wow

    Sorry again! I've been so busy I just keep failing to blog. Thursday I didn't post because something came up and I actually couldn't log any hours, but yesterday, Friday, I made lots of progress. I actually finished my travel guide yesterday and took it to Kinkos to get printed and bound in a black spiral! I was there for an hour because they were so disorganized and incompetent but they ended up giving it to me for free because I had to wait so long. It was a great feeling to have it finished, which gives me the entire weekend to get my reflection finished as well as my assembly presentation and diploma distinction requirements.

     I did the Run 'N Lovett today. I mean I did the 2K run with the kids but it was still really fun and counts as exercise. I'm excited about getting to talk to students about doing a senior project and hopefully they'll see how much fun mine was and get inspired to do one. I think I'm going to show some pictures, talk about the main things I did, and then why I wanted to do a travel guide and why I think it's a beneficial thing to have made for others.

     For my defense, I will most likely go through my entire book because it's truly the culmination of everything I've done and I can't think of a better way to show the panel what I spent all my time doing this month. This is probably my last blog ever. It's been fun. xoxo, epj

oops

    Last night I fell asleep unintentionally before I had the chance to blog. I got a good deal done yesterday, mostly with regards to the pictures. I did a little more editing to make sure they looked their best for printing purposes. I am getting pretty close to finishing my travel guide and I'm hoping to finish it today. This is slightly ambitious but it's a goal. If I have a few pages left to do at the end of the day it won't be a huge deal because I have a good outline for the rest of the book.

     I'm getting into a stressful time because of AP exams and trying to finish my classes while also trying to get my project and my diploma distinction completed, but I'm hanging in there because the end is in sight.

hit the quan

     My travel guide is back on track, as is my life. I've been able to fall back into my kickboxing routine and readjust to school life. Today I made several more pages in my travel guide and even had a meeting with Bailey. She wanted my opinion about a few things in her podcast and I wanted her feedback on the layout of my travel guide so we bounced ideas off of each other.

     One major problem I've been having when making my travel guide in Pages is that a lot of the time when I place a photo on the page, it jumps somewhere else on the page and refuses to stay where I put it. Somehow I manage to work around it by duplicating the image, deleting it and trying again until it works, etc., but it's really frustrating. My goal is to finish the travel guide by Thursday to allow time to get everything printed properly, write my reflection and plan my assembly and defense presentations. I'm also down to the wire on my diploma distinction requirements so I'm trying to balance finishing those with finishing the project and my academic work. c u l8r

ugh

     Well after 4 years, my Lovett laptop decided to stop working completely. This is an issue because my travel guide is on there. Once I saw the rainbow spinning wheel of death on the screen, I felt in my gut that this was the end and that I needed to salvage my project quickly. I tried to save it and email it but it wouldn't work. My laptop was too far gone. My only choice was to use my iPhone to take pictures of each page before the laptop crashed to never be heard from again. I was relieved that I was able to at least get a shot of everything I have done so far so I could recreate it on my new laptop.

     I spent today doing just that. I recreated everything I had done up to this point which is a lot. It was frustrating and tedious but I can now move forward with peace of mind that I am on a reliable computer and I'm not at risk of losing everything I've worked for. The hard part was transferring the photos on to my new computer. I couldn't get them to load onto a flash drive, there were far too many to email, and I deleted them off of my camera once I uploaded them. The good news is I also uploaded them on to a desktop computer, but I still wasn't sure how I was going to transfer them over. Being the savvy millennial that I am, I got the idea to make a private Facebook album of the photos that only I can see so that I can access them from any computer. This worked great and I was able to access them from my new laptop.

     I hoped to make more progress in my travel guide today but I had to spend hours figuring out how to transfer photos and then recreating the entire thing based off images on my new computer. Tomorrow I'll have to make a lot of headway to make up for the roadblock of today, but that's all part of doing a project. I have been lucky up to this point in avoiding major problems like this so I guess I was due. I'm looking forward to making more progress tomorrow.

