We Made It To London!

Let The Adventure Begin

It is hard to believe that less than 8 days ago, I was enjoying a quiet Christmas morning with my family at my parents’ house.

It has been an extremely eventful 180 hours since that point.

On Christmas night, my mom and brother drove me to the airport so I could catch my flight down to Fort Lauderdale. Sidney’s aunt and uncle, Julie and Frank, have a condo down there. We wanted to spend some time in the sun before heading to a much cloudier climate.

This meant saying goodbye to my family a little early, which was a hard moment. I have been away from them for weeks, and even months at a time. But never a full year. The full realization of this separation hit me like a ton of bricks as I said my goodbyes. Even though they will likely be visiting us at some point in 2022, I will really miss being a short drive away from everyone.

Little did we know that it was not officially goodbye after all. I realized that I forgot a very important rain jacket as I was heading into the security line, and my unfathomably kind mother ran back to the house to get it!

I was not off to a great start. Hopefully it’s the first and last thing I forget!

Our week in Florida could not have been more perfect. We didn’t see a drop of rain the entire time we were there!

We also got to see all of Frank and Julie’s favorite areas. My personal favorite was Delray Beach, a seaside community with great food and awesome local bars.

It was great spending time with Sidney’s family. Her brother, Cameron, has his final college baseball season at the University of Iowa coming up. While this is very exciting, it also means that her parents won’t have an opportunity to come visit us in Europe. For Sidney, this truly will be a year apart from her family.

After taking in the beautiful weather and relaxation, it was time to officially start our adventure. As we packed our bags and prepared all of our Covid requirements, there was only one thought racing through our minds.

We are actually doing this! It’s real!

The first stop was Miami International Airport, where we celebrated New Year’s Eve eating pasta from the airport Pizza Hut and watching fireworks pop up around the distant Miami skyline from our plane window.

Our flight was relatively smooth, apart from a 40 minute delay getting off the tarmac. About an hour into the flight, Sidney and I were both sound asleep.

When I woke up, we were about an hour and a half outside of London’s Heathrow Airport. As we made our descent, we got a great view of central London on an unseasonably sunny day!

After baggage claim and customs, it was time to head to the city! Since we are traveling on a budget, we had to resist the urge to take the luxurious Heathrow Express train, which would have gotten us to Paddington Station in 20 minutes. Not to mention the spacious seats and free Wi-Fi.

Instead, we set up our Oyster cards and took the London Underground. It took a little over an hour to get to our stop in the neighborhood of Shoreditch, where we checked into our AirBnB and finally got the chance to relax.

However, the relaxation was short-lived since we still had to take our PCR Covid Test. We journeyed to the testing center near St. Paul’s Cathedral in the city center, and got the test out of the way. If you have not had a PCR test before, fair warning, it is EXTREMELY uncomfortable.

After the test, we went for a short walk along the Thames River before picking up some dinner and heading back home. We got our first glimpse of Tower Bridge with the lights on!

We now have to self-quarantine until we get our test results. We both tested negative to get on the plane, but now they just need to confirm our negative status before we can venture around the city.

Until then, we are just enjoying a quiet Sunday and keeping our fingers crossed for two negatives!

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We will be releasing our first video later this week, so stay tuned!