Adoption Photographer | AFRICA | A Detour in London

As promised, I wanted to share a bit of my seven hour detour in London on my way home from Africa.  When we arrived at the airport in Addis Ababa to check in, the flight was overbooked… and there weren’t enough seats for all of us to fly directly to Washington, DC.  Gerald and I offered to stay behind and take a different flight so that the Cross family could stay together to bring their son into the US. The flight Gerald and I were given went through London, where we would have a 7 hour layover. Since I had never been to the UK Before, I decided it might be a little bit fun… 7 hours was enough time to do a little sightseeing, so we decided to make the best of it and enjoy our bonus trip at the end of our mission trip.

We arrived at the UK Border and went through customs and immigration. The attendant asked how long I was staying (5 hours, by the time we made it through the line), and what I was planning on doing in London (looking for a red phone booth, preferrably one that might lead to the Ministry of Magic). She laughed at me, and then suggested that we take the Underground (YES!), Picadilly Line to Covent Garden. She knew of a phone booth there.

She welcomed us to Britain, and Gerald adn I set off on our London tour. First, we exchanged money…

Then we headed to the Underground and bought a day pass (15 pounds)

Then it was onto the Picadilly Line! I got a map of the London Underground and giggled, imagining Dumbledore’s scar on his leg (if you recall from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, he mentions his scar is an exact replica of a map of the London Underground).

We got off on the stop before Covent Garden (Leicester Square) so we could walk a bit. We turned the first corner, and THERE IT WAS!!!

Gerald and I attempted to get into the Ministry of Magic, to no avail…

I was still excited to be in an authentic London Phone Booth! Some day I will own one of these. It will be in my living room. It will be lovely.

We continued our walking tour of London, admiring the streets and the architecture…

and we even had breakfast at Cafe La Roche. I had a full English Breakfast (cause… I was in England!). The breakfast included a LOT of meats. Sausage, bacon, eggs… the works. Way too much for me to eat, especially after 10 days of African food! But it was all great to taste. The coffee was good, but I was spoiled on Ethiopian coffee and nothing can really compare.

Gerals really wanted to continue living out the Pray:58 ministry we learned with Joey and Destiny in Ethiopia. He wanted to give a blanket to a homeless person. The problem was, London (especially the area we were in) didn’t have much rifraff around. We did discover that there were “homeless advocates” that sold magazines on the sides of the road. They looked pretty homeless to us, and were probably part of the homeless community. When we got to Covent Garden we found a woman selling those magazines and asked her if she knew of anyone who might benefit from a blanket. She was very grateful and said she knew just who to give it to. It made us feel good to not only help someone, but hopefully also empower them to, in turn, help another.

After a bit of wandering around Covent Garden and a little shopping (I bought a teacup in honor of Grandma Jane), it was time to head back to the Underground for our train ride back to the airport. Gerald and I walked down the Neverending Spiral Staircase at the train station…

And we headed To The Trains…

We waited for our train…

Gerald did some posing…

And we rode back to the airport.

The trains were all so clean and nice. It was really a beautiful transportation system.

Heathrow airport is GINORMOUS! Seriously there was like a giant shopping mall in the middle of the terminal.

And finally we got on our plane to head back to the US! Next stop, SAN FRANCISCO!! I was maybe a little excited.

We flew on a 747 – I think it was the first time I flew on one! You know, with the whole upstairs and all? Rad! It was British Airways and it was quite nice… definitely a step up from the Ethiopian Airlines we had been traveling prior.

And there you have it… my little detour into London!