The House on Ladd

Anyone else experience the pre-vacation panic? Austin and I always get cold feet before a vacation. “Do we really need to go?” Every second before boarding the plane is full of anxiety. But once we take off, we are ready to party! It is so funny to me that no matter how many times we travel, the scenario is the same, and we always come back so glad that we went. So, if you feel anxious about travel, know you are in good company!

For our trip to the UK, we had a red eye flight from DFW to Heathrow. It was delayed about an hour, but we arrived right on time. Now, I cannot sleep on planes. On my trip to Central Asia, I was awake for around 30 hours just simply because I cannot, no matter how exhausted, sleep on a darn plane. Knowing this, I purposefully got us two seats by themselves so maybe I could actually sleep enough to enjoy day one. It was only slightly successful.

Getting through Heathrow was not terrible. Busy, but it’s one of, if not the busiest airports in the world. Find the tube to get out of Heathrow finally required asking for assistance. You have a few options when leaving: tube, express tube, and taxi or hotel shuttle. Our hotel did not offer a shuttle, so we took the tube, which got us to city center in about an hour. Don’t forget your Oyster Card! I’ll never forget the almost silent tube ride through residential areas and finally, into town.

We stayed at The Claremont, Victoria hotel, which is attached to Victoria Station. This was wildly convenient to main attractions, like Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, and to all other buses or tubes to get everywhere else. We walked in the rotating doors to the most beautiful fresh flowers and sweeping staircase. After a shower and nap, we set off to find dinner.

Let me tell you, Cyprus Mangal was everything we didn’t know we needed. The food was so fresh and abundant. We both ordered the Mixed Doner and ate almost every bite. We were starving! And took Baklava back to the hotel for later. I still think about this meal…

Then, off to bed for Day 2!

xo, Amanda