Days 1 and 2 (June 30 and July 1, 2025): School’s out and we’re off!

Yay! The 2024-25 school year ended at lunchtime today. The afternoon evaporated in last minute tasks and, before we knew it, our ride to Halifax Airport was in the driveway.

We have been on a quest to conquer Central Asia these past few years, so Kazakhstan and a brief stop in Kyrgyzstan were planned to fill our summer vacation 2025 itinerary.

We live in turbulent times, and both of us have demanding work lives. So we have been very excited about this trip overseas.

Thanks for joining us on our journey. We hope you will enjoy the pics and explanations of the cities and places we will see in the next 16 days. Welcome aboard!

Standing on our front steps at 9PM on June 30, as Mel and Juliet arrived to drive us to the airport. July 1 marks 30 years since the morning we moved in to our home, on July 1, 1995!

A not-so-great photo of the WestJet 737 Max 8 that took us across the pond. It was one packed 737! The Halifax-Gatwick route is one of six transatlantic routes that WestJet is offering this summer. It is amazing to see Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Edinburgh, Dublin and Gatwick all listed on the Halifax departures screen as non-stop destinations this summer.

For the first time ever, WestJet split us up, in terms of seat assignments. We ended up having to pay $330 to sit together, in a new “Comfort Plus” section of the aircraft. I have to say, though, that there really is a lot of extra legroom in Comfort Plus.

We have truly been disgusted - and embarrassed for our country - at Westjet’s stingy food offerings on transatlantic flights in recent years. All they’ve been giving is a meat pastry, the size of a McDonald’s apple turnover. So when the flight crew started handing out trays of Dijon Chicken at 12:30AM, we were floored! It was actually very delicious! Way to go, Westjet.

Upon arrival in Gatwick, we went from its North Terminal to the train station in the South Terminal, where we got the Southern Railways service to London Victoria Station. The tracks were so hot that all trains were forced to travel slower than normal, which added 10 minutes to the normal journey time of 30 minutes. I love this pic, as it shows a train parked adjacent to some of London’s famous row housing on Peabody Lane, just before arrival at Victoria Station.

Upon arrival at Victoria Station, we couldn’t find ‘left luggage’ anywhere. Apparently, the left luggage lockers of yesteryear are all gone now. So we made a decision to drag out suitcases with us! Oh my. In 33C heat, to boot. We felt like hobos, as we trudged up Buckingham Palace Road towards the Palace, with suit cases and knapsacks in tow. And from the, Palace to lots of other places!

It was all worth it, however, when we saw Buckingham Palace.

The poor soldiers must have been melting under those bearskin hats in the heat of the day.

The gates at Buckingham Palace. (The above shots were taken through the wrought-iron fencing, by the way.) Anyway, the King is in the realm, as the presence of the Royal Standard shows.

Queen Victoria’s Monument, at the end of the Mall closest to the Palace. Stunning against the blue July 1st sky.

Much of Central London now requires a permit during peak hours. Otherwise, the fine is nasty.

Red phon boxes are still to be found. This one made a nice foreground element in our photo of Westminster Abbey.

The north transcript of the Abbey.

Big Ben, in all its post-cleaning glory.

London has hundreds, if not thousands, of statues. This one to Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square Garden is especially meaningful, in my opinion.

View of the Thames from the Vauxhall Bridge.

The Lamden Brudge.

The exquisite — as there is no other word — Houses of Parliament.

The London Eye.

Sleek sky-scrapers in the Waterloo area.

Crossing the famous London Bridge — and no, it wasn’t falling down! :-) The next bridge over is the Cannon Street Railway Bridge, with its iconic brown towers. Between the two towers, you can see St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Tower Bridge.

Our flight from London to Luxembourg was from Stansted. Please, PLEASE; Remind me to never, ever, ever book Ryanair again. It is just awful. Of course, we have said the same in the past, and yet, we found ourselves here yet again. Sometimes, convenience is the basis for one’s decision. But in this case, the convenience of a late afternoon non-stop to Luxembourg was not worth it. Stansted has to be the world’s worst, most crowded, stiflingly hot, awful airport. And Ryanair is its number one tenant.

That was our ride to Luxembourg. We were separated in our seat assignments, as Ryanair’s computer moved me at the last minute and there was nowhere else for us to sit together. On the plus side, Pam was seated next to a woman from Luxembourg who talked to her the entire flight and gave lots of useful information.

The topography of Luxembourg, upon final descent.