We arrived early (5am) on Wednesday morning and headed into the city, arriving into Victoria Station at 7am so we headed to Macca's for some breakfast. By 8am we were on a sardine-packed train to explore the city. First stop was Oxford Circus, with Brianna very excited by the feel of London. We headed past Hamley's, but it was closed, so kept walking down to Picaadilly Circus and then over to Buckingham Palace. We walked around to the Royal Mews (also closed - we really shouldn't head out so early!) before walking around to the Australian War Memorial and heading into Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park (which was barely open...) We then headed back to Hamley's for some hot chocolate and a look at the shops. We got the underground back to Westminster and had a squiz at Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey before heading to the train station to get the train to Crawley.

Emma was waiting for us at Crawley train station and I'm sure we were a sight with me dragging an extra suitcase full of Christmas presents, along with my backpack. We had dinner that night with Brenda, Joan, Michael, Karleigh and Teddy and struggled to stay awake till 8pm - I made it but Brianna crashed much earlier!

Next morning we were up by 8am so decided to get the 9:15am bus to Brighton. Called Em to give her the information and we were around the corner from the stop when the bus went past - Emma had less notice than us to get ready and had been at the stop 10minutes before the bus pulled up and we were still coming...so we got the train =) Brighton put on it's most glorious winters day - there was barely any wind and the sun was shining. We walked along the pier and then went to a pub for lunch before heading back to Crawley. We popped in to visit family that night - it was great to catch up with everyone (they're all getting so old...even the kids =P) and meet the whirlwind that is Erin.

We got up at a reasonable hour again today (so hopefully that means no jet lag) and had a lazy morning repacking before getting the train. We are currently sitting at Macca's at Victoria Station in London, trying to catch up with the world, before heading to Coventry.

P.S. Sopme photos will be up soon - the cord is packed somewhere in my backpack....