We took our last Ryanair flight to Heathrow and were lucky to even get on as a lot of flights were cancelled due to snow. No snow on our arrival though. I really do like old London town.

Our hostel was just off Oxford Street and we spent our first night at a pub (of course) and doing fun stuff like washing to all hours of the night.

The next day we walked through town past Trafalgar Square, The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (which was draped with scaffolding) to The London Eye. It was a beautiful crisp day; a prefect day to see the skyline. They had quite a cool 4D experience as part of the ticket which I probably enjoyed more. It was interesting to see how London has changed with all the new buildings. Tate Modern was so close we went and saw the Modigliani exhibition which was fantastic. Probably not Josh's cup of tea though I think he enjoyed the VR experience of Modigliani's studio.

We walked back to Leicester Square which was in full Christmas bloom and watched a guy do some amazing beat boxing before going to a movie, "Battle of the sexes" which was OK.

We were quite pleased to check out of the hostel, as it was fine, but I like having my own bathroom (sigh…getting old). We moved to a fantastic apartment in Hammersmith (where I used to work), then took another tube ride out to Heathrow to pick up Connor. It was so good to see him. It has been a long five or so months.

The next day was spent going back to our old stomping ground in NW10 (Dollis Hill) to our flat where used to live in; 27, 37, the squat and 57 Geary Road. They hadn't changed an awful lot apart from the squat is now done up and 57 has had a huge makeover and extension and is apparently around £5 M ($10 M)! We even went into the offy (off license) and the guy that used to serve us was still there. All the Kiwis and Aussies have now moved out and the area which now has a lot of Europeans. Times change. It was quite cool to be able to show Connor where we lived in London 20 years ago.

We then went back to Oxford Street to get Connor some winter clothes before going back to Hammersmith and having some nice tapas.

Connor hadn't been to the Tower of London so we did the touristy thing the next day and ended up spending a lot of time there as we all quite enjoyed it. It was then back on the tube to Euston station to pick up Emma. Finally, the whanau was all back together again! It was a rush to drop of Emma's luggage before going to Leicester Square and grabbing a quick meal before going to see "The Book of Mormon". The musical was written by some of the writers from South park and definitely had that kind of sense of humour. I had been looking forward to seeing it as so many people had said how good it was and was recommended by Deb and Jack. We had awesome seats which made it even better. It was quite hilarious and irreverent as expected.

Josh felt like some time out the next day, so the three of us went to Kew gardens which I had never managed to get to. It was winter so not an awful lot to see unfortunately but it was a lovely day and nice to walk around in. Yet another spot of shopping at the Westfield Mall in Shepperd's Bush before all four of us met up with an old friend from Geary Road days, Jodi at O2 and we had a few drinks and some dinner. It was great to see Jodi again and catch up on the past 20 years. We had such a good time we arranged to meet the following day. The reason we were at the O2 was to see Pete Tong with the Heritage Orchestra playing Ibiza (House) Classics. I had booked the tickets on a whim a year ago as a bit of nostalgia and chance to the O2 arena. The venue was amazing though smaller than I expected. Again, awesome seats and after a battle to get drinks before it started we arrived literally 30 seconds before it kicked off. It was a great show and even though we were in seats, everybody danced. We had planned to go clubbing (haha with our children) but we were all fairly shattered.

After a late start we checked out Camden Markets which had changed a lot. Not so small and slightly seedy as they used to be. Fun times eating some really good street food and seeing the crazy shop that used to be there, "Cyberdog". We met up with Jodi and had a curry in Brick Lane, another institution that we had never been to, with touts vying for you to go into their Indian restaurant. We talked about the good old days and I think Emma and Connor were a little surprised at how wild things were back then.

Before we knew it, it was time to leave London after a very early start to go to Spain the next day from Gatwick.