Gettin' Crafty

     When I started this project, I didn't think about how creative I'd actually have to be to make this travel guide not only factually informative but also visually appealing, engaging, and overall better than just a list of stuff to do. It needs to reflect my personal experience as well as my personality because this is based solely on my opinions, experiences, and thoughts. With that in mind, I spent a lot of time today playing with templates, formats, and the overall look of the book. I decided to throw caution to the wind and make it without a template, so every color and detail will be selected individually by me. I think this will make the travel guide feel more personal and reflect more of me than if I used a Pages stock template. Another advantage of this is that I can include as many or as few pictures as I want without worrying about throwing off the pre-determined balance of the page. I will need this flexibility because not all the pages will have the same number of pictures or the same length commentary.

     I have also struggled with the predicament about what to do if I only felt so-so about something I did in London. I want to make an honest travel guide and maintain my integrity but I also don't want to put anything that's not really positive in there because I don't see a point in putting something in a guide to London that doesn't tell people to do it. It would be a coincidence if I was absolutely blown away by every single thing I did in London and yet I'm including every single thing in this travel guide. What I think I've decided is to focus on the positive aspects of everything I did and include those in the travel guide as selling points. Anything that could have been better or that I did wrong I will try to include as tips because this is an actual GUIDE to London to help people, not just a scrapbook of my trip. I want people to actually be able to use this when they travel to give them ideas.

     I'm enjoying making this travel guide because it's allowing me to put everything I experienced into one organized and creative place. In the future when I travel, I might even do this just for myself because it's therapeutic and satisfying to make a physical representation of the trip. It will also help me to never forget what all I did because it'll all be right there along with my photos and personal thoughts about it. I can definitely see this becoming a series. Stay tuned. bye felicias
   

Travel Guide is in Full Swing

     Now that I'm back in the States my mission is clear and cut out: make my travel guide! I have all the information, pictures, and experiences that I need to make the guide and it's really coming together nicely so I'm excited for everyone to see the final product when it's finished. This means though that my next week of blogs won't be that interesting because I'll be doing the same thing every day. Today I worked a lot on the restaurant portion of my guide book.

     One challenge I'm facing is that in some of the places for one reason or another I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked but I'm sure I can work around that. I might consider using and citing some pictures from online in my guide if I need to. I don't see anything wrong with that because the point of my travel guide is to use my experiences and new perspective to inform others who might be traveling to the city and borrowed photos don't detract from that.

     I've been thinking a lot about how I want my guide to actually be printed and formatted and I think I've settled on having it printed and spiral bound at Kinkos. I've done this for other projects in the past and had success. It ends up looking nice and you have lots of options for the details.

     I enjoyed giving my friends the presents I got them today. The shopping section of the book will definitely benefit from my love of gifts! Plus my travel guide will be a gift to you all. Ha Ha bye

Flight

     Yesterday I was on the plane coming home all day, but I worked on my project the entire time to avoid sleeping and getting on another weird sleep schedule. I edited all of my photos and finished several pages of my travel guide. I'm organizing it by food, activities, shopping, and transportation so it's easy to follow.

Avocado, Market Heaven and Some Magic

    Today I woke up and got moving, just as I hoped to. I went straight to one of the breakfast places that I had neglected earlier in the week, Lundenwic. I didn't have any other plans for the day other than the breakfast and I was planning on just taking it from there, knowing there were some options if all else failed like the London Eye, London Transport Museum, etc. When I got off the tube at Covent Garden, I discovered SUCH a gem. The entire surrounding area was a huge shopping district with stores all down the streets, but the gem came after breakfast. At the restaurant, I ordered my personal favorite breakfast, avocado toast and a mocha. They were both amazing and I was ready to be inspired. I walked back the way I thought I came but I wasn't recognizing the area as being the same. Instead, I found myself at the entrance to the Apple Market, a place I soon recognized from the last time I visited London last year.

