Our British Adventure

in #travel5 years ago (edited)

A few days ago Raymi and I boarded a night flight across the Atlantic. Destination...London. One thing that all of our British friends have told us we can’t forget was a good umbrella. Luckily, we haven't seen a drop of rain yet. This is our first time visiting the UK and are very excited to experience all London has to offer.

Before visiting a new city I typically do tons of research to get the most out of the trip. Much of what I’ve learned about London has come from the Love and London YouTube channel and Rick Steves’ podcasts. Many of the top travel sites offer sample 3, 5, and 7 day itineraries packed full of activities from morning until night. When we travel we prefer to just choose the activities that most grab our attention and schedule no more than one-to-three sites or activities per day and then are happy to let spontaneity fill the gaps in between.

Gadgets, Gear, & Apps

Nothing drains your mobile phone’s battery as quickly as navigation apps. Ironically, the one thing that is supposed to keep you from getting lost can leave you stranded. One thing that has saved us countless times while exploring in our travels is an external battery. The Rav Power brand is the best I’ve found. The model I own (22000mAh) allows me to top of the iPhone’s battery about four times. This has always been more than adequate, even for a whole day of sightseeing.

In terms of apps, one that has been particularly helpful for London has been Citymapper. Citymapper allows us set our Airbnb as “home” and then navigate in and around the city like a pro. The app even maps your route on public transit (and does a much better job than Google or native Apple nav apps and tells you the amount you’ll pay. If you choose to walk it lets you know how many calories you’ll burn.

Another thing that's made our lives easier while traveling are these Pack-It cubes. They come in small, medium, and large sizes. The zipper is designed in a way that compresses the clothing inside of them to about 1/4th their original thickness. As a result you can fit much more stuff in the same size suitcase, which comes in handy for longer trips. The only bad thing about them is you can end up with an overweight bag very quickly.

Here are a few pictures from the start of our journey:


Buckingham Palace from our Uber. I was surprised how close it is to the street.



We got to see the changing of the guard from our Uber. I couldn’t believe our luck.


Our street in Covent Garden.


After nearly a day of travel we finally made it to the front door of our Airbnb.

Thank you for reading and Cheerio! I’ll have lots more of England to share in the coming days.

Eric


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Beautiful scenery and pictures, I love the photography. When Steem is $10 I'll one day visit that place too. Oops, by then there will be virtual reality that you can sit at home and connect with Google Maps and go to any place in the world with the help of holograms, isn't that great 😁 😂 😁.

Enjoy your stay man.

..

PS : It's normal for GPS and the likes to drain the battery, it's connecting to magnetic field I think, so the excuse is acceptable.

Thanks! We've found it's not as expensive here as the travel guides lead you to believe. The day will be here soon when you can do that with VR but it won't be the same as having your feet on the ground.

Hello Eric, how are you ... Wow, really a very pleasant trip with your wife. I took part in enjoying your trip through photo photos that you shared. Everything looks beautiful and extraordinary. london is a beautiful city, although I have never been there but I often see it through the Internet. It seems that you have prepared your trip perfectly, friend ... you have prepared an Android that is battery resistant and so on. Have a nice trip, my friend.

You're like Zeus when it comes to photography, look at so much gadget. Does the 22000 mah recharge your iPhone? Like how far can the external charger go in charging the iPhone? Citymapper is pretty impressive.
Look at those amazing shots, London is amazing

Thanks man! Yeah the external battery will charge the iphone up about 4x.

Ooh! Will be watching your trip unfold. Hope you have a great time! We're traveling to Copenhagen later this year and are thinking of making a visit to London, too.

Thank you @geke! Have you every been to London? I would love to see Copenhagen too.

Enjoy your trip Eric, lucky you to have enjoyed clear skies so far! Hope your accommodation is great too!

Thanks @lizelle! The only rain we've seen was for a brief time yesterday. Our Airbnb can get very loud at night when the pubs/clubs close, otherwise it's been great.

I always fall in love with London when I go :D So glad to see you guys having fun out there!
I don't really believe in tourist attractions (though with London, I did make an exception and visit most), I think the "simple" experience of being alive there for a few days is enough :)
Cool photos and have fun!!

Thanks @honeydue! It's a city easy to fall in love with. The soul of this city is pretty incredible, I only wish we had another few weeks here.

You're a true man and I love your blog and how you share your life. Needless to say, I never thought you whites have issues with light till I saw that you carry a power a power bank.

Am presently using a 20,000MAH power bank by Oraimo here.

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Concerning maps, we use Google Maps here and sometimes it's helps if it's a popular city, it not, sorry is the case. 😂 😂.

Enjoy your trip.

Thanks! The power bank is to charge up my phone when it dies.

Thanks for the detailed story, it can be useful for those who are going to travel in the same way, wonderful photos will be happy to wait for the continuation.

Those shot looks great and also I am even thinking of buying a power bank soon though

@ericvancewalton, Have a blessful journey and hope that you will going to come back with tons of unforgettable memories.

And also it's sounding as you are very well planned for this Travel. Enjoy your time ahead.

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