Day 2 - London & Krakow

Trip Progress

Day Summary

Sunday - London

Early wake up - we were still feeling it. Packed up and checked out of the Bankside Hotel . We left our luggage with concierge and headed out for a half-day of fun before already leaving.

No Breakfast

I was up extra early (as usual) getting some work done.

We didn’t plan a formal breakfast, mainly because of our early museum tour. We checked in with both boys… “hungry? We’re going to a museum. There won’t be any food.”      “we’re good”

So we made our way to Westminster area - about a 30 min subway ride and walk away.

Tube Ride

The subway ride this morning was a little extra special because the ticket machines were all broken!

For the previous day, I had purchased an unlimited daily ride ticket for each person and just held them for everyone until they were needed.

Right before we went in/out of station, each family member got a ticket, scanned it through the machine, walked through, and I collected the tickets. Pretty easy.

This morning was a bit different because we couldn’t purchase any tickets at our station. For whatever reason the machines were broken, so I opt’d for tap and pay.

Obviously, to track each individual ride(r), the ticket or card can only be used ONCE at a gate! So, now here I am handing out separate credit cards. Seems like a no-big-deal, unless you’re trying to pull 4 cards out of your wallet, while managing a suitcase, 3 other family members following you like ducks in a lake - and not trying to get run over by annoyed London-ers. Ha!

Westminster

We were on a tight schedule for the day with a tour reservations for the Winston Churchill War Rooms museum at 9:30am and a flight later in the afternoon.

Ok, Breakfast

Soon after arriving to the Churchill War Rooms, and just a few minutes before the tour, Lori and I were met with: “I’m hungry…”

big eye roll

And…of course, there are no restaurants anywhere near us…not even concessions or street food. We ended up finding this little coffee shop/cafe a few blocks away and ran up there to see what we could order quickly.

A massive ham & cheese croissant sandwich? - there’s no way my kids could finish that thing… I guess, we’ll take two

Of course, while Lori was waiting in a large line for the order, the police were shutting down the road for a parade!

It was an unnecessarily, stressful morning.

We finally got the food and briskly made our way back the tour entrance - which was already under way.

Churchill War Rooms

You can tell how exhausted we were - there are basically no pictures during this period of the trip!

The tour was amazing. So many things I learned about WWII and how British leadership lived and functioned.

Victoria Station

Back to the hotel - got the luggage and off to Victoria Station.

By now, the kids were pro’s at riding the tube. Especially, this day with the credit cards and learning ways to get around a city.

It was only day 2, but we were impressed of how the kids were adapting to things.

Lunch - Greenwood

• good burgers
• friendly staff
• Ginger Ale

The lunch location was a random find. We were actually looking for another restaurant, but Greenwood looked pretty cool and we were RIGHT there.

Being close to the train station was critical because we didn’t have much time before our train to the airport.

Apparently you actually need Tickets

Mission (if we choose to accept it): catch 1:30pm Thameslink to Gatwick Airport

Despite being at the train station well in advance, we almost missed it!

We had about an hour wait. But, thinking ahead at possible mistakes I could have made, I wanted to test the ticket. I’d rather wait on the train platform, than find out too late, I’m at the wrong station. Well sure enough, the ticket wouldn’t scan. I asked someone, and confirmed my suspicion: we were at the platform too early.

With 40 minutes before, the thought crossed my mind about being at the wrong station. Rare for me, I decided to ask someone - simply because our timelines were so critical. There wasn’t much room for error.

Sure enough, confirmed that I had a voucher, not a ticket! I was told I needed to talk to the Information desk to claim the actual ticket.

Didn’t know about the kiosks

Well of course, there was a line. And, when I finally made it to the agent, most of what I got was an ear-full about the kiosks.

In fact, this was 80% of our conversation…while he deliberately, slowly scanned the voucher and printed the tickets to teach me a lesson:

I wondered…who is more annoyed at this point, he or I?

