Peter and I are traveling the world for a year!! Somebody pinch me or don’t because if I’m dreaming I don’t want to wake up. We couldn’t be happier or more grateful for this incredible opportunity and adventure we are embarking on. We bonded over our love for travel. We fell in love traveling overseas when we jumped on a plane together 3 weeks after dating. We are both crazy and brave enough to have traveled alone. Traveling solo can be a profoundly lonely place. I’m so blessed that I now get to see the world with my best friend. I believe that this world tour will be even better for both of us because we both know what it’s like to do it by ourselves. We have that much more appreciation that we have eachother to share in all these experiences. No more sunsets, dinners, and walks alone.
What will we look like in a year? Will we be different? How will we have grown separately and on our own? They say the first year of marriage is the toughest. Is this a wise decision? 
The few weeks that we had between returning from Maui to leaving were crazy hectic. We were working, packing, saying bye to friends and family. We organized a garage sale, which was a very entertaining endeavor. I had a lot of people ask me how do you pack for a year. I always said, “I have no idea.” It was a bit stressful, but just because there was so much to do. We had perspective what we were doing all this for.
Before we knew it, the day was here. July 1st we headed to LAX to catch an evening flight to London. The trip over was rather smooth except for missing last call for our flight and having to make a mad dash to the plane. I did finish my thank you cards for the wedding. The flight attendant offered to mail them for me when she returned to the States. If in a couple weeks you don’t receive one please let me know.
This was my first trip To London. We stayed at the Savoy where without even mentioning that we are on our honeymoon we got upgraded. It really threw me when the receptionist told me we would have a butler. I really had to contain my emotions when he said that. I tried to act like I was a “butler” kind of person. Our room was beautiful, small like most British hotels but really lovely.
The first couple days we did major walking tours. We took in all the big tourist attractions. First we saw what is known as the biggest UK attraction, Big Bend. Fun fact Big Bend first chimed in 1859.
Of course Buckingham Palace. I was actually quite amused at the thought of the Fotheringham’s at Buckingham Palace. The Palace is enormous, over 830,000 sq feet. Peter and I thought our home of 2500 sq feet was a nice size. The palace is almost exactly 332 of our homes. I don’t even know if you can imagine what that really means in size.
We also visited St Paul’s Cathedral. This cathedral is where the memorial services of Lord Nelson, Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher were held. This is also where the royal weddings are held, Princess Di to Prince Charles and of course Will and Kate. We also checked out Knotting Hill, a very beautiful neighborhood with shopping, open markets, and cute cafes.
Our last walking tour was Hyde Park, which is a royal park covering 350 acres. Because the weather was so nice there was a ton of people enjoying picnics, sunbathing, drinking wine, and reading. The park was alive with activity. That was one observation I did love about London – the energy. Granted it was beautiful weather so maybe locals were trying to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Every cafe and bar was packed with people drinking pints. A lot of the time patrons would be standing outside the bar or sitting on the cobblestone steps enjoying a cold beer and conversation with their friends. This was anytime of the day too. The city didn’t really seem to sleep. Noon on a Wednesday, pints for everyone.
One night we had the pleasure of having drinks and dinner with our friends Natalie and Dave.
Peter went to college with Natalie. She and her husband Dave are working and living in London. We had actually just seen them in Maui for our wedding so it was really fun to recap the trip with them. We went to a really fun spot called “Back in Five” for dinner. All four of us have travelled quite a bit so it was fun to exchange travel stories. None of us wanted the night to end so we went for a night cap after dinner for some more fun and conversation. We hope to see them again during this year. One thing that they turned me on to was a drink called Pimm’s. It’s like a sangria but made with lemonade and gin. It’s delicious!
A very fun coincidence that occurred while we were in London was that our friends Andy and Dave from Los Angeles happened to be in town. If you saw the flash mob from my brother Jason and Evan’s wedding, Andy choreographed that wonderful number and Dave was a groomsman on Evan’s side. They are close family friends. I was on Facebook and I saw Andy post Happy 4th of July from London. They were less than a mile from us. I knew they were in Greece, but had no idea they were coming to London before returning home. I immediately started stalking them online. I sent numerous messages that we had to get together. Lucky enough we were able to fit it in the day before we left for Paris. We went to a late dinner after they saw the show Charlie and the Chocolate factory. We met at 10:30 pm and everything was packed. They do it late in London. We had so much fun being spoiled to spend another evening with great friends. We spent a few hours catching up. Adam and Dave are always guaranteed to be a great time.
After a few wonderful days in London we were off to Paris by train. France is where we decided to have a true Honeymoon. Peter planned some really great things for us.
Much love till Paris,
Jaime
