May 23rd

Well freak out number 2. We woke up and decided to book something to London and it was CRAZY expensive, so to save a little money, we booked a Ryanair flight for the 24th. So then we booked another night in our fantastic guest house - Killarney Guest House near U.C.C. We didn't have a lot to do left, so we just slept in because our feet really really needed the rest!!! We looked for souvenirs, but because it was Sunday, most everything was closed. We did find a little craft place that had assorted beads and I got a baggie full of beads for just 5.95 euro so I packed the bag! I found some with little four leaf clovers on it that were green and white so I can make my own souvenir. We went out for dinner and our last pint in Ireland (well a few, and another Jameson and cranberry) later that night and turned in early.

May 24th

I don't want to talk about this day's morning. The ridiculous airline practically STOLE 150 euro from us, bringing our flight to London up to a whopping 330 euro which I refuse to convert into dollars because I am entirely too scared to. Lots of hidden fees. DO NOT USE RYANAIR.…... EVER! When we landed, we took the Gatwick express into Victoria station and then got info from the info center that there were a few hostels and a lot of B&B's just down the road from the station, so we went knocking on doors. There was literally hundreds of places to stay so I took one side of the road and Ryan took the other. We just asked the reception if they had any double bed rooms open for that night and then tried to bargain them down, and using the 40 pound price we had gotten from a creepy looking place, we got a decently nice place, Blair Victoria, for 40! The rooms were pretty small and the furniture was old and mismatched and the bathroom (ryan's description...) "looked like they ripped it right out of an RV and smashed it in the corner." But there was good security, everything was clean and I couldn't find any bugs or traces of creepies, and FANTASTIC hot water and water pressure. Pretty nice :) One we dropped off our bags, we went walking to Kensington (decently far) looking for a hostel using a NewLondon tour company map that lists hostels. At the corner of our B&B's street was a little convenience shop with a super nice guy working there so we stopped in and bought a map and got his advice about whether to buy a travel card or a week pass Oyster card. We didn't find room or decent prices (a 14 or 16 bed hostel would be more than booking our double B&B again) so we went back to the hotel. We picked up food on the way and settled in for the night so Ryan could watch the England/Mexico game while I paid 5 pounds to search the internet for a hostel. We booked a hostel for all our days in Amsterdam, figured out where to go in London to get tickets for the train+ferry to Amsterdam, and booked 2 nights stay at the The Greenman, Bestplace Inn in Paddington, London.

May 25th

Home 3:42pm

London 8:42pm

This morning we woke up and checked out of Blair Victoria and headed with our bags to the Greenman Bar and Hostel. On the way, we bought 7-day Oyster cards which get us on and off any tube or bus at any time for 7 days for just 25 pounds a person. The tube is typically 4 pounds for one trip, so it quickly makes up for itself in savings (a.k.a. After our first day's journey!) We checked in at the hostel which looks nice and met a nice couple about our age in our room. They're from Maryland, are engaged, both quit their jobs, have much more in student loans than we do, and are over here for a YEAR and getting married in Greece in September. So just thank your lucky stars that Ryan and I are a little more conservative... or are we?!?!?!?!?!? suspense :)

We packed up our day pack and headed out into the city. We took the tube up to Liverpool street station to book our Amsterdam ferry (125 pounds for both of us to ride trains to the ferry port, the 8 hour ferry ride, a cabin for two and train to anywhere in the Netherlands). The booking went smoothly so now for Sunday, our accommodation costs only 36 pounds and our travel is sooooooo much cheaper than our trip TO London. We went ahead to the Tower of London to find an information center - which we did - and we got the three day London pass which is 61 pounds a person and gets us into a lot of the must-see tourist stuff for free along with more discounts. Thanks to excel, I made a nice little chart of attractions the pass gets us free into and how much it would cost without, and of the "definitely" places we've decided we have to visit, we'll save a couple pounds and skip all the lines, but if we add in the "maybe" places, we'll save a lot more. We've got the pass days pretty well outlined by area.

Next, Ryan wanted to go see Upton Park, where West Ham United is, so we took a tube out there (which because it was out of central London did cost a tiny tiny bit) and visited the stadium. We didn't want to pay for a tour, but did get a scarf and a doggie food mat for Cole from the gift shop (p.s. Don't ruin the surprise for Cole - it's for his first birthday!) We headed back into town, after I made Ryan uncomfortable walking around a mostly Indian community's street market. On the way in, we decided we'd get the free stuff out of the way so we wouldn't waste pass time in the next three days so we went to the Museums. We only got through the museum of natural history, but it was pretty cool. The have a fantastic gemstones and minerals exhibit with a really great "vault" full of super valuable gemstones and meteorites and things. Ryan loved the dinosaur exhibit and the skeletons and the huge cross section of a Redwood tree. I found a penguin carved from greenish onyx and got it - I hope it makes it home!

The museum closed so we went to walk around Kensington Gardens. The park is the home of infant Peter Pan (read J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens) and in the book many places of the park are described. For Valentine's Day, I started writing in a journal a copy of this book - I found it electronically online - to read to Ryan as a bedtime story type thing. I wrote a lot slower than we could read though and we had to stop so I could write more so we're not quite through it yet. It was really cool to see the book come alive as we walked through the park! Then we took wrong turns and got lost and decided to go find food and come back another day when we visit the Palace to find Peter Pan's statue and maybe have a picnic. We came back to our hostel and walked down the street to find a good cheap meal. Food hasn't been too expensive here and you can find some really tasty bargains! Now we're blogging and relaxing on the couches in the bar and once again Ryan's watching soccer. :)

- Sara