Hello from London!

I barely slept on the plane to London, and I got here at 8am local time (2am back home). Thus far, my trip has been pretty painless. Northwest was very accomodating and had a hot vegan (Indian curry) dinner with my name on it, and a vegan breakfast (bagel, banana, fruit) in the morning. They also sent my bags through so when I got to London I went through customs and right out the door. I took Stefan's advice and went on a double-decker tour bus ride through all the major sites in London (Big Ben, a million statues I forgot the significance of, the Palace during the changing of the guard, etc). It was a 45 minute ride there and back (to Picadilly Circus) via the "underground" but it was worth it. I have to admit, my favoUrite part of London was that ride, and seeing all the houses and patchwork backyards on the way out from the airport. I went straight to the top of the bus ) open air in 40 degree weather) and was ditched by a guy named Patrick from Costa Rica who had coincidentally made the same exact trip to the exact same tour bus on the exact same stop after we asked each other how to use the machine to buy tickets for the underground. I got a coffee to pep me up a bit for the ride. I guess MN had prepped me for the "warmer" 40 degree weather better than the Costa Rice transition. Anyways, I'll be sending plenty of extra touristy pictures as soon as I get set up in Cape Town.

When I got back to the airport I stretched out on a row of chairs and crashed for 2 hours. Luckily, I'm already feeling mostly adjusted to the time switch, so I should be able to get right into it in Cape Town. My flight boards in less than an hour so I should get going to the gate, but I'll try to keep you updated when I can.

Hope Stefan's driving safe!

Love,

Emily