     The market was lined with real stores and also carts where people were selling handmade goods. I got really excited because my favorite part of trips is picking out presents for my friends and family. I won't divulge what all I got on here in case they read this but I got some great things. The market was completely different from anything we have in Atlanta. The closest comparison I could make is St. Phillips Cathedral's Saturday morning market where local farmers and artists come to sell their goods. I spent several hours in the market, going in the stores which ranged from high end chocolates, teas, baked goods, clothes, soaps, candles, and souvenirs. Once I had acquired an arm full of bags, I realized I would need to drop them off at the house before my planned afternoon activity. I ventured back to the house, dropped off the goods, and left with Bailey for our afternoon fun.

     We were set to go on a Harry Potter walking tour around the city, which happened to start right outside Borough Market. Borough Market is widely considered to be one of the best food markets in Europe and I completely agree. When we got there my first priority was finding something to drink and I stumbled quickly upon some fresh squeezed lemonade which I downed. Next priority was getting some lunch. I followed Bailey to a pasta place in the market that she had noticed when she visited the previous day. I ordered black truffle tortelloni with mushroom sauce and it was amazing. There was grated parmesan that melted right into it and I was very impressed.

     Once we finished lunch, we walked to meet the tour group. The guide was really personable and we could tell it was going to be a fun tour. The tour took us to many sights in London that we wouldn't have otherwise seen, including film sights as well as places that inspired the books. It was really cool to stand in places where the movies were filmed and to get inside J. K. Rowling's head by hearing her inspirations and thought processes while creating the series.

     After the tour, we were sufficiently tired so we came back home and ordered sushi. I am confident that I have gotten lots of great material to make a travel guide for someone coming to London. I feel like if I had more time I could have covered more ground and made a more thorough guide, but this one will definitely be a good start. Perhaps I'll label it Volume 1 to be continued the next time I go. I am sad to be leaving tomorrow but I am excited to see my friends and to get cracking on the travel guide.

Winston Churchill, A Failed Mission and Some Struggles

     Today I woke up at 9:30 ready to go! However, my body had different ideas and I woke back up at 11:00, REALLY ready to go this time. I took the bus to the tube and then got off at Westminster station, right next to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Houses of Parliament. It was a great view for a tourist because of all the notable sights. I walked to the Winston Churchill War Rooms, part of the Imperial War Museum. The exhibit focused on Churchill's life as a wartime Prime Minister. It detailed his living and working spaces, the people he worked and lived closely with, as well as his strategies, sentiments, and work during the war. It was fascinating to learn so much about a historical figure who I admire.

     After a long hard morning of walking, learning, etc. I was really ready for a good lunch especially since I didn't make time to have breakfast. You may recall the place I mentioned in an earlier post with the crazy milkshakes, Molly Bakes. Needless to say I was very excited for this awesome lunch. I did the navigation and realized it was pretty far and would require the overground train in addition to the underground but I was so looking forward to it that it would be worth it. After my time on the underground, I transferred to the overground and realized it would be a while until I arrived. When I finally arrived at the station and exited onto the street, I came to a realization. I was in the ghetto. I was seriously uncomfortable with my surroundings but I had come too far to turn back. I walked the additional half mile down the road to where Molly Bakes was only to see that it was closed. My heart literally stopped. I was starving and I had travelled over mountain and meadow and glen to get to this place and now I was left in a bad part of town with no food. Angrily, I turned back towards the overground station and walked back, only to go a quarter mile too far and have to turn back. Infuriated, I got on the overground train and tried to head anywhere but where I was. Every 2 stops or so, the train "terminated" and I had to find another train. FINALLY I got to Bond Street and I decided that was stellar so I got off and went back for the third time to Ed's for a comforting milkshake. I felt better after the milkshake and got back on the tube home. I had made it off the tube and to the bus stop. I was SO close to being done with this hellacious mission. The bus arrived and I had made it. If you've been keeping up with this blog though you'd know that it is never that easy. I had my headphones in and I was just cruisin'. After a little while though I looked up and didn't recognize anything around me even though the bus ride is supposed to be one mile north. I got out and realized I was practically at the Scotland border; well, at least it felt that way. I got BACK on the bus and made it home. I was SO done at that point.

