of the desert Southwest behind us and flying to London! We had a 5 hour layover in Chicago, but the plane we flew on to England was brand new and we were the first set of passengers to ride it. This was the first international flight we had been on in decades, and it was an overnight flight. Chris and I managed to sleep a little, but Avery didn't sleep at all. Economy really isn't conducive to good rest.
Travel Days
The tour kit we received from Rick Steves ahead of our trip
The only member of the family who couldn't come. He's trying to look cute so we won't leave. Thankfully we have a wonderful dog sitter!
We landed at Heathrow and took the Elizabeth Line to Paddington Station, where we grabbed a meal deal at Sainsbury's. Then we took the tube to our hotel, The Vancouver Hotel and Studios. We found this hotel with the Rick Steves Great Britain Guidebook. Our room was huge and it had a kitchenette.
Avery was seriously flagging after no sleep, so we all took a short nap. We didn't rest too long since we wanted to sleep tonight and start getting over our jet lag. When we woke up, we walked around the neighborhood to pick up supplies. We bought some of the liquids we couldn't pack since we did carry on only (mouthwash, hair products, etc) at Boots, and then grabbed some items for dinner and breakfast at M&S. We were back at the hotel by 6:45 pm. We made dinner in the room, took showers, and crashed for the night.
Rick recommends packing light, so we
did carry-on and personal item only
Day 1
9,566 steps (3.59 miles)
Sun June 8 - 61°
We were up at 7:30 am and had breakfast in the room (bagels, cream cheese, and raspberries). Then we checked out and took the tube back to Paddington Station where we would catch our train to Bath. We had time to take some pictures with Paddington, and grab another meal deal, this time from M&S. Then we hurried to catch our train which left at 11:30 am.
Time for another nap!
Solo Activities
Can you guess who
the Paddington fan
in the family is?
The train was packed! We were so glad we bought our tickets in advance and had assigned seats. We got some of our first views of the countryside, which I was so looking forward to. After 90 mins, we arrived in Bath. We walked about 20 mins to our first group hotel, Brooks Guesthouse, and rested up a bit before our Welcome Meeting at 4 pm.
I did this on every coach ride too!
Group Activities
We met our guide, Deb, who was wonderful. She was very informative and kind. We learned about the 'Whispers,' the receiver and headphone we would use to hear her, and the 'Buddy system,' where every tour member has a buddy (not in their family group) so we can do 'Buddy checks' and make sure everyone is accounted for. Then we did a group walk through town to our first group dinner at The Salamander pub.
The pub served us a traditional roast dinner of roast beef and chicken, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, and gravy. There were also 3 beers for us to try. Can't wait for our first full day tomorrow!