Surprise Graduation Trip

Chapter 1: Arriving in London

May 16th 2020. 6:15pm 

After a long and turbulent flight, we had arrived safely in London. The pilot safely parks the plane at the gate. We watch as passengers start to depart the plane and we patiently wait till it's our turn. After we get off, we head to baggage claim, collect our suitcases and make our way to customs. We were greeted by a really sweet customs agent. She took my passport from me, stamped it, and asked me what I would be doing in England for 3 weeks. I told her I was in England celebrating my college graduation. 

"Congratulations on graduating from university!" she says, handing my passport back. "Have fun exploring our city! make sure to visit Big Ben before he's all covered up!" 

An hour and a half later, we arrived at our Airbnb in the city. Exhausted and hungry, we put our suitcases and backpacks in our rooms and changed our clothes. Then we went out to try to find something to eat and get some groceries. We spot a cute little sit down restaurant not too far from Airbnb. We go in and sit down and look at the menu before ordering something to eat. Half an hour passed and we were finally done eating. We paid the bill and left the restaurant to try to find a grocery store to get some groceries. We spotted an Aldi down the street, so we decided to go there and do our grocery shopping since it was only a block from the Airbnb. 

After we get back from getting dinner and groceries, we finally change into our comfy and warm Pajamas. The temp in London is currently forty-five degrees. Back home its ninety-three degrees. We brush our teeth, make some cocoa, tea and sit on the couch. We turn on the television and see that the Golden Girls are on, so we decide to watch a few of those episodes till we get sleepy. Four episodes in and none of us can stay awake. We decided to turn off the television and head to bed to get some needed rest. Today was a long day! 

We wake up the next morning, wash our face and brush our teeth. We go downstairs into the kitchen and start to make breakfast. Eggs Benedict for me, poached eggs for my dad, and scrambled eggs for my mom. We sit down at the kitchen table to have breakfast and hopefully, get an early start to a long adventurous day..After we have breakfast, we make our way out of the Airbnb and walk to the train station. It's only about a ten to fifteen minute walk from where we are staying. We get to the train station, find our train into the city and board it. 

Forty-Five minutes later and we finally arrive in the city, our first stop is to see Big Ben. Unfortunately, it's getting worked on so half of it is covered up. I get up close to it, take a few photos and then move onto the next thing on our agenda. Tower Bridge. 

Tower Bridge didn't have an elevator so we had to take the stairs. You would not believe how many stairs we had to take! five hundred and fifty to be exact. My legs felt like jelly by the time we had made it to the top. When we got to the top of Tower Bridge, we could see all the buildings and London's beautiful skyline. 

After touring Tower Bridge and walking back down those dreaded five hundred and fifty steps, we start looking for a place to have lunch. We see a cute restaurant called Sushi Tetsu. Its a cute Japanese restaurant that just opened up not too long ago. Entering Sushi Tetsu we were seated right away and greeted by the sweetest waitress. She gave us menus and we looked at what we wanted to get before ordering. 

Half an hour later and we finished lunch at Sushi Tetsu. We headed over to Buckingham Palace and saw that the gate was open halfway. We sneaked some photos of it and took a family photo in front of the gate. Then we headed off to see the horse guards. We got a photo of the horses in the front but we couldn't get too close to the guard and the horse. There was a sign on the brick wall that read "Beware! Horses may kick or bite. Thank you!" We got a couple photos of the guard and the horse before signing up for a guided tour.