    One thing I will say on here is that I realized quickly that sticking to an ambitious schedule is nearly impossible. You can't predict how the jetlag and traveling will affect you or how you'll feel during the day. With the exception of Thursday, I have not stuck to my planned itinerary. I've done things that aren't on there and I've skipped some things, especially restaurants. It isn't really feasible to eat at restaurants 3 times a day when you solely rely on public transportation because it's exhausting. I physically can't get up every morning and go out to breakfast and stay out the whole day through dinner. I thought I could but it's really hard. I've been making sure to experience enough things to make a beneficial travel guide even though I'm not doing everything I planned.

     I was fascinated by the main grocery near Lisa's house, Waitrose, so I decided to give it a closer look and see how it compares to American Grocery Stores. I bought way too many snacks and discovered that it is a really great place for all of your needs (except makeup surprisingly... you have to walk another block down to Boots for that.) Tomorrow I'm determined to make the most of the day and get some substantial material for the guide.

Medical Museum, Tower Bridge, and a Musical

     I woke up at 5:00 AM energized and ready to go but told myself that nothing was open and that I needed to go back to sleep. I woke up again around 9:00, less energized, but ready to go. My first stop off the day was E Pellicci, an Italian British breakfast stop in the Bethnal Green neighborhood. It was super far away, I took a bus and two different trains and then walked a good ways, but finally stumbled upon the tiny, easy to miss entrance. It was pretty stressful because it was very small, crowded, and the accents were so thick that I could barely understand what was going on. I found a seat and it was not long before two old men decided they'd share the tiny table with me. They were a delight and finally I ordered the traditional English breakfast and an iced coffee. I started eating it before I realized I needed to photograph it. See below:

   
     Once I was sufficiently full, I paid and attempted to leave but couldn't escape without being grilled on whether Atlanta was near Nashville and if everyone talked with the southern accents that they do on the show "Nashville" that they gladly demonstrated for me. It was really funny and the people were super sweet. I headed back to the underground station and made it to the Wellcome Collection, a museum of modern medicine. The most notable exhibits were those on Obesity and Schizophrenia. See below:

     After the museum, I got back on the tube and made it to Mother Mash, near Oxford street. It was extremely good. I had mashed potatoes and a butternut squash and cheese pie accompanied with some sort of fermented lemonade. The weather was really nice so we ate outside and got to people watch while we ate. See below:

     After lunch we went to Tower Bridge and did the exhibition. We took an elevator up to the top of Tower Bridge and walked through both sides. The floor was glass at some parts so it was an interesting feeling looking down on the city from such a height. We could also see for miles and recognized landmarks such as the Tower of London and the London Eye. It made for some great photography and we learned about the history of the tower. At the end we passed through the Engine Room which had some neat locomotives. Feast your eyes:

     When we got out it was sprinkling so we contemplated taking an Uber but we decided to tough it out and made it to the London Bridge tube station to complete our journey back to the bus stop and then back to the house where we changed for the musical, Guys and Dolls. We ate dinner at a place in SoHo called Smack Lobster Roll and it was amazing. I had this lobster avocado sandwich on brioche that will appear in my travel guide but I am too tired to connect the camera to the computer at this point. The show was really good. We elected to take a taxi home after the show because we were tired and we thought it would be faster but it ended up taking almost an hour when the tube would have taken no more than half an hour. Live and learn. I'll be back at it tomorrow. Peace n blessins. 

Jetlag, Pizza, and a Milkshake

     I did literally nothing on my itinerary today. That just goes to show how fluid plans need to be and that adapting is part of traveling, especially the day of a long flight.  

