Back in London Town!

A Nostalgic Return to Where Our Journey Started

London is a place that will always be special to us.

When we started this journey, we were experiencing so many emotions all at once.

There was obviously a lot of excitement, but we were also nervous!

We had no idea what the year had in store for us, and all we could do to prepare was research and plan. There was absolutely no way to predict what we were about to experience, or prepare for challenges and hurdles that might arise along the way.

I will never forget the first time we went out to film, and I still enjoy going back to watch those early videos from time to time.

We will only ever have ONE first location of this adventure, and that will ALWAYS be London.

The other fun part about coming back is that we are extremely familiar with the city now.

It was one of our longer stays this year, so we definitely got acclimated to the neighborhoods, restaurants, bars, train routes, navigation, and overall pace of life.

We almost feel as familiar with it as Chicago at this point!

I don’t think it’s a stretch to label it as a 2nd home for us, and we will never pass up an opportunity to stop by for a few days.

We arrived at King’s Cross Station around 1pm after a comfortable train ride down from York.

We had plans to get 2 videos filmed during our short return, but there was one factor we had not accounted for: it was HOT!

The British measure temperatures in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit. Actually, the whole world does except for us stubborn Americans!

So, anything over 32 degrees Celsius (around 90 degrees Fahrenheit) is far too hot for the average Londoner to be out and about. It is very rare for London to exceed those temperatures.

On the day in question, it was a whopping 35 degrees Celsius, which is 95 degrees Fahrenheit!

Since we only had a few days back in London, we braved the elements and got in as much exploring as we could manage.

We returned to a few of our favorite hangouts, but also challenged ourselves to discover new places as well!

The great thing about London is that you could visit 20 times and still manage to find something new.

The sprawling layout of the city is a never-ending collection of new things to discover.

And, as I mentioned in a newsletter all the way back in January, it is one of the most well-connected cities by public transit, so nowhere is off-limits!

One thing we definitely noticed right away is that one of London’s signature tourist destinations, Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben), is all finished with their remodeling project!

Here is what it looked like the first time.

And here it is now!

Thankfully, the heat finally broke during our last afternoon, but the 2 video goal was unfortunately out of reach by that point.

However, we were very pleased with the footage we were able to collect. Be sure to keep an eye out for our guide to 10 pubs you must check out when you are visiting London!

This city has done a lot for us, and although we wish it was just a little more affordable, we have developed an undeniable fondness for the English capital.

There is no doubt that we will return again in the future. It is a very easy connection from Chicago, and also a great gateway to every corner of the European continent!

Similar to the first time we left London, we are heading to Eastern Europe again!

We will be exploring Belgrade, Serbia for the next few days, and we are excited to immerse ourselves into a brand new place!

There are plenty of “off-the-beaten-path” destinations coming up, so be sure to stay up to date on the newsletter and our YouTube videos!

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