Dublin to London

The next morning we woke up early to pack up and get ready for our flight to London.

We flew Ryanair, which we had heard very mixed reviews about, but we felt ready. Our bags were weighed and measured before we even left the US, and we know all of the benefits and drawbacks. 

Overall, it wasn't so bad. We got there and a couple of our suitcases were a little over 10kg, so we moved some things into lighter suitcases, and got everything checked pretty quickly with the express bag check. It was very convenient to be able to weigh the bags before we had to check them. It would have cost 13 euro for each kg we were over weight.

We arrived at the airport pretty early and had paid the extra for the fast-track security line, so we had some time to find lunch at the airport. As I've mentioned before, finding a place that suits all of us is not fun, but I got some food from the deli and everyone else ate pizza. 

Ryanair's rules say that bags must be checked at least an hour early and you must arrive at the gate at least 30 minutes early, but when we got to the gate, we waited for quite a while before they began boarding, and then the line was incredibly long. 

We had been told they would measure every bag to be sure they fit in the sizing box, and if not, we'd have to check them for 57 euro, but as far as we could tell, no one's bags were measured at all.

Then we boarded and for the first time in all my years of flying, we went outside and the front half boarded from the front of the plane and the back half boarded from the back. It actually made things a good bit easier.

The flight was fortunately very uneventful. (We later found out that same day was the day that the window on another Ryanair flight broke and a man was sucked out of the plane, only to be saved because his wife grabbed his feet and other passengers helped pull him back in. Terrifying.)

We arrived at the London airport and gathered our bags at baggage claim, or so we thought...

We had accidentally left our biggest bag and didn't realize it until after we were out of security, so Jason had to be escorted back in to get it.

We then took the express train to our stop in London and headed to our apartment, or so we thought...

The address in the main email was for the office of the rental company, and we didn't realize there was another address until we had already walked half a mile out of our way in the scorching heat with all of our luggage.

We finally found the place and checked in, and were ready to do some laundry. We changed our booking at the last minute, because the first place had a dryer listed originally, but when I went back to look, the amenity had been deleted, so I found another place that did have one, or so we thought...

Upon checking in, we realized there was only a washing machine and drying rack. At first the rental company said it had broken a few days earlier and been replaced with a washer by mistake, but when asked about refunding money, they lied and said there was never a dryer advertised. (They didn't even change the listing before lying. After the whole trip of back-and-forth with them, we were successful in getting Airbnb to refund the money we requested.)

Once we were checked in and settled, we took off for our London Eye reservation. We took the underground across the river (everyone's first view of Big Ben was fun to see), and walked toward the London Eye to get in line and boarded quickly using our Fast Track pass, or so we thought...

As we were almost next in line, there was a malfunction and the whole thing stopped for quite a while. Eventually they got it going again and we were able to board (with a man who had been eerily watching us with amusement, maybe, while we waited in line). We had heard how big the cars were, but they were definitely huge, and air-conditioned, which was nice. 

I had been to London once before, 30 years ago, and the London Eye wasn't there yet, so I was excited to see the views, and they did not disappoint! It was so gorgeous, and almost sunset, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We also saw a family in the next car and took their picture, and then they took ours and we exchanged in the gift shop after the ride! The family was from Brazil, and didn't speak much English (and of course we don't speak any Portugese), but we were able to use WhatsApp to share the photos!

Afterwards, we walked over the bridge to get a much closer look at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and then started trying to find somewhere to eat. After much looking, and a bus ride (again, top, front of the double-decker), which we hopped off after seeing a few good restaurants, we found a place called Frankie's and Johnny's that was delicious! Gemma finally got the Mac and Cheese she'd been wanting all trip!

Then we went back to our apartment and again collapsed. This place also had no AC, but did have fans, which helped a lot!

Walk count: 4.3 miles