     We landed in London around 10:30 this morning and took a car to Lisa's house where we got settled in. Despite sleeping on the plane, I slept the entire car ride and crashed again when we got to Lisa's. Finally, Bailey forced me to get up and walk a mile to eat lunch at an Italian place called Rossopomodoro. This was the first restaurant that I will use for my travel guide. The food was really good and we were starving, so I'll definitely recommend it highly in my guide as a low-key but high quality place. Below are some pictures of Bailey's and my food:

   
     After lunch, we luckily caught a bus back up to Lisa's house where I took another nap. Again, Bailey rousted me because it was time to meet Lisa at the grocery store. Once we were stocked up with food, we caught a bus back to Lisa's house again, put away the food, and waited for the sushi that we had ordered to arrive. It arrived at the same time that Bailey's cousin, Sourna did. He was able to give me some ideas of interesting things to do around the city that I hadn't thought of before such as Camden, Borough Market and Battersea park.

     After dinner I had an extreme craving for adventure and a milkshake, so I found a place relatively far away in the theatre district to go. Nobody wanted to come with me so I had to make the journey alone, which was actually really cool and made me feel like a native. I took the bus to the tube station, took two different trains, then used the navigation on my phone to get to the spot where it told me the place was. It was not there but there was actually another milkshake place right nearby that I saw so that was lucky. I got my Nutella milkshake and started the journey back.

     I am setting my alarm for 9:00 tomorrow morning in order to be at my planned breakfast place by 10:00 to start my day. I am loving the city so far and I'm excited to see what the rest of the week brings.

Bye Felicias

     Today's the day, friends. My flight leaves at 8:40 PM and will last about 8 hours, 10 minutes. I should arrive in London around 10:00 AM London time, which is 5 hours ahead. I have checked in with the Delta app, weighed my suitcase, taken a trip to the American Express office to get plenty of her majesty's money, and even picked out a book for the flight (which I am 99% NOT going to read).

     I have packed 2 pairs of headphones, 2 pairs of pants, 2 jackets, 2 pairs of leggings, and 2 pairs of boots in addition to the sneakers I have on. I am doubly prepared. I have wall converters for my electronics and lots of snacks for the plane. (Is it sad that I had to look up whether it was plane or plain? #collegebound) Anyways I have a variety of freeze-dried fruits from whole foods as well as dark chocolate bark-thins.

     I'm just now getting anxious about the fact that I won't be able to shower for a really long time so I'm going to sign off and go do that quickly before I have to leave for the airport. Those of you blessed enough to be one of my Snapchat friends can keep up with me that way in addition to reading my blog which I'm sure tons of people do.

Byeee for now

Monday

All I did today was go buy a pair of blue jeans for the trip, acquire a camera to borrow, and begin packing.

Kickboxing, Speeding Tickets, and One Day More

    *This post is for Friday but for some reason didn't post that day and remained a draft.

     It is safe to say that today got off to a very rough start. Per usual I woke up at 5:45 to make it to 6:30 kickboxing. I got home and took a very quick shower in order to make it to my haircut at 8:00, however; on the way there, I noticed those friendly blue lights behind me. I pulled over and long story short I got a ticket for speeding. again. I've really been trying hard after I got a ticket for the first time (last week) but it wasn't enough. Whatever. Life Happens. I went and got my haircut, grabbed another asiago cheese bagel, and headed home to get some work in before my classes. Today, my schedule tells me that I just have to plan by very last day in London. Here is what I came up with:

Tuesday April 19- 

Breakfast: Regency Café

Foyles’ book store - Charing Cross Road 

Liberty store

Oxford Street 

Lunch: Daddy Donkey 

Trafalgar Square - National Gallery 

St James Park

Dinner: Dirty Bones

     On this day I don't have much of a structured plan other than I want to check out some of the shopping besides Harrod's as well as Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, and St James Park. For breakfast, Regency Café is known for traditional English breakfast that never leaves anyone hungry. This should hold me over as I visit Foyles' book store, one of the largest book stores in the world, Liberty Store, a famous department store, and wander down Oxford Street. For lunch, Daddy Donkey is a Mexican street-food style counter. I am extremely interested to see how Mexican food in Europe is different from that in the United States. After lunch I'll visit Trafalgar Square and specifically the National Gallery. The National Gallery is an art museum that "houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900." I enjoy exploring art museums so I'm looking forward to this one. After Trafalgar Square, I want to take a walk through St James Park, one of the city's most beautiful areas located in central London. For dinner, I have picked a place called Dirty Bones. This restaurant is neon-lit and features live music, which should make for an enjoyable atmosphere. 
     

