Insane & Exhausting Day – Day Three (London)

The most important thing to report is that we made it London in one piece….although we pretty much lost our sanity in the process. Madeline finally fell asleep last night at what would be after midnight Dublin time. David and I were both wired as well and forced ourselves to head to bed at 1:30am. I know that we can’t be 100% adjusted to the time difference yet but I think it is something more than that. Maybe it was the sugar in the ice cream we had?? “Back in the day” David and I wouldn’t care what time we stayed up ‘til or how little sleep we had but we have to be on the top of our game with a 3-year old running around.

We had a 7am wake-up call. David and I did as much as possible in getting ready so that Madeline would sleep as long as possible. Regardless we still had to wake her which we dreaded because she had so little sleep. We pretty much flew to the airport…..in a manual car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and driving on the left side of the road. Great driving skills, David! I can’t even imagine how difficult that has to be to get used to because you have to even think just walking across the street (keep in mind, oncoming curb-side traffic would be coming from the opposite direction too!) We dropped the rental car off and ran to the airport (we thought our flight was earlier than it actually was). This in itself was a sight to see!! Keep in mind that each of us has a suitcase (although Maddie’s is mini-sized) and each of us also has a carry-on. This wouldn’t normally be a problem except Madeline is too small to carry her own stuff. Add to this the fact that somewhere in Europe, one of the wheels to one of the larger suitcases fell off. We could have been our own sitcom episode today! Luckily, or flight wasn’t until 11:10am, not 9:55am like we originally thought. This at least gave us time for a leisurely breakfast.

We flew BMI air. Their flight attendants have the goofiest hats! I must say that plane was pretty darn creaky too! The flight should’ve only been 50 minutes but due to high hinds, we circled London, Heathrow airport for about a half-hour before finally landing. Not fun!! In the midst of the circling, Madeline decided to become monster-child. Mama and Papa are not happy. Finally, we get our bearings in the airport to have to hop the Tube (subway) to our flat (near London’s tower bridge). Again, if it were just the two of us navigating all this it would be no problem but doing this with a grumpy 3 year old, 3 suitcases (one with a broken wheel), 3 carry-ons and by this time 3 hungry tummies was not fun. Oh, I need to mention that the Tube ride was an additional 40 minutes (with a train transfer with all this luggage)

We finally got to our flat which is very small but quite nice (better than a hotel room). Basically we dumped all our stuff and hit the streets to find an early dinner. We stopped at a family-friendly pub. David had a chicken sandwich, Madeline had fish & chips while I, the most daring of the group, had a lamb & mint burger. On the walk back to the flat we decided to stop at a small store (about a 5 min walk from the flat) for a few essential food items to have in the flat. At this point Madeline once again decided to hit the wall. Okay, I know we have been running her ragged but we hit the limit with giving leeway. Basically, Madeline was dragged out of the store by Mama and back to the flat (luckily I remembered my way) while David finished up in the store and met us back at the flat. Oh yeah, and Madeline was in time out until David got back. We are beginning to wonder who’s bright idea it was to do the European tour with a three year old. We did, however get back to the flat early enough and Madeline is sleeping at a somewhat decent time so we are hoping tomorrow will be a better day. At this point, David is still unsure what time his meetings are tomorrow but we are hoping that by the time David is done with his business that Madeline will be rested enough to do some touring of London.

Oh….and one other traumatic thing for today, the flat’s internet can’t be connected to at this time. Long story…..but now that Madeline is sleeping David and I are taking turns going to the pub next door to the flat which has free Wi-Fi. So, if I don’t get a chance to post again you’ll know why. We will be here for four nights. We are flying to Berlin on Sunday……wish us luck!!