The good news: We made it safe and sound to Cape Town.

The bad news:  Donny’s bag didn’t.  Our card reader is in his bag, so we won’t be able to post any photos just yet!

A delayed flight out of JFK meant we avoided a connection in Washington DC and were put straight through to London on British Airways.  The United Airlines representative was probably the most unhelpful, condescending person we’d encountered for a long time, but after a lot of eye rolling and rudeness (on her part) we were able to get re-routed.  What a pleasant surprise.  The flight was smooth, we were well-fed (in contrast to the typical domestic flight) and time flew by quickly.

In London, we met up with Donny’s Facebook friend Rochelle and her boyfriend Ty.  They were both lovely and we had a great quickie walking tour of London.  We used a daypass on the Tube (aka London Underground) and made it to many of the major tourist sites.  We also saw enough to start our list of what we’d really like to explore on a future trip.  Mostly, it was nice to meet new friends and spend some time chatting.  A cruise on the River Thames finished the day, and since we were running late, we made a mad dash back to Heathrow.

Highlights of our whirlwind visit: Buckingham Palace, the Prime Minister’s house, Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, London Tower, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Cutty Sark (which burned down last year and will take years to be reconstructed).  This last was located at Greenwich, by which we all tell time (Greenwich Mean Time).