Asiago Cheese, a Meeting, and Some Catching Up

     This morning I woke up with an extreme craving for an asiago cheese bagel, so I called Goldberg's and had them prepare it so it was ready when I got there. It was literally the best start to what would be a very busy day of catching up. I unintentionally took Wednesday off. I had a voice lesson, a lunch date with friends and I went to see The Adams Family The Musical. It was a great day but it left me quite behind on my planning, so I spent today catching up on what I'm supposed to have done by tonight, which is everything through dinner on April 18th. I also had a brief 30 minute lunch meeting with Bailey to touch base on our plans, packing lists, and confirm our arrangements for the airport, coming and going. 

Saturday April 16-

Breakfast: St Johns Bakery 

Monument’s 311 steps 

Lunch: Melt Room

Look Mum No Hands Coffee Shop

Dinner: Bim Bam Bap

     St Johns Bakery, located near Maltby Street Market is a popular bakery known for its fresh doughnuts and breads. Saturday seemed like a good day to start with a carby breakfast because afterwards I'll be hiking the 311 steps of the London Monument which, built to commemorate the great fire of 1666, provides an excellent view of London from high up. Especially fit climbers like myself who make it to the top receive a certificate of achievement which I plan to obtain at all costs. Once I am exhausted and in need of some fuel I will head on over to Melt Room, a quick sandwich joint to get my energy back up for what will be an afternoon of work. I have carved out Saturday afternoon to compile everything I've done so far to make sure I'm on track to make my book when I get home. I found what promises to be a laid back working environment at Look Mum No Hands Coffee Shop. I find that I do my best work at coffee shops anyway so I'm excited to check this one out and feel like one of the locals working away. For Dinner, I have decided to expand my horizons and try a Korean place, specializing in one specific mixed rice dish. I feel I owe it to the readers of my travel guide to give them a variety of options even though I could just eat mashed potatoes all day. After dinner I will have to find something fun to do because my desired activity, visiting the royal observatory, actually closes at 6:30 and isn't a night thing as I had hoped. Not to worry though, friends, I will find something exciting. I also want to note that I did not include times for this day because none of my plans require tickets or are time sensitive. 

Sunday April 17-

11:15 Sung Eucharist - Westminster Abbey

1:30 Lunch: Hawksmoor Spitalfields 

4:00 Shrek’s Adventure 

Dinner: Rök

     I am especially excited to commence my Sunday with a church service at the famous Westminster Abbey. Since it starts early and promises to be crowded, I will have to grab something quick to eat at Ms. Montgomery's house before I go. Hawksmoor Spitalfields is a meat establishment specializing in Sunday lunch. I should really feel like a local at this point. After lunch, don't judge me, I plan to experience Shrek's Adventure, a 4-D experience that is extremely popular to visitors of the city, narrated by Donkey. I wanted to include something family-friendly and fun in my travel guide, so this is the perfect activity. For Dinner, I am again sticking with my foreign foods theme and eating at Rök, "a Nordic eatery and bar for smoked meats, pickled veggies and British ingredients in wood-decked digs." I'm excited to get some international foods in there since this is for my Global Studies diploma distinction and I would like to include lots of options for the copious amount of readers I will have.

Monday April 18-

Breakfast: Lundenwic

Imperial War Museum- Churchill War Rooms

Lunch: Molly Bakes Café

London Eye

Dinner: Brasserie Zedel 

8:00 Comic Monday

     I will start off my Monday morning with breakfast at Lundenwic, a café specializing in coffee, porridge, and juices. After that I get to go learn about my favorite historical figure of all time, the great Winston Churchill at the Churchill War Rooms, one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum. I have always had a fascination with World War II, especially the British success in decoding the German Enigma code. My lunch spot is 100% the place I'm most excited about visiting on this trip. Molly Bakes Café specializes in insane milkshake creations as pictured below. 

