Here we go!

The last day of my trip!

Today I’ll be flying out nice and early to London where I’ll spend the afternoon and evening before flying home tomorrow afternoon.

Let’s see what the day has in store for me…

Early Morning

My flight to London was leaving at 9:45 this morning which meant I had to be out the door of my hostel at the ungodly hour of 6:30 to get to the airport a couple hours before my flight.

Miraculously, despite going to bed at 11pm, I woke up on my own at 5am with no alarm needed.

So, after getting all ready and packed up, I was out the door to the SBahn.

Destination: Munich airport!

To no surprise, there was once again no need to arrive 2 hours early for my flight.

There was no one in line at security or passport control and I was through and at the boarding gate within 10 minutes.

I know you always hear these horror stories of people waiting for hours in line to get through but I’ve never encountered anything close to that myself.

At 9:45 we were up in the air.

My time in Germany had officially come to an end.

But, wait, what’s that?

London is calling…

In a capsule

I have visited London on one other occasion as part of my trip through the UK seven years ago and it felt good to be back.

Despite it’s reputation for rain, I lucked out and arrived to a beautiful sunny day of 20C.

I mean, I literally lucked out because yesterday it was rainy and cold.

Despite the flight being 2 hours, I got the advantage of a time zone change and it was just 10:45am when I landed.

Now, of course, getting for the airport (Gatwick) into town would take another hour but that’s another story.

My hostel is located in the east end of London which seems to be the Muslim area as I passed ethnic shop after shop and burka after burka on my way there.

I arrived just before 12:30pm and, thankfully, I was able to checkin earlier than the 2pm checkin time.

This hostel is a unique capsule design borrowed from the Japanese.   It’s completely contactless meaning I was given a door code and instructions for how to enter my sleeping pod.

Other than a couple other travelers, I never met anyone working there.

At one point I actually locked my keycard and phone inside my capsule and had a moment of shear panic as I didn’t know what to do or how to contact anyone.

Turns out, though, if you force the pod door open as hard as you can, it’ll easily open.

Hmm, well that doesn’t seem that secure.   Hope none of the other people staying here know that trick.

English Breakfast?

I hadn’t eaten anything yet today but that was fine as I was saving up my hunger for a classic English Breakfast.

You know, eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, hashbrowns, toast, tomato and black pudding.

That English Breakfast!

I had a place marked out down the street that apparently had gluten free options so I headed there after I checked in.

I sat down, told them I was celiac, and order the English Breakfast.

While I knew I couldn’t have the black pudding, I figured everything else would be gluten free and they’d just replace the bread with a gluten free variety.

Ha.   Boy, was I wrong.

Turns out I couldn’t have the hashbrowns.   Or the sausage.   Or the bacon.

I mean, what the f*ck?

How does bacon have gluten in it?!?

So, in utter defeat, I ordered one of their gluten free crepes and, while it was good, it didn’t satisfy my urge for that classic breakfast.

Fishy, fishy

After breakfast, which was really lunch, I returned to my little capsule and had a much needed nap.

At 4:30 I arrose from my slumber ready to tackle my evening.

Boy, did I have a plan!

I had figured out exactly what I was doing this evening literally 3 months ago and, now, it was all going to be set in motion.

First things first.   Time for some classic British fare.

Ah yes, good ‘ol Fish and Chips.

It’s actually been quite awhile since I’ve had fish and chips because of my allergy so when I managed to find a pub offering a gluten free beer battered option, I was excited.

I won’t lie, given my track record on this trip, I was half expecting my server to tell me they didn’t have gluten free fish and chips available tonight.

But, nope, she put me at ease and I ordered some wine and my fish and chips.

Oh, and a side of onion rings too cause I swear it’s been at least 5 years since I’ve had those too.

Heavenly!

Hamilton

When you have only one night in London what do you do besides go to see a show in the West End.

Last time I was here I went to go see Les Misérables and I had a fantastic time.

I haven’t seen many plays in musical productions in my life so, given the opportunity, I try to seize it.

Tonight, it was Hamilton!

The doors opened at 6:30 and I was right there in the second row dead center.

Of course the show didn’t start until 7:30.

D’oh!

Why did I think it started at 7:00?

Yeah, so I twiddled my thumbs, looked around at the people, and fiddled on my phone for an hour.

And then it was showtime!

Sorry, no photos or videos allowed.

Boo!

So, what can I say?   It was magnificent.   Who would have thought a musical mixing obscure politics and rap/hip hop would be such a hit?

I mean, a rap battle between Jefferson and Hamilton?

A smug pudgy king who wistfully dreams of his lover (America) coming back to him?

Yup, the king was definitely a fan favorite, that’s for sure.

After 2 1/2 hours, the show was done just before 10:30pm.

Time for the last part of my planned evening…

Dessert!

Now, it’s been equally hard to find gluten free options for dessert other than the standard ice cream or creme brulee.

So, a couple of months ago when I spotted a restaurant near the theater that offered gluten free options, I knew this would be where I ended my night in London.

At this time of night the restaurant was almost empty as they were closing in just half an hour.

As a server, I never want to be one of those people coming into a restaurant right before close so I assured my waiter I was just in for dessert and I’d be in and out before he knew it.

They actually had a handful of options that were gluten free but I opted for two mini desserts instead so I could try a couple of different things.

I had a salt caramel brownie and a strawberry & hazelnut cheesecake.

Divine!

Like, seriously, the perfect way to end my night out.

And that was my last day of the trip.

A whole lotta food with a musical thrown in the mix just for good measure.

You know, just another typical day in the life of Todd.

Tomorrow I’ll be flying home to Vancouver and, as always, I’ll be blogging about my journey home.

See you tomorrow.