Micro Trip: London, England

Part of my job is being on call. This means for a 12 hour period I have to be ready to go to the airport and work a trip with as little as 2 hours of notice. A couple weeks ago I woke up like any other day, only on this day I had a notification I would be working the flight to London that night! I couldn’t believe it and was so excited! Upon boarding the plane I was greeted by a fellow crew member, Erica, who told me her plans to walk most of the city when we landed. We only had 23 hours after all. I agreed to join her, here’s how my one day in London went.

Getting There

As I mentioned, this was a trip I was working. Therefore, there was no planning for flights. I was the number 9 on this flight which meant I greeted people at the boarding door, pointed them in the direction of their seats, and conducted service in the aisle of main cabin. Luckily the flight was not full and service was not difficult to complete with the amazing crew I was working alongside. The flight from Boston to London is much shorter than most people think. At only 5 hours and 40 minutes, it was quicker than completing a domestic transcontinental flight. And because it was an international trip, we got to have nap breaks! This is made possible by the Boeing 777 crew bunks on board. Going to London is an overnight flight. Thanks to the time difference, we left Boston a little after 8pm (local time) and arrived in London a little before 8am (local time).

Rallying to see London

Even though I had a little nap break on the flight over, working an overnight flight is rough. I knew Erica wanted to head out as soon as possible and I wouldn’t be able to take a long nap. It was for the best of course. How would I be able to sleep that night if I slept the day away as soon as we got in? I snuck in a quick 20 minute power nap, showered, and got ready to go. I was able to pack appropriately for this trip since I knew where I was going with plenty of time to pack.

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Pink hair scarf with a doodle print, and a solid cream hair scarf

Woman wearing black skinny pants, black shirt, and black leather jacket

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I chose my black jumpsuit that doesn’t wrinkle, pink accessories, and my trusty leather jacket. The weather was as perfect as could be for London with the high in the low 70s (Fahrenheit). I was able to take my jacket off for a lot of our walking.

What We Saw

I was so thankful to have Erica on this trip with me! She pretty much already had our route planned out and all I had to do was follow her. We saw Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben. We shopped around in Harrod’s department store, buying only chocolates. After seeing the major sights we made our way back towards our hotel. She had looked up a sushi spot for our meal and I had worked up quite the appetite while traversing the city on foot. It was tucked in the cutest little food hall with other great food options and an amazing cocktail bar. We settled in for our sushi, and as it was currently happy hour, I got a great deal on 2 for 1 drinks from the bar.

Princess Diana statue in Kensington gardens in London

One of the traditional guards outside of Buckingham Palace in London

Two girls smiling in front of Buckingham palace in London

The outside of Westminster Abbey in London

Inside the chocolate department in Harrods department store

After a quick trip to the nearby grocery store for in room snacks, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some much needed rest!

Heading Home

The next morning it was time to work the flight back. Due to headwinds, this flight was a little longer. It took a little over 7 hours to get back to Boston. With a very light passenger load we were able to knock out service quickly, eat a little something, take my nap break, and we were back to Boston in what felt like no time! Plus with the time difference, we took off around 9am London time, and land before noon east coast time. I still had the rest of the day in front of me!