They remind me of New York's "Black Tap" which also creates crazy milkshakes and I am extremely excited. I will have earned this milkshake after walking miles each day around the city. Of course, after lunch, I have to be a tourist and once again visit the London Eye, a large 30 minute long ferris wheel that gives a breathtaking view of the city. For Dinner, I will go to Brasserie Zedel, "a grand French art deco restaurant with classic brasserie dishes and choucroutes in 1930s building." After dinner, I will attend a free comedy show known as Comic Monday that attracts people of all ages for a night of laughter. 

     Overall, today was a lot of researching and work, but I am starting to see this trip shape into something really great and well-rounded, perfect for a guide book. 

Paninis, a Meeting, and Ghosts

     I was startled and somewhat horrified when my alarm went off at 8:30 because I had forgotten that twice per seven day rotation, I am due at school at 9:35 instead of 10:55. Needless to say, I was on the struggle bus, but I grabbed some raspberries and drove a modest 4 miles above the speed limit to school where I went to chorus. I was not feeling chapel and I had some pressing concerns that came up during my research yesterday to talk to Bailey about, so alas, we scheduled another meeting, this time at Caribou. We discussed how are going to get to and from the Heathrow airport, attaining the proper tube navigation iPhone app, and making sure we are prepared with Oyster cards to ensure easy travel on the underground. 

     After the meeting, I went back to school for religion and then left again. It had been stressing me out all day what I was going to have for lunch because I couldn't settle on a place in my mind and my favorite lunch spot is way downtown on Auburn Avenue and "ain't nobody got time for that" when planning a trip to England! So, being the crafty chef that I am, I made a trip to Whole Foods where I picked up 14 grain bread, avocados, turkey, and sliced cheese with the intention of recreating LottaFrutta's "Pavo del Ocho" panini. I dusted off our family panini maker and when I tell you I created heaven, I am not exaggerating. It was the best ever, paired with baby carrots, lemon infused water, and the remainder of the avocado diced with a sprinkle of lemon juice. 

     After lunch I looked at my project proposal and saw that I needed to plan the entire day for Friday, April 15. Here is what I came up with: 

Friday April 15- 

9:30 Breakfast: Brick Lane Beigel Bake

10:30 Science Museum

12:30 Lunch: The Potato Project 

2:00 London Dungeon 

5:45 Dark Side of London Ghost Tour

8:15 Dinner: Clockjack Oven 

     Brick Lane Beigel Bake is "a 24-hour bakery known for traditional Jewish-style filled bagels such as salt beef and smoked salmon." I picked this place because I love bagels and it seems like something I can grab on the go that won't take as long as a traditional sit-down breakfast place. The Science Museum is your typical science museum, but is insanely popular for the cutting edge attractions and displays. Having taken two advanced physics classes this year, I am very interested in science and look forward to visiting the museum. The Potato Project is dedicated to finding unique ways to make potatoes. I love potatoes. That will be good. The London Dungeon is a 2 hour walking experience that features characters and frights. The Ghost Tour takes you on a walk through London and tells stories of London's haunted past. Clockjack Oven focuses on chicken dishes and is open pretty late, which is why I'm going after the tour. Overall, I hit some roadblocks with scheduling certain tours and coordinating the London Dungeon with Bailey, but I did what I needed to get done today!

Naps, a Meeting, and Some Balls

     Today got off to a rocky start, which is to be expected on the first day of a new schedule when you've been in the same routine for 8 months. My alarm went off at 5:45 AM and I went to my kickboxing class at 6:30. When I finished, I went home, made a peanut butter and banana smoothie and got back in my bed. I woke up at 10:20 to the sound of my maid barging into my room, unaware that I was home and asleep. I was grateful though because it got me up just in time to make it to my 10:55 World Religions class. Once my two classes were finished, I determined it was time to get crackin' on this project. 

