Day 9

I woke up earlier than I needed to this morning. A little anxious about my upcoming train ride to London I guess. The Eurostar email that I received requested that I arrive at the station one hour before departure. I spoke with the front desk last night about checking out and having time to get my breakfast before leaving. Breakfast doesn't start until 7AM and I needed to be at the station at 8 AM. I was going to use the metro to get to the train station which required me to plan some extra time because I would have my luggage to drag around with all the locals trying to get to work. So, I made sure my bag was packed and went down for breakfast.

I made sure to have my last genuine French croissant. I filled up on all the other goodies they had available for breakfast as well. I wasn’t sure when my next meal was going to be today.

I went back upstairs to retrieve my luggage and checked under the bed to make sure I didn't leave anything behind. Wallet…check, phone…check, passport…check. OK. Good to go!

I realized I hadn't included any pictures of the hotel. So, here’s a couple. Very nice place. I believe the hotel is in the fashion district of downtown. It is like walking around Bevery Hills, with all the high end shops. Here’s is the lobby.

I was able to check-out quickly and the staff was very friendly to see me off. Au revoir!

I lugged my suitcase down the stairs into the metro and I ran into my first issue. My pass, which was on my phone had expired. In Amsterdam I purchased a 72 hour pass which expired exactly 72 hours from initial use. Apparently, my metro pass here in Paris, which I bought a three day pass, expired at the end of three days. Which was last night at midnight. No problem. I maneuvered myself out of the way of the hustle and bustle and loaded a one trip ticket to the train station. Let’s try this again.

Trying to maneuver around the metro, during the morning rush, is a great workout! On the first train, transfer to another, and up and down all those steps. I arrived at the train station and bought me a bottle of water, took a breather and figured out where I needed to go next.

One of the pitfalls of brexit is that you have to go through customs to travel between the European mainland and the United Kingdom. This is why they requested to arrive an hour early. Of course it is upstairs, but fortunately there were escalators. It was a simple process. Plus I got my passport stamped again.

When I woke up I checked the Eurostar site to make sure my train was still in time, which it was. I also double checked my ticket and saw an option to change seats. I opened this up and saw that my assigned seat was an aisle seat next to an occupied seat. I noticed a widow seat a few rows back with an open seat next to it. I selected the widow seat. When I boarded and loaded my luggage, which was much easier thus time, I found my seat and waited for departure. The seat next to me never was filled so I had both seats to myself to spread out! That worked out well.

After we were underway, an announcement was made about getting discount metro fair for London. I just had to get to the café car to get the information. I managed to walk the isle of four cars without landing in someone’s lap. Once there the gentleman serving behind the counter explained to me the special offer. He was selling a London metro card that the card itself is good for life. The card itself is €7.00. The total is €26.00. So, the card is therefore preloaded €19.00 ready to use when we arrive. The best part to the deal is once the card is charged €8.90 a day, the rest are free rides. Meaning that the most the card is debited, per day, using bus or tube, is €8.90. The card can be reloaded and used the same way for the life of the card. Deal! This was the cheapest multi-day metro card I had purchased this trip so far.

This was a newer and nicer train than the one I rode on from Amsterdam. Here is where you store your larger luggage and he smaller baggage can go overhead above your seats.

Each car also has bathrooms at the end.

I was all excited about going through the chunnel. The countryside flew by quickly. The train travels almost 200 mph at times. We went through several tunnels along the way and when we were in on for a longer period of time I realized it was the chunnel. How deflating. All the build up looking forward to crossing the Eglish Channel and I couldn't even take a picture because in was black and all I would get is my reflection. Oh well, I can say I did it anyway.

We arrived in London right on time. It was time to see if this metro card would work. I was able to figure out what metro to take, walked by everyone standing in line getting their metro cards, scanned my card and I was on my way.

Look what I found. Didn't think these still existed.

Another seabag drag day. But today I was going to be a little more productive with my time before check-in. This is the half way point of my trip. And even though I have a huge suitcase, I still couldn't fit two weeks of clothes. I decided I would do some laundry with the time I had before being able to get into my room.

I had done some research before even leaving on my trip. I knew I was going to need to clean my clothes at some point. I did however make sure to bring two weeks worth of socks and underwear just in case this plan didn't work out.

They lady that runs this laundry and the alteration shop next door was very friendly and helpful. I was able to access an ATM a few shops down and buy detergent a couple shops down. She was able to make change for me to run the machines as well.

It was forty minutes for the washer. It started to pour down rain just after I arrived. Lucky break.

While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I noticed this truck pull up!

Ummm. It is a predominantly Muslim area. So, I’m guessing lamb?

I still had another hour before check-in after folding my laundry and getting it back into my suitcase. But, I started walking to the hotel anyway. I figured I do an early check-in and check my bag so I could get a late lunch early dinner.

Classic double decker busses and standard English taxis.

I checked into my room and decided to rest up for the rest of the evening. Even though I didn’t do much site seeing today. I still managed to do over 11000 steps! Still a productive day. Traveled to a new city and got my laundry done. I’ll be sure to make up for it tomorrow.