Jake's Intro: My Life in a Duffel Bag

Oh boy, where to begin... Mary and I are winding down from our second day in London, and what a couple of days they've been! But how did we get here? I'm glad you asked! Allow me to peel back the pages of time to less than three days ago, when we were still sitting in the airport in Chicago...

As Mary mentioned, we arrived at O'Hare's international terminal a solid eight hours before our flight departed. First things first; we needed a cart for our luggage. The cart is necessitated due to the extreme size and difficulty associated with my North Face Base Camp duffel. This bag contains everything I need to wander Europe for a year- clothes, Advil, and Mary's makeup. The bag must weigh around 100lbs, and while it can be managed between cars, busses, and subway trains, carrying it on foot is a struggle that causes sweating, loss of blood to the arms, and severe irritability.

I digress, we wheeled up and down the airport looking for the check-in counter for Virgin Atlantic. After speaking to multiple airline employees, we deduced that Virgin Atlantic did not appear in the terminal until the afternoon. We sat around. Eventually, they did setup shop; we checked our bags, meandered through security, and sat at the departure gate for another good three hours. Thoroughly fearing the boredom of my longest flight to date, we boarded the plane.

It was miraculous! Virgin Atlantic far exceeded my greatest dreams for the flight! I could have lived on this plane. After the plane's takeoff, Virgin's goofball-zillionaire CEO, Sir Richard Branson, shared his gratitude for choosing his airline after an over-produced-James-Bond-opening-credits sort of introduction for himself. This was viewed via everyone's back-of-seat monitors, which, as I will explain shortly, were the greatest inventions ever to happen to aviation. Before I could enjoy the good stuff, we were given goody bags complete with socks and blankies. We were also quickly served a passable four-course meal.  After devouring it, the playstation-like remotes snapped into the arms of our seats became the focus of my curiosity. The remote is Virgin Atlantic's interface for browsing through a choice of more than 50 new release movies! It also served news updates and games like battleship, among other entertainment options. Do not ever fly across the Atlantic without being on one of Virgin's planes. Again; always cross the pond via Virgin.

After a few films, I followed Mary's lead and tried to get some shut-eye. Alas, I cannot sleep on planes. This would come back to haunt me as we arrived in London by 8AM after departing Chicago 6PM. I now faced the tasked of somehow moving my mountainous bag to our hotel. The Heathrow airport has a direct link to London's Underground. We picked up a pair of London Passes (more on those, later) and loaded up our Oyster cards with English pounds aplenty, which afforded us an Underground trip to a stop in South Kensington, less than a block away from where we're staying! In high spirits, we dropped off our bags and headed out into the city- first stop, Westminster Abbey. This event was my first look into Europe's well-developed culture. It was the most over-the-top place I've ever visited in my life. Ever. Well-known British thespian Jeremy Irons

Our tour guide...

served as our audio guide through the overcrowded cathedral. We learned the fates of a few dozen nobles and monarchs who helped build-up the 900 year-old architectural marvel. Each lesson took place at the site of their respective marvel-sculpture tombes, covered in what must be many tonnes of gold. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside Westminster. My narrative cannot possibly describe the gawdiness of it all.

Afterwards, we wandered up the River Thames, but my feet were beginning to hurt. Here it is very worth my mentioning that while, on the whole, Londoners dress very well, this does not necessitate wearing uncomfortable shoes. As a matter of fact, I strongly discourage it (unless of course, your desire is bloody ankles)!

After changing shoes at our hotel, we ventured out to the tower of london. This historic structure can largely be described by our photos, aside from the crown jewels!

Finally we made our way home and Mary gave in to fatigue, falling asleep for the day quite early at 7PM, London time. I discovered I could steal a free wifi signal from a nearby McDonalds, so I caught-up on my internet news before finally resting after a 34-hour day.

When we awoke in the morning, we grabbed a complimentary breakfast from the hotel and immediately made our way towards London's Paddington Station, so we could catch a ride to Windsor for a look at the old royal palace, which happens to be the Queen's weekend residence. At the station, I noticed a bit of language which I found particularly amusing. While it may be common knowledge that an American cookie is and English biscuit, I was unaware that an American biscuit is, to the English, a 'butty'! Ha!

We arrived at the pretty little town of Windsor, viewed the Queen's swans, and began our castle tour. Here I must stress the importance of the London Pass. Aside from waiving our entrance fee into Windsor Castle, we were privileged to cut no less than 500 shmucks in line! I thought the exterior of the castle was breathtaking, but then we went inside. While, again, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the castle, I must stress that it was the most impressive thing I've ever laid my eyes on. From Queen Mary's living-room-sized dollhouse, to the collection of thousands of hand-crafted rifles, more gold than I have ever seen, and private collections of Rembrandt paintings, all in beautifully architected rooms with 40-foot ceilings...after wandering through over 20 rooms of this luxury the royals call home, I can say that there is nothing like this in the United States. Going to bed...cheers!

Again, photos!!!!!