Hello London :)

The airport before we left was full of mixed feelings... I was OK until I cuddled Zoey, my sister, Mum, Dad and Ryan goodbye and then it was all downhill eeep!!! It was easier once I walked through the doors and braved my new start... and Bryce was feeling much the same, so we both smiled through it together and boarded the plane.

It was a loooonnnng flight, and I was pretty over it by the second flight.... the last four hours were definitely the worst. I watched a few movies (The Time Travelers Wife was really good....) and organised my iTunes music into playlists and albums. Very productive I thought!

There was a friendly guy sitting behind us on the plane who was pleased to make it into our photo... we felt we should take a photo of us on the plane, even though neither of us had slept and felt like death. You'd never know with those outstanding smiles!  Especially the guy behind us. LOL.

Our stop-over in Kuala Lumpur was longer than exptected, we had three hours to kill so grabbed some coffee, freshened up (cleaned our teeth... amazing feeling!) and then did some duty free shopping. I got some perfume and was stoked with my purchase :)

When we arrived in London it was 5.15am, and 3 degrees outside. I knew it would be cold... but it was colder than I expected... and 3 degrees is warm by their standards!! We collected our luggage and tried to kill some time, as we didn't want to wake Tony and Maria (good friends of my Dad's cousin, Fran who we are staying with, who are, by the way, AMAZING hosts!) at such an ungodly hour. We killed time until 7am and then headed on down to the tube. Bryce was very excited as he was a London tube virgin so it was entertaining watching him so excited yet so tired in the face! He was the ultimate gentleman, and carried my backpack on his back *and* his own suitcase...

And I carried the rest. Most of which was mine. Haha. How stoked was I that musical instrument cases were allowed as extra hand luggage??!!!!

We decided to make the first day an epic day, and stay awake until bedtime, and being we were surviving of about three hours of cat-napping sleep it was no mean feat!! We took the tube and found all sorts of places, and ended up doing a heap of walking around London town, which was great as it is good to get your bearings above ground as well as below! We have seen so many amazing things so far... it is a bustling city with something to look at everywhere you turn. Some groovy markets, and lots of Christmas Decorations... Mum - you would love it.

Mum - I think you should start growing the BIGGEST hedge anyone has ever seen. Then get Tim to make it look like Rudolf. How cool would that be??!! DO IT!

We had the most epic breakfast, at "The Shakespeares Head", it was 7 pounds 20 pence (about $14NZD) to get this huge as breakfast *and* a pint of beer. Because everyone should drink beer with their breakfast... (it was 12pm, and our bodies thought it was 1am, so beer is probably more acceptable...). So this was our first official London town meal. We were still VERY tired...

Where was I... oh... that's right... LONDON!!! Theatre. OMG. I was literally jumping all over the place with excitement. I think I embarrassed Bryce haha... so many amazing theatres, and so many places to book cheap tickets! Where to start... what to see first... I am keen to see "The Railway Children" (cue laughter now) at Waterloo station this week, out of interest :)  I am thinking Billy Elliot next week perhaps too... so much choice. So many shows, and not enough time. Oh wait- I have a year! Yussss! I was walking around, however, thinking how cool it would be to have the theatre family all come over and see something. And Mum... you would be so excited to see all these amazing shows.

Les Miserables. Oh how I love you. Haha.
We did the typical London tourist thing.. had photos with post boxes, which by the way smelt like urine. Like the strongest, stinkiest urine you have ever smelt in your life. We couldn't even close the door!! I am holding my breath in this photo haha.

Sarah: Yoo Hoo.... London calling... 

Bryce: OMG! Batman, is it really true???

Piccadilly Circus, looks amazing at night time...

The London eye, Parliament building and Big Ben in the distance. Haven't gone close to them yet, but we have time :P And we want a nice clear day for going on the London eye.

Oxford Street was *manic*. There were so many people, pushing and shoving and fighting their way into shops to get the best discounts... it was quite overwhelming actually, we will go back after new year when it *might* have quietened down!! 

The park across the road from where we are staying... looks really eerie. This was early in the morning... it doesn't get much brighter than this to be honest!

Anyway, tomorrow we are venturing out on the Northern Line to find somewhere to live... it should be an exciting day... then to Hyde Park in the evening for something called 'Winter Wonderland' which sounds awesome. I bought a new camera today to replace my one which seems to be dying... it is the latest Sony Cyber-shot, Tx9... and it is amazing. Has a 3D function, and a panoramic sweep which should take some pretty epic photos!!! Looking forward to playing with it tomorrow! 

Cheery bye :)