     I set up a spur of the moment lunch meeting with Bailey, my travel companion, to talk logistics at R. Thomas Grill. The food was ratchet but the meeting was productive. We discussed our flight details, airport plans, the fact that I am apparently a plebeian because I do not have "global entry status" which is going to inconvenience Bailey when we arrive back in the states, our living arrangements, and some activities that the two of us might want to do together while we are there, even though our projects are completely different. I also learned from this meeting that I am going to have to go to AT&T and get a global data plan to use while I am in London as well as wall converters for my electronics. 

     After the meeting I referred back to my original proposal to check what I needed to do today to stay on track with my schedule. Today I had to "Select dinner spot for 4/14, Select morning activity for 4/14, Lunch for 4/14, Afternoon activity for 4/14, Dinner for 4/14" - not a small task. Luckily I had brainstormed some ideas of places I wanted to visit beforehand so it is not a matter of scheduling, researching, mapping the tube routes, etc. for each place. Here's what I came up with: 

Wednesday April 13-

10:00 AM Arrive in London / Get settled in  

Lunch: Balls and Company

3:00 Harrods 

6:00 Dinner: Bistro Union 

     I wanted to make Wednesday pretty laid back because I tend to suffer from severe exhaustion and jet lag when I fly overseas. The first time I ever went to London, we decided that as soon as we arrived we just HAD to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace even though it happens every day and I proceeded to fall asleep on the ground next to a statue in the middle of the roundabout. Not good. So this time I'm taking it easy the first day and will go all-out on Thursday. Balls and Company is a lowkey restaurant that specializes in meat balls and fresh vegetables. Though their creations are known for being unique, this should serve as the comfort food my exhausted body will be craving after a long day of traveling. I put a trip to Harrods on the schedule for today also because it's something you can do at your own time and pace so I can go at my leisure and spend lots of time (and money?) at London's premier shopping destination. Bistro Union, modeled in a retro school theme, serves the most up to date British cuisine out there. I did not schedule a night time activity for this day due to the fact that I think I'll need my rest, but if I end up with the energy I will certainly seek out something fun to do after dinner.

Thursday April 14- 

10:00 Breakfast: E Pellicci 

11:00 Wellcome Collection 

1:15 Lunch: Mother Mash

2:45 Tower Bridge 

5:45 Dinner: Smack Lobster

7:30 Guys and Dolls

     Up and at 'em is the motto for Thursday. The breakfast spot I've selected, E Pellici, is a "vintage Art Deco workers' cafe offering the full English breakfast and Italian classics". It received great reviews and is highly recommended. After breakfast, I will visit the Wellcome Collection, which is an "unusual mixture of medical artifacts and original artworks exploring ideas about the connection between medicine, life, and art." This particularly interested me because I want to be a doctor, so a museum that incorporates medicine sounds especially exciting. Mother Mash specializes in my absolute favorite food, mashed potatoes, which they like to compare to a big hug. Needless to say I'm especially looking forward to that one. After lunch I'm going to be able to go up on Tower Bridge which overlooks the river Thames. For dinner, I picked somewhere on the West End near the theater where we'll be seeing Guys and Dolls. Smack Lobster specializes in making creative dishes all involving lobster. I personally don't see how I can go wrong here. Finally, I'll be seeing Guys and Dolls, one of my favorite musicals, on the West End. I've seen two shows on the West End before and have never been disappointed, so I'm really looking forward to that. 

     Overall, today has taught me how to research a restaurant or attraction and get the essential facts out of a website quickly. I also learned that there are many great websites that review restaurants and give you a better idea of what they're like. I am on schedule with what I needed to have planned and I am confident in my choices for these days. I'm looking forward to planning the rest of my itinerary and making the trip. Although I got off to a slow start, I'd say today wasn't bad for a first go. Not bad at all.