Ever dream of that quick weekend get-a-way? Most of us think of going to the mountains, or the lake house, camping, maybe even Vegas! I wanted that perfect quick trip. I was at my computer checking air fare, when there it was, $298 round trip to London........Could we do it? YOU BET!
On Friday night, we began the Journey, a 8:30pm Departure. A welcome cocktail, excellent meal and a 6 hour nap, would have us arriving London Heathrow at 10:00am to start our day. After clearing the formalities for entrance to the UK and a quick ride on the tube we arrived the small, lovely, Cranley Gardens Hotel. The Hotel blended in with the local houses. The room, small, beautifully decorated and quint. We only needed it to sleep, shower and a coffee in the morning. By 1230p, we were eating Fish and Chips, planning the day. In my opinion, the best way to see all of London, is a 2 day pass on The Original Tour. These double decker, hop on, hop off buses are audio narrated in 8 different languages. We decided to ride around the entire route, then hopped off at attractions such as Westminster Abby, The Tower of London, Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace and The Memorial of Princess Diana. A Champagne Flight on the London Eye was an excellent way of transforming a day of sightseeing into a night out on the town.
London's nightlife is an experience in it's own. A romantic dinner, a theatre performance, cocktails in a pub followed up by disco dancing till dawn. We chose meeting up with old friends at one of London's hottest clubs, Tiger Tiger. After a few pitchers of Red Bull and Vodka, the jet lag set in, and we were ready to turn in for the night.
After a restful night of sleep, a quick bite of breakfast, and we were off again! The lovely continental breakfast complements of the hotel was enough fuel to start off another day of sightseeing. Using the second day of our Hop on, hop off bus, allowed us to catch the Changing of The Guards, and a leisurely stroll through the infamous Harrods was about all the time we had before heading back to Heathrow airport for our flight home.
A departure cocktail, a lovely meal of chicken curry, an inflight movie or two, put us back into Chicago, just in time to wind down, and get ready for the week ahead. The memories of a weekend trip to last a life time !!!