Sara's Splendid Slondon Scheme.....

As you may recall I was given the best gift ever from Will for my birthday which was a challenge taking me all over London.  Before I get into the adventure I just have to say how thoughtful and special this gift was.  These type of hunts have been a part of my life forever and I love them.  We still do one every christmas morning and skype in people who can't be there.  The fact that my London family set one up for me means the world to me.  Ok back to the adventure....   The day finally came that we were setting out on the adventure and taking London by storm.  It was a gorgeous sunny day when we met at the Founders Arms pub to get started.  I met Helly and Will there armed with all the items I was required to bring: a travel card, a skipping rope, 25 pounds, a sense of adventure, a camera, a small

Opening the "Top Secret" envelope

bag and a friend (Helly).  I also had in my hot little hand the "Top Secret" envelope that had been sitting unopened since my birthday.  Once we were all sitting with a pint (part of the requirement) I got to tear open the envelope and it began!  My 4 hours started at that moment so Helly and I began reading and planning.  The challenge had 3 parts each with different point levels and we had to decided our route and also which items we would do and which would not make it in our plan.  With my walking map marked with our route and camera in hand we set off along the South Bank to complete our first task of getting a

Photo moment with a famous person

leaflet from the Old Globe Theater.  Along the way   we luckily ran into a famous person and it only cost me 50 pence to get a photo with him....score another 20points for us.  Micky Mouse is completely famous in my world.  We were pretty sure we could make Will see it too.  We had some back up plans for this famous person requirement but this would have to do for now and really I do love Micky so I was happy with it.  The next box we ticked off was a photo of me on a bridge.  I ran upstream through all the tourists to pose for a long distance photo....I looked a bit like an ant in the photos but you could still tell it was me so that is all that mattered. We then walked out of the South bank area towards London Bridge and our next stop which was the Golden Hinde.  I was kinda excited to go to this because I had never been and if I am perfectly honest I really had no idea what it was.  As we walked towards the Golden Hinde we ticked off an additional requirement which was to purchase Big Issue.  This is a really cool thing in London that is basically a magazine that homeless people sell and they get a portion of the money that comes from the sales.  Now just purchasing it wasn't enough though, I was also required to read

Golden Hinde...hey look it's a ship!

an article in it and give a 2 minute presentation on the article to Will when I returned to the final meeting point.  I suppose I would have to squeeze in some light reading at some point along the way.  We made it to the Golden Hinde which turns out is a ship...cool...had no idea.  I know you can make fun of me if you want but only if you knew what it was.  After getting a photo with this ship, which was kinda tricky since people and the sun kept getting in the way, we headed on our way toward the next location which was the one I was most excited about...Fleet Street and one of the oldest pubs in London.  Along the way we kept popping into little souvenir shops for me to find something with I Heart London on it.  You forget how lame and cheesy all that stuff is until you actually look at it again.  You would think souvenirs would have gotten better over the years but no it is still all the same, lame junk.  Anyway, after a couple of wrong turns we finally made it to Ye old Cheshire Cheese Pub.  It was just as amazing as I could have hoped.  It was rebuilt in 1667 right after the great fire of London.  Helly and I wandered down through into the cellar bit of the bar and bought our required pint of Sam Smiths and settled into a little table nestled

A Pint at Ye Old Cheshire Cheese

into a nook in the wall.  As we enjoyed our pint and looked at the other items we needed to get done and our time we started to panic a little.  Four hours seems like a long time when you start but goes really quickly when you have to go all over London.  We started to speed up our drinking and moved into challenge mode.  This was also the point that we had to do a bit of revaluation on the items that would get completed and what had to be cut from the list.  Strategy was being changed and we were working quickly now.  Now one other thing along the way that were were able to pick up points doing was taking photos of Monopoly properties.  Ten points per so that started factoring in.  Ok maybe I should explain, there is a London version of Monopoly and all the properties are streets in London.  We made some quick easy points by combining challenges with the street signs.
Ok so next stop on the challenge is another spot I have heard of here but haven't been.  It's called Bounce.  Now before you read what it is I want you to try and guess what this place is.....everybody got your guess?  Ok so it is a bar with Ping Pong tables.  Super cool spot.  When we

