London: Day 3

We discovered Harrods and their AMAZING bakery on day 3 and we went back every morning after that to get breakfast. My favorite pastry was the bacon and cheese baguette. If you go to London, definitely check out the bakery here - you will not regret it.

After walking around the food hall at Harrods, we took a short walk through Knightsbridge and headed into Hyde Park. Since we'd had a few busy days, we decided we wanted to have more of a low key, relaxing day. We explored the park a bit - walked around the pond and watched the people in the paddle boats. It reminded me a little of Central Park. We walked across the street to Kensington Garden and found a nice bench in the shade and read for a while.

pond in hyde park














I was excited to see Kensington Palace until we got there, that is. Many places in London are under construction right now in an effort to have everything looking amazing in time for the 2012 Olympics. Kensington Palace is the worst of it. The whole thing was blocked off by fencing and what little we could see was just a huge bunch of dirt. I managed to get an okay looking photo of the side - and a few great shots of the gorgeous gardens and the Orangery.

garden

















kensington palace














We were pretty hungry at this point and M could not resist when we came across The Honest Sausage. Bring on the bacon roll (gross!).

I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet, but literally everything in London has bacon on it. But, it's not real bacon...it's Canadian bacon. I'm not a fan. But, I felt like I had to at least try it out. For those of you who think this sounds amazing, here's a closeup for you :)














Also in Hyde Park, we got our first taste of squirrel/human interaction. We ran into a couple who were feeding them and got this photo. But, there will be a better squirrel photo in a future post.

Booked: London & Paris!

One of the things we really wanted to do before the end of 2009 was to book a big vacation for ourselves. Neither of us have ever been to Europe and we decided we really wanted to do that while we were still young and childless. Originally, we were thinking of doing 3 cities, but I have limited vacation time and will need to take time off for surgery at some point this year. So, we decided on London & Paris.

As I previously mentioned, my mom is a Starwood employee, which gives me amazing access to employee rates at super fantastic hotels all over the world. We decided to take our trip in September and were able to book the Westin Paris for $94 USD per night and Le Meridien Piccadilly for $89 USD in London. Both M & I are extremely excited...it's going to be a long 9 months of waiting.

Le Meridien:














Westin Paris:














If you are looking to book international travel, check out http://www.vayama.com.
We were able to get flights for less than other websites (like expedia, orbitz..etc). Vayama does this special fare offer where they don't tell you what airline it is and don't give you specific times. But, they give you a one hour window. For example, they tell you that your flight is from Boston (BOS) to London (LHR) has zero stops and will depart between 7p - 8p and arrive between 6a - 7a the following day. The airline will be one of the OneWorld Alliance airlines (which include both American & British Airways), you just don't know which one until you purchase the flights. Also, they give you one hour to cancel after you book and receive all the flight information if you do not like it. So, there is nothing to lose.

We ended up getting an American airlines flight for $150 less per person than was posted on Vayama with the American Airlines information viewable. That savings will pay for at least one of our train tickets from London to Paris.

If you've been to London or Paris before and you have recommendations for restaurants/sites/activities, please share!

Travel Bug

Our last vacation was in November 2008 and since we bought our house in March, we figured it'd be a long time before we'd have another vacation. But, both M & I have caught the travel bug for sure. I love the travel board on thenest.com. It's so much fun reading about trips people are planning, recommendations on fantastic places they have gone and sharing amazing vacation deals that are out there. But, reading all this great info makes me want to travel like crazy. If only we could win the lottery!

M & I have been talking about going to Washington DC for a long time. One of our friends moved down there a few years back and I haven't been since I was in 8th grade. I didn't really appreciate all it had to offer back then and I've been dying to get back there. So, when a email arrived from Travel Zoo the other day with it's Top 20 deals of the week featuring Jet Blue flights between Boston and Baltimore for only $19 each way, we jumped on it. Turns out that my parents will be there the same weekend (random).

My mom works for Starwood, which has made me a bit of a hotel snob. I really hope she never retires. We were able to book the Fairfax Embassy Row for $89 per night. It's right in Dupont Circle and pretty close to all the major attractions. I'll be sure to post photos when we get back.

M & I are also hoping to take a trip to Europe in the fall of 2010. Right now, we're considering London, Paris & Rome (each city for 3 nights). I checked out the Starwood Hotels and they have great rates in each city...

London: Park Lane or Sheraton Belgravia for $89 US per night
Paris: Westin Paris for $94 US per night
Rome: Westin Excelsior for $89 US per night

Neither of us have ever been to Europe, so this is very exciting for us. We're just starting all the research now but we're hoping to have it booked by the end of this year.

For those of you looking for travel deals, below is a list of great sites to check out. Sign up for their email lists to be notified about great deals.

Travel Zoo
Sherman's Travel
European Destinations
VIP Vacations
Vayama
Cruise Critic