Abroad once more...In England!
Once we moved abroad again, nearly 7 years after leaving Sicily a few friends and family asked if I'd start my blog again. I thought I might. I have no plans to be an influencer, and to ever get any other interest than my beloved friends and family. But if you'd like a little closer look into our life as a military family living abroad in England, here you are. I'm just going to continue on this blog, so if you want to see adorable pictures of Soren as a globe trotting tot, feel free.
We arrived in England about 8 weeks ago from Virginia. Right before Christmas. Our trip didn't go exactly as planned. Our first flight was delayed to Washington DC, which meant we missed our morning connection to London. We ended up having a 10 hour layover, instead of a 1 hour layover. Which also meant taking a red eye flight with the three kids. I still maintain my stance on trying not to taking red eye flights with my kids. They did great, honestly, but everyone was so darn tired by the time we arrived.
We had a lovely Christmas dinner at a local restaurant and left for a 5 day trip to London the day after Christmas. The kids got a gift certificate from Santa which they were able to redeem at Hamley's, the biggest toy store we've ever been to. While in London we were able to attend a Peter Rabbit Christmas themed tea in Piccadilly Circus. On day 2 we toured the Natural Science Museum and went Ice Skating at the outdoor rink then got treat on the way home from Harrods. On Day 3 we went to Trafalgar Square and toured the National Gallery, and had lunch in China Town. On Day 4 we went to the Tower of London then across Tower bridge to Borough Market were we sampled Scotch Eggs, a Japanese rice bowl, and some delicious empanadas. (Next time I'm committing to the Paella line, it looked amazing!), we then made it over to Buckingham Palace as the kids really wanted to see where the Queen lives. On Day 5 before we headed back to Portsmouth we went to the Winter Wonderland Carnival in Hyde Park. It was huge, in fact I think it had more rides and stuff to do than the permanent Busch Gardens we went to in Virginia.
London is such a great city. There is so much to do. I hadn't been back since my study abroad days 13 years ago. It's a lot different transiting the city as a part of 5, instead of 1. But it's also a lot easier with the help of google maps. It's so easy to map out your route, figuring out which bus stop you need to go to, how many stops to ride, and where to get off.
We averaged walking about 7-8 miles each day in London. Soren walked the whole time. Freya was mostly in the stroller (which was honestly kind of a pain to get on and off transport and through many of the large crowds, but would have been more of a pain if we didn't have it). Cormac would ride occasionally on the front of the stroller as well. They did really awesome. Little to no complaining. Cormac continued to remark that "I love going on adventures with all of you." Traveling with kids can be stressful, but like most things that are hard it is often worth the effort.
I'll try to update the blog on our daily life and the travel we will (hopefully) start doing soon.
We arrived in England about 8 weeks ago from Virginia. Right before Christmas. Our trip didn't go exactly as planned. Our first flight was delayed to Washington DC, which meant we missed our morning connection to London. We ended up having a 10 hour layover, instead of a 1 hour layover. Which also meant taking a red eye flight with the three kids. I still maintain my stance on trying not to taking red eye flights with my kids. They did great, honestly, but everyone was so darn tired by the time we arrived.
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| The boys finally got to sleep on the plane, we tried our best to make them as comfortable as possible. I think Patrick and I were the most tired of all. |
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| Christmas dinner in Portsmouth, England |
London is such a great city. There is so much to do. I hadn't been back since my study abroad days 13 years ago. It's a lot different transiting the city as a part of 5, instead of 1. But it's also a lot easier with the help of google maps. It's so easy to map out your route, figuring out which bus stop you need to go to, how many stops to ride, and where to get off.
We averaged walking about 7-8 miles each day in London. Soren walked the whole time. Freya was mostly in the stroller (which was honestly kind of a pain to get on and off transport and through many of the large crowds, but would have been more of a pain if we didn't have it). Cormac would ride occasionally on the front of the stroller as well. They did really awesome. Little to no complaining. Cormac continued to remark that "I love going on adventures with all of you." Traveling with kids can be stressful, but like most things that are hard it is often worth the effort.
I'll try to update the blog on our daily life and the travel we will (hopefully) start doing soon.
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