Train to Gatwick Airport

By this point our Gate (#19) was announced…and it was, naturally, the furthest away. I could see people rushing, so I was happy to say ‘Thank you!’ and be on my way.

We sprinted to the gate, only for the tickets to not work. Seriously?!

The security person eventually looked over our tickets, and ended up manually opening the gate for us. Whew!

We got to the train, seated, with about 5 minutes to spare.

Gatwick Airport

We arrived to Gatwick Airport, in a sea of people, with about an hour and a half before our flight. Imagine lines at Disney Land, with free entrance.

We had to funnel our way to the train station exit/airport entrance where you scan your ticket to complete our trip.

Oh yeah, we never actually scanned our tickets.

Fast forward: call security over, 10 minutes of Q&A, had to look up our tickets…ok we’re cleared to go.

Security went ok, but time more time consuming than I had planned. Thankfully, almost flying almost anywhere within Europe is sorta like having TSA Pre-Check anyway.

By this point we were down to about 50 minutes before takeoff and we needed to grab a quick bite to eat.

Not without visiting a super cool LEGO store.

A quick bite to eat - our Gate was announced and we were sprinting (along with others) to the gate - which felt like a mile away.

Flight to Krakow

LGW KRK

Lori had to argue that her duffel bag would fit fine under seat. No one would believe her…and eventually had to get out of line and test it. It barely fit!

Ironically, no questions about the huge camera backpack I was carrying. Otherwise, all of our carry-on bags fit well.

EasyJet

This was my first time flying EasyJet, and I have to say I was worried based on lots of reviews I read. I was pleasantly surprised

• great prices
• clean, simple, no frills
• mostly kind staff (follow the rules, and there’s no problems)

We were seated in row 3, which is not “first class” in EasyJet’s layout, but I believe was an upgrade.

One of the funniest (but also strangely awkward) moments was when the pilot came out and was talking with the flight attendants and passengers in the first row. Then, made his way into the passenger bathroom. The look on Lori’s face was priceless.

Sunday - Krakow, Poland

We arrived in Krakow late enough that it was dark. We snapped a quick photo and made our way to get a ride to the hotel.

The airport and city are located about 25 min drive apart, and it feels like a drive through the outer edge of town/country-side. I ended up getting an Uber. For whatever reason, I felt Uber was the safer bet for longer trips like this, especially at night through the country-side.

Our driver spoke no English…or at least, didn’t want to try. No problem, this is a benefit of Uber as well. And it was a fun experience with the kids (although, still not fully adjusted to the timezone). We used Google Translate to ask a few questions to kill the silence.

Hotel

Hotel - Metropolitan Boutique Hotel

• good location
• affordable
• nice restaurant / bar

We checked in, made it to our room, and started minimally un-packing. It was crazy to think this was really only our second night of the trip and we were already in another country!

Missing Phone

Has anyone seen my phone?

Seriously?!

“I think I might have left it in the Uber”

The next sequence of events, over about 20 minutes, will probably rank in everyone’s top 1-2 for the entire trip:

• I am on Uber app filing a ‘lost item’ report, trying to contact the driver
• Tyler is in shock, still looking around the room for it
• Lori is on Life360, confirming it IS INDEED in the Uber, traveling 100km/h away from us

Well that sucks.

Max saves the day

Just then, Max - from the corner of the room - says calmly, “Hey guys, I’m talking to him on the phone right now”

At this point, we were all so frustrated, occupied, and now confused. “Wait, What?! How??”

Max: “I just called Tyler’s phone, and he answered”

We convinced the driver (again, no English) to drive about 40km back to the hotel and drop off the phone. One word, Euros

30 minutes later - phone was in my pocket - which fit nicely in the €70 void that was now missing.

Dinner

That ordeal pretty much killed any plans to get dinner. We had some snacks and got ready for bed.

Long day tomorrow.

Quote of the Day

We had an instant, unanimous vote for Quote of the Day: Max took the prize AND bonus big save for the trip!

Hey guys, I’m talking to him…