London - We arrived!!

We are in London! There were some travel problems yesterday between one of our group's - Courtney's - flight getting cancelled in Atlanta and then her having to a very expensive flight to London, very loud screaming children behind me on the flight to London, another group member losing his toiletries, us trying to navigate the London Underground, purchasing an Oyster Card to multiple lines EVERYWHERE. But we eventually made it safely this evening. We are staying at Palmer's Lodge at Swiss Cottage and it's so cool! It was an old home turned into a children's hospital, left vacant for several years and now a hostel.

Palmer's Lodge at Swiss Cottage

Entrance to Palmer's Lodge

We are in a room with 28 other travelers and so far most everyone has kept to themselves. We did not get much sleep Wednesday night as a lot of people were constantly coming in and out of the room, moving their stuff around and someone was fooling around in a bunk. Here's hoping tonight will be much better! I'm on a top bunk which it is pretty funny to see my 30 year old butt get in and out of a bunk - it's not how it used to be at camp when I was 12. There are multiple showers and not too much of a line for those this morning.

After checking in at Palmer's we walked around for a while to try and stay awake. We stopped in a pub around 4:30 to grab a bit to eat, but the kitchen did not open until 5pm. So what do you do in a pub before the kitchen opens? Drink. I had a pretty big headache so I did not partake but everyone got beers. When the kitchen opened, I ordered the BLT and jacket potatoes. Not know what those were - I thought it'd be fun to try. They were delicious! It was kind of like a potato cut into quarters but not all the way through then covered in cheese and "bacon". I put quotes around bacon because it's not quite like the bacon the US and more like the thick sliced ham. 

After our early dinner we walked around more to keep awake. We eventually made it to Sprinkle gelato shop. I got the Mexican Chocolate gelato and boy was it amazing!