Take-off on the an airplane is incredible! The moment we emerged over the clouds was the coolest thing ever. We flew economy class, but I gotta say, I have no complaints. The dinner was even great. It's weird that I couldn't see the stars, though. We flew at night, but I guess the plane was too bright. The woman who sat next to us, an English lady, was really friendly and gave us lots of tips about London. She said that we absolutely had to eat fish and chips. That was nice of her. So after circling around the airport, flying way past it, and then coming back around, we finally landed. Unfortunately, when we got our backpacks, I quickly discovered that my shampoo had exploded. Luckily, from the advice of a friend, I had put all my clothes in ziplock bags to compress them and save space, so only the backpack itself got gooey. We wandered around trying to get out of the airport for a while ... But once on the tube, we met this great couple from Arizona. They were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary by travelling Europe for a couple months. After getting out of the airport and figuring out the tube system, we bought tickets for the double-decker buses. (Touristy, I know, but we were tired and gross from the plane ride, and just wanted to sit back and relax). So we rode around on those for a while until check-in time at our hotel. Unfortunately, I'm not as good with directions as one may have hoped, so it took us over an hour to walk through Hyde Park and Kingston Gardens. By the time we found the hotel, we were both sooo sore and practically sweating to death. Obviously, showers followed immediately after getting into the room. At one point in the day, we were walking through a pedestrian subway and a guy with dreds was playing guitar and singing "Let It Be." A good song, and definitely a good sign. When we walked by, though, he sang out, "Blondes really do have more fun!" haha Overall, it was a good first day. We did a lot of walking - most of it unneccessary - and I had to take an ibuprofen just to get to sleep because I was so sore, but it doesn't matter ... We're in London! And besides, by the end of this trip, Becky and I are going to be so buff from lugging those backpacks around. I can already feel my muscles growing. Okay, not really. They just feel sore. lol