Jet Lag

My first bout with jet lag has been a difficult one to say the least. A trip from the west coast to the east is nothing compared to this. As someone who has issues with sleep anyway, adjusting to a new schedule of essentially sleeping at 3pm (23:00 BST) and waking at 11pm (7:00 BST) can leave you feeling like you are in the middle of some weird drug hangover. Or maybe I am just having a weird drug hangover from the 'relaxation aid' that my mother so generously gave me for the plane ride.

Because of the jet lag, we crashed out early Friday night after a short walk around Kennsington and a quick bite at the Brooke Green Hotel bar. After waking up at 5am on Saturday, we took the 'tube' to Westminster to get a quick glimpse at the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, continuing past St. James Park to Picadilly Circus. Picadilly Circus is the main commercial center in the heart of London and one of the main thoroughfares. Today however it was blocked off and there were no vehicles being allowed through. What would be such a threat as to completely shut down this main artery? We of course had no idea so we began to ask around. That is when we first heard. The area was closed down for the annual London Gay Pride Parade. As eager as Chad was to wave his pink British flag, we instead jumped on the tube to the Museum of London. We decided to call it a day after we both nodded off during the 4 minute film about the great plague.

On a more serious note, we are trying not to let the seriousness of what is happening here affect our travels. We rode the tube all day yesterday fully aware of the failed car bombings the day before, and went out last night to a local pub after the Glasgow Airport incident and the raising of the terror threat level to critical. We are of course alert and observant and will probably stay away from public transportation today, but we both feel completely safe and plan on checking out Buckingham Palace tomorrow.

Cheerio..