A Wee Break in Londontown

To fly from Morocco to East Africa, our next "real" destination, required a flight through Europe, so we figured it would be a good opportunity to have a bit of a more familiar setting for a few days, so we scheduled a few days in London. We certainly achieved our goals of resting, feeding our bellies more familiar foods (including Indian, Italian and Mexican meals), and running errands to restock on toiletries and the like.

As a side note, several people have asked us how we feel about our packing thus far since we both just have a pretty small carry-on backpack. So far we are feeling pretty good (though we were not prepared for the cold and rain in London, but we knew that would likely be the case)! We have done laundry a few times in real laundromats and also washed some stuff by hand in the sink. Packing super light has definitely made our lives MUCH easier as we've moved around so much, though I feel confident we will be tired of our limited clothes options by the end of three months! Because we were wearing random layers and a raincoat every day in London, we always felt underdressed, particularly sad for Corey who decided he belongs in London where nearly all the men wear sport coats every day.

We had no real agenda for sight seeing in London. We did a long walking tour on our own, covering nearly 12 miles of the biggest sites of central London. We decided not to go in any of the sites (Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, etc.) because entry prices are very steep! So we just enjoyed great views, people watching, and even a little sunshine as we walked. We did decide to go to a show and picked the quintessential London option of Agatha Christie's, "The Mousetrap."

We also enjoyed some more mundane "luxuries": running outside (Miriam), working out in a well-stocked gym and drinking water from the tap! These were good reminders of some of the basics of our lives that are easy to take for granted. Miriam runs outside most days back at home but this was the first time she was able to since we left a month ago. Certainly there are whole other posts we could write about safety issues for women anywhere, but for the most part, Miriam doesn't need to worry about safety while running in Fort Collins. There are very few places on our itinerary that are safe for a woman to run at all, but especially not alone. Similarly, after being so careful about water -- needing bottled water for drinking and teeth brushing, never opening our mouths in the shower, not eating raw produce, etc. -- it felt so luxurious to just be able to turn on and trust the water out of the tap. These were good reminders of the many privileges we have at home.