Our bloopers started even prior to leaving Turkey and this is how; We had a friend who is a season ticket holder back in MN order us tickets to the Vikings game. The NFL said they would send the tickets in the mail at the end of August. We were not leaving for London until the end of September so there was plenty of time, right? MAYBE?!?! In the first week of September the tickets still had not arrived in the mail. UGH! My friend called the office to stress the urgency about getting the tickets. He was able to get the NFL to send his tickets to him by UPS. Realize mail coming from America to Turkey can take anywhere from ten days to three weeks. We did not have three weeks, because we were leaving on September 26th. So, we were getting a little nervous. He finally got the tickets on September 9th and then immediately went to the post office to priority mail them to us in Turkey. I won't sugar coat it, we were worried about whether the tickets would get here on time. We had two weeks and three days, not that I was counting, for the tickets to get here. I was trying not to panic... But wait, there is more to this blooper. Just to make things a little more stressful, we had included in the order a set of tickets for our friends who wanted to go to the game. No pressure, right? Even our friends were getting worried about the tickets coming in time. Well, in the end it all worked out. The tickets arrived Wednesday, September 18th. Whew, plenty of time.
So we have our tickets and arrived in London. Our plan was to take a fast train from the Airport to a train hub, then off to an underground train, and then a quick walk the to the hotel. Sounds easy, but it is never that easy when you are a family of five, right? So we make it to the main train station and we're instantly amazed with the enormity of the train station. It had shop after shop in one location and was just packed with people. Literally this was like a large shopping mall with the ability to walk down a flight of stairs or around a corner in order to catch a train. It was amazing, but I digressed.
So, we wait in the cue (British word for line) to purchase our train tickets, which the Brits call Oyster Cards. Then we're off to get on the train. Not only did we manage to get on the wrong train BUT with the time it took to get the luggage and the kids boarded, the train's doors started closing on Sam. He got on the train last and was not far enough into the train, so the doors were closing with him standing right in the way. Reed was able to drop the bags and stop the doors from completely closing in on Sam. It did not harm him, but scared him really bad. He spent the next several minutes crying out loud with people watching as we were trying to console him AND figure out how to get on the right train. Needless to say, I had to hold Sam for the next few train rides when we got on and off, until he was reassured that he would be able to do it without the door closing on him. It was a pretty chaotic way to start our vacation. In the end, we all learned quickly from those mistakes and became masters at London's transportation system.
As described above, the train stations are gigantic and packed. This form of transportation is very foreign to us. One time when we were changing trains and trying to locate the other train platform to get us across town, Connor got lost. The enormous station and the people apparently distracted Connor. He just stopped walking to stare at the whole situation unfolding in front of his eyes. BUT we were unaware that Connor had stopped walking with us, because in these stations you just walk with the flow of people traffic. We were diligent from the beginning that whenever we were changing direction or near stairs we would look to make sure all the kids were with us. At a set of stairs we noticed- NO CONNOR! Sam immediately burst out into tears crying that Connor was lost and alone. Reed told everyone to stay put and said that he was going to walk our path in the reverse direction to our last train area and hopefully find Connor. It was pretty unnerving and scary waiting to see if Reed could find Connor. Well, Connor was smart. When he realized that we were not there he just stood still. He did not walk around looking for us; he stood at our last location and scanned the crowd looking for his family. He was a little scared and said that it felt like he was lost for a long time, but it was not long when Reed found him. Whew, what a relief having the family all together.
Realize we were in London for four days and went to many different places. So as you can guess, Connor got lost a second time. This time we were at the block party on Regent's street, which was excessively crowded with people. He, again, got distracted looking at all the people and vendors and just stopped walking. After the prior loss of Connor, we were even more vigilant about continuously taking a head count. During one of those counts, we noticed that Connor was not with us. Sam screams and immediately cries about Connor being lost. Reed's response was priceless; "Are you kidding me? Connor, again?" So we stood still and Reed walked the path in the reverse direction. He found Connor who was pretty freaked out this time and brought him back to us. From that day forward Connor could not walk behind us. He was either walking in front or next to a family member and we never lost Connor from then on.
When heading out to the Harry Potter Studios, we got off the train and were walking the platform to the station. A fast train flew right by us. Its speed was incredible, the sound as it entered into the platform area was loud, the gust of wind about blew us over, and the horn was just loud. No one had expected that this train was going to be so loud or for it to blare its horn when it came close to our platform. So the noise scared some more than others when it passed by us. Connor's response to his fright was laughable. He gave a quick jerk, ran, and jumped over a railing to get to a brick wall for protection. Apparently, he thought something was wrong with the train and he needed to seek cover. We have never seen Connor move so fast or jump so high. We all started laughing immediately. We all just had the crap scared out of us, but seeing Connor's response was just hilarious.
Speaking of trains... yes most of the bloopers happened on the trains or at the platforms. On our train ride home from the Harry Potter Studios the kids had to use the bathroom. There was a bathroom around the corner from the benches we were sitting on while waiting for the next train. Nate is fourteen and pretty responsible. This bathroom was not far, so Reed and I gave them permission to go to the bathroom with Nate in charge. Apparently, there was a man near the bathroom. Nate looked at the man and the man said, "Hi." Nate, being polite, said, "Hi" back to the man. The man walked in Nate's direction and then brushed up against Nate touching the front of Nate's pants pocket and the back of Nate's pants pocket as the stranger walked passed. Thank goodness that Nate did not have any money or a wallet in any of his pockets. This crappy person wanted to pickpocket Nate. Nate was a little freaked out when he came back. Needless to say, we kept a tighter rein on the kids. It was a good lesson for them to learn with regards to strangers in a foreign country and not to trust them or talk with them, especially without a parent present.
The boys waiting on a platform for the train
When we travel we usually lug around two cameras; one small camera and a large Nikon with a camera bag containing the extra lens. It was the day of site seeing so I brought the small camera and Reed had the large camera and its bag. The large camera takes such great pictures and is so user friendly. We get to the bus, get on, and sit on the top of the bus so that we can take scenic photos of London. I got my camera ready and Reed then says, "Ugh, this is not going to work." I asked him what was wrong. He tells me that we forgot to charge the battery in the big camera and there was literally no charge left. So for the entire day I took photos on the small digital camera while Reed lugged around the big camera in its case as dead weight. So sorry Reed - it was too funny :)
So we charged up the camera and were off to the Saturday street party to have a great day checking out all the events. We stopped at the stage and noticed the schedule showed that next up were interviews of retired Vikings players; Daunte Culpepper and Randall McDaniel. So we found a spot to view the stage and hung out. Afterwards we noticed that the only exit from the stage was through a series of tents that exited out to the street not far from our location. So we made our way to the exit location of the stage trying to be sneaky. We watched as Daunte Culpepper and Randall McDaniel emerged from the tents. How exciting! Reed got the camera out immediately. Nate wanted photos and was waiting for the opportunity to meet Daunte and Randall. BUT unfortunately Reed had the wrong camera lens on the Nikon camera. It was the lens for far distance photos and required the object and camera to be a significant distance apart. Oh NO! Time was short and Reed would not have the time to switch. So Reed kept excusing himself as he walked backwards in order to get a photo of Nate and Daunte. Here is what ended up being our seized opportunistic photo;
Daunte Culpepper's head was cut off
Knowing he had the wrong lens, he was able to create more room for the next photo opportunity and it turned out well.
Nate and Randall McDaniel
The Stage
London Bloopers, in the end, were funny. Having a family of five is never a dull moment. We had a great time in London seeing the sites, enjoying the food, and talking like Brits. We would love to go and visit one more time.
