Day 13 & 14: Last day in London & going home!

On our final day in London, it was once again, Ryan focused. He got to sleep in, was forced to eat a delicious breakfast (he was bullied into drinking shot glasses of green juices they were making), play the piano in the hotel lobby, and then we took him out school shopping.

This giant mixer was a prop at at Kitchen Aide store, which is only funny because I work with bakers now, and we had a recent mix up (no pun intended) with a missing bowl guard.

This was Uniqlo. I liked the floor. That was about it. No clothes shopping for me on this trip, Ryan got about 8 things, Rich got 2-3. I am usually waiting outside writing in my journal, waiting for them. This is a definite gender reversal situation, as I could care less about clothes shopping.

The weather in the AM had been icky, but cleared up unexpectedly for our walk. We walked, by the way, for about 80-85 miles over the course of the trip. I went about 90 thanks to my run with Jeannette.

This is only funny to Hawaiians...the top left, red bag of instant rice was the 'Pilau flavor' (in Hawaiian, pilau typically refers to things that are dirty, gross). So this made me laugh and laugh. But when I googled it, the jokes on me, as this is not at all funny.

We did manage to find a Japanese restaurant with great take out options for a very late lunch, which we enjoyed at the Regency Club in their fancier digs (our room didn't have enough space for a spread). Ryan had avocado sushi and tonkatsu curry, so he was in heaven after weeks of other kinds of foods. 

Around 3pm, the weather started to get dark and gloomy, so we headed back from the shopping district to our comfy room, and prepared to rest until it cleared it up a few hours later. 

Tough to leave this level of comfort

Tough to leave this kind of food each day

That night, Rich went to see Hamilton (he had seen Wicked the night prior)...which he loved. I would like to tell you that Ryan and I took advantage of the clearer weather that evening...but...we did not. Instead, we lollygagged, ate junk food until it was time for canapes, then laid around doing very little of anything other than doing our proctored COVID tests online, a dash to a grocery store to get snacks for the plane, and packing up for our departure the next morning.

Oh! And I also found a nearby Starbucks about a 1/2 mile away so I could surprise Rich with a souvenir mug he collects from them... Jolene on a solo mission in a foreign country without the pocket wifi is definitely not a safe situation, but I managed to screen shot/memorize the route before I left the room, and survived to tell the tale.

Ryan was barely eating each morning (he's not a breakfast eater), so he forced to take a few shots of juice (these were thick and vitamin packed, definitely not a delicious smoothie, more like something from the health food store made by someone who likes wheatgrass). This was him gathering the courage to down both shots. ;-) 

The next morning, we took the hour-long train ride to the airport, then hopped on a 10-11 hour flight to San Francisco. We lucked out and each had our own row to stretch out on! Our next flight from SFO to HI also went smoothly, although that plane was packed with tourist heading to the islands, so we sat together like sardines. :-) We landed around 7:45pm that night, and managed to all get to school and work the next morning, and also managed to escape the trip without getting sick. In the past, it was almost expected someone would get sick on a plane...but ever since we started to wear masks on the flights- we've stayed healthy!

All in all, a wonderfully success trip, with so many highlights- watching Ryan try out pianos, climbing the Arc de Triomphe, marveling at Sainte Chapelle's stained glass windows, dining on the Grand Canal, enjoying crispy, cream-filled cannoli, exploring the brightly-colored Burano Island, gazing over the 'balcony' in Luxembourg, running through Hyde Park with an old friend, Rich getting to see two marquee plays, riding on the London Eye...and relaxing in our bougie Churchill Regency digs in London.

We have so much to be grateful for, and I'm unsure what comes next. Because of COVID, we never know what or when we get to do something next. I guess that's a mystery, but I prefer predictability, and if I have my way, it would be Japan in the winter. We do have a quick trip next month that is all business for Ryan, so it's really crossing our fingers and hoping we can pull off a winter trip somewhere that hasn't opened up to foreigners (easily) yet.