Wednesday, December 17, 2014

1 Week Countdown!

We are only one week away from takeoff,
and absolutely can't believe it!

To help us prep, the city of Los Angeles has had quite the dreary, rainy weather. We appreciate it (as do the plants that produce food i love so much), but Adler is really pissed. She is a princess, and does not prefer using the bathroom on soggy ground. She has requested that i publicly request a little sunshine staying power for her.

So after months of preparation, i am fitting all the last minute to-dos into this week; and i am terrified that i'm going to miss something!

I have our packing list, have finalized our intinerary, have started to rain guard our shoes, hats, & coats, and of course, have started our list of who needs souvenirs!

Update on previous posts:

To save money, we cancelled our hotel room for Christmas Day, and are doing our London Walk Christmas Walk on Boxing Day instead. Once again, we are so thankful to have an amazing friend that is letting us stay at her flat!!! It has saved us SO much money, and made life exponentially easier!

For Christmas Day transportation (as you may remember ALL transportation is closed on Christmas Day, except National Express Coach and cab service), Nationa Express Coach tickets went on sale about a month ago, and I secured us two seats on board. That will take us as far as Victoria Coach Station, which will allow us to walk around the streets of London a bit before taking a cab (an extra-charged/expensive one) to our final destination. (Lesson learned, be extra careful of which day you arrive in London!) 

Another perk, that i will have to confirm once we arrive, the only left luggage service in town open on Christmas Day, is located inside Victoria Coach Station. This will let us store our bigger bags for a bit, while we walk around, and look for a place airing the Queen's Christmas message.

For phone use: AT&T changed their international plan in October, and now provide slightly better packages. We will have unlimited wi-fi and text messaging (from what i understand we will be able to text message for free with everyone in US --- i mean it will use your text messages, but we'll be fine), limited amount of data, and it will cost 50 cents a minute to talk (so don't plan on hearing our voices, unless we skype).

The hardest part still is leaving the adorable little one that is currently cuddled next to me. I wish we could have a chat with her and make her understand that we'll just be gone for a little bit, and we still love her very much!

So thankful that we have a safe place for her to stay, and a lot of fun stuff and fun people to distract us!

As a treat, to hold you over for photos to come, here is one of our favorites from my last trip to England.