Playing Ping Pong at Bounce

walked in on a Saturday afternoon it was packed.  So here is where this place got tricky.  I was required to get a photo actually playing ping pong and you have to book tables ahead of time usually and there is a huge waiting list for the open tables.  Operation stealth began...Helly told the bouncer (no pun intended) that we were meeting some friends and walked right in.  Phase one complete.  Next was getting on a table.  Our strategy was find a table of single guys and just ask if we could play for a moment.  Now most of you who know me well know that doing that would take quite a bit of courage from me but I was up for

Yes Helly you are a tourist right now...Love her!

the challenge.  Right before I was going to ask at a table we found one that was empty.  Helly ran to one side and I to the other.  With a paddle in my hand she threw balls at me then took photos as I hit the ball back to her.  It was super funny.  I do wish we could have stayed and hung out there.  It was such a cool fun place.  I will have to go back at some point.  In route to the next spot we ticked off the very tourist moment...photo in a red phone box.  It was so funny walking up to some random guy on the street and ask him to take a photo of me and my very non tourist local london friend inside a phone box.  Helly actually said "I am not a tourist I can't believe I'm doing this."  She took one for the team and helped us earn another 20 points.  After the phone box it was off to the hyde park area to

Skipping in Hyde Park

complete 2 more tasks.  Now if you recall one of my required items was a skipping rope.  It was now time to get it out and earn my points.  The challenge was to get a photo of both Helly and I skipping together in the rope.  It was super funny.  We had to ask this family to take photos of us and they were cracking up.  The husband got a kick out of it and when we asked for the photo he was like "ok..go on then...let's see it."  Needless to say we made it happen and yes...now I can say I have jumped rope in Hyde park.  So fun!!!  After this we moved on to the final big task of the challenge.  Let me

Can you feel my love for my country as I sing?

tell you this was going to be the one that was most embarrassing.  I was going to sing the Star Spangled Banner in front of the American Embassy.  Yes, this shy reserved doesn't like to speak in public girl was going to sing on a street corner.  On my way to this one I was able to stall a bit by making my I heart London purchase...someone back home with a baby gets a bib when I get home.  We also had a bit of direction challenges getting there but we made it.  To Helly's delight and my fear there was a man with a really big gun standing right behind us as  I walked up to the gate, turned around and started singing

Sprint back to the finish but we arrived...only 5 minutes late

my little heart out.  As you can see in the photo the man with the gun likes it.  There also is video of me singing...couldn't get it uploaded...sorry.  After that it was back to the tube and rushing to make it back on time.  We would loose 1 point every minute we were late so we didn't want to be too late.  We stopped at a Mc Donalds to get the required hot apple pie for Will then hopped on the tube. On the tube I did my article reading for my presentation and drew a photo of St. Stephens (the building that holds Big Ben) and Helly wrote down all the tube stations that have 2 or more names with the same first letter to earn us some extra points.

Prefect end to a perfect day

We almost missed our stop but jumped off just in time.  We sprinted back to the Founders Arms and made it only 5 minutes late.  We had called ahead and had Sel get us pints so we would meet the final requirement of being at the table with a pint to finish it off.  I gave my presentation on my article which was accepted.  We went through all the photos, videos and items collected.  Will made his decisions on acceptance or not...Micky totally counted as a famous person by the way.  When all was said and done we earned a final score of 275 points (way above what Helly had hoped for) and had an amazing day.  There still were a lot of things left

The lights at night never get old...love this city!

on the list to complete but I will just have to do them on another day.   We finished the night off with a walk along the south bank at the most beautiful time of night.  Also after all the madness we were starving and the sun was going down making it quite cold so we had dinner at a sushi spot where the food comes out on a conveyer belt.  Super fun...it was like a challenge all on it's own to grab your food off the belt.
I have had some wonderful days in London but this is right up there at the top.  After the roller coaster week this was the reminder of what I have here.  Good friends, and amazing times.  Everyday is an adventure....this day was the greatest adventure.  Thank you to Will for setting it up, Helly for being a part of the day and Sel for being there to meet us at the finish line!  The highs make the lows seem like nothing....Love you all!