Day 1 Miami-London

Whew, what a LONGgggg day! It started Friday afternoon loading the JetSet bus in Jupiter, with a great parental sendoff. Then, we made it to Miami International Airport with no trouble, finished the lengthy, cumbersome, and irritating check-in procedure, got through security, and took off for London on our American Airways plane right on time. The flight was long, we slept some, ate some, watched movies, and landed at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning, London time. Then we were swept up in recovering our baggage, getting through Customs/Immigration, connecting with our EF Tour Leader Emma Pask (whom we really like), and clambering on a bus to our hotel. We made it to the St. Giles-Heathrow Hotel, our home for the next two nights, dumped our bags, caught our breath, and headed out to sight-see London. We rode the train to Charring Cross, then hoofed it all over old London first seeing teh Changing of the Guard, pose in teh flowers at Hyde Park, then walking to Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, and all places in between before heading to teh Thames River for a ride on the London Eye ("The Wheel" to Londoners). It rained on and off during the day, but we handled it. After The Wheel, everybody got on the Tube and went to Soho for supper, after a walk through Chinatown. Then, exhaustion creeping in, we headed back to our hotel via Tube and train. Whew, what a day! More exploration tomorrow. Moer pics are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/jlphil7584/2010EnglandFranceTrip02#