Well I thought writing a blog at the end of each day would be easy….. I just didn't realise that I would be coming in totally exhausted and crashing onto the bed, with no energy left to open the computer!

So while we are having a bit of a reality check, while we are doing the laundry in the laundromat next door, Dave sipping a cold beer, (hoping he does not end up with pink shirts to wear) and me a vodka I will fill you in on the last few days. Firstly the flight from Kuala Lumpur…. No upgrade…. Let's leave it at that!! The first leg to Dubai wasn't too bad, it was 6 hours and we left KL at around 10am… so it was easy watching a couple of movies and having a nice lunch. The 2nd leg out of Dubai was 7 hours and that was a bit more challenging.

Arriving in London, we had a super Porter, it certainly had its benefits with the wheelchair. You literally get swept through the airport with your own personal person to help push the chair and pick up the bags. The downfall was that the transfer that we had booked did a no show, so we wasted a good hour or so trying to organise something else. The porter left us to wait for the new shuttle and that was a challenge as well, trying to manoeuvre bags and the husband, I was on the verge of getting a little grumpy J. The replacement shuttle driver, helped settle me down as he was such a nice guy and got us to our hotel in a timely manner.

We decided to grab a bit of dinner before bed, but we were both almost asleep as we pushed food into our mouths. I don't know why we bothered, but we both took a sleeping tablet and hit the bed.

The sleep worked wonders as we woke feeling alive and rearing to go. We got some instructions and we walked the 150m up the road and brought an Oyster card ( a rail pass) and jumped on our first London Train. With one easy station change, we popped up right opposite the HOP ON HOP off bus station, and set ourselves up on the top floor of the red double decker bus as it guided us past all the landmarks. We did "The original London HOP on Hop off" if anyone is going to do one of these, I would go on the "Big Bus" HOP ON HOP off, as I think they have a lot more buses, so a lot less wait. However, on saying that, we got this guy SHANE as the guide, and he was very good, we loved his humour and he was so beautifully "camp": and "english". Made the waits worthwhile.

Its quite overwhelming all the amazing buildings and the ornate architecture in every direction. We did the normal stuff, the Buckingham palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, tower of London, a few pubs, and a Thames river cruise.

We learnt a few interesting facts.. NZ and Aussies call POMs, POMS as it stands for Prison of M(whoops we forgot the prison name) J … and they were the ones sent out to Australia.London City is only 1 mile square. We saw the church from the nursery rhyme, bells of st clements, we know why we sang London bridge is falling down… as it did…3 times. We know all about Ring a Ring a rosie. Its been really interesting learning where a lot of our words and sayings have come from - ie bedlam, on the wagon, etc.

We dined at our first English pub and were totally disappointed with the experience. Dave got a flat beer that he said tasted disgusting, so he asked the waiter if it was right… the reply was that ALE's don't have bubbles, we still don't totally agree with that. But David isn't one to waste a beer, so dutifully drunk it, and spent the next part of the night on the loo. Mmm The meal matched the beer.

2nd day was nice and cruisey (she says, doing the laundry in a pub) we went to Trafalgar Square and got us tickets to JERSEY BOYS for the 24th of July… so im super excited about that. We were supposed to see this when it came to Auckland last year but had to sell our tickets for some reason, so im really looking forward to doing a show in London. How cool is that!!!!

We meandered our way thru London using a combination of trains and hop on hop off bus, trying to limit the walking that David needed to do. He came up with the theory that if he had regular beers, he wouldn't get any pain… so his first beer was in the "Admiral's Ale and Pie" at 10am! His plan seems to have worked. So im not going to knock it

The London Eye was pretty amazing. 30 mins to do the loop so its no rollercoaster, but you get an incredible view over the whole of London. Well worth doing.

With our Trafalgar Tour starting tomorrow we thought we should get some clean clothes, so hence here we are… drinking ….. I mean doing the laundry.