World Tour Stop 33 and Route Home - London, Chicago, and back to Atlanta

We purchased our flights home from Zagreb, Croatia to Atlanta, GA, USA with a couple of layovers along the way. Our flights were only 30K miles on United, so a really good deal and flew us from Zagreb to London with a 16 hour layover and then from London to Toronto and finally Toronto to Atlanta. We chose this flight because it was inexpensive but also because it gave us an opportunity to see one more city for an evening before going home.

The first flight went smoothly and we arrived in London around 4PM and had no issues getting to the train and getting to our airbnb. We decided to stay close to the airport since we would need to leave super early the next morning and could just use the train to get back to the sites for the rest of the evening. We had to wait a bit for our host to arrive and let us in, so we of course stopped at a cute pub across the street (Milford Arms) and had a beer.

After a quick drop of bags we ran out to check the sites so we wouldn't waste our short stop in London. What we did not plan on was that Buckingham Palace and Big Ben would both be under construction. We did walk to Big Ben and take a quick snap of the Thames and the London Eye across the river, but it was kind of sad that the majestic buildings weren't on display.

After that we walked past Westminster Abbey and then through Hyde Park before arriving at Buckingham Palace. It was about a twenty minute walk and we quickly realized how spread out London is.

Don't forget to curtsy for the Queen! After this we walked down to Trafalgar Square (which is a square in the middle of financial districts with the National Museum and an obelisk surrounded by lions). London's double decker red buses and ornate architecture were widely on display.

After our display of affection for another stone figure we headed down the street and grabbed a meal at Sherlock Holmes' Pub. A pint and fish and chips to indulge in the British pub culture.

We wanted to get one more London landmark in so we walked down the road (stopping along the way for an iconic picture in a red phone booth) and took the tube to King's Cross station. Platform 9 and 3/4 was closed for the evening so the cart wasn't there but we still stood under the sign.

Taking the tube back home for the evening after spending a rushed 7 hours of exploring, took about an hour. The public transit is great, but everything really is pretty far apart. We had to get up and head to the airport at 5 AM for our last flights of the trip.

We headed to the airport bright and early and arrived to check in but were told by Air Canada (United points but operating by Air Canada) that we didn't have any seats on the plane. We showed our confirmations and the fact that we had already completed the first leg of the trip, so there was no reason for us to not have seats for the next two legs. That didn't help. Fortunately we got to the airport two and a half hours before flight time, so we felt we had time to talk to United and to Air Canada to get this sorted. We went to both counters and were shuffled back and forth and then told to call customer service while absolutely no one who works for either airline cared to help us. We then sat on hold for over an hour and never reached a person and then the United desk decided they could offer us a flight (6 hours later) that would be going through Chicago. We asked if there was any other layover option because I've had a lot of negative experiences with O'hare airport and United told us we should feel lucky to get on this flight. This coming from an attendant who waited two hours to offer assistance for a flight that we had confirmation numbers for and had already completed the first leg of. We obviously had no other options and accepted the tickets she offered (big mistake, huge!) and went along to go wait another quarter of a day before leaving.

The next part of our nightmare trip home was going through security. This was our twentieth flight of the trip, and I had been checked at security at almost every airport (I guess I look like someone that enjoys being pat down) but this was the first time that the security agent was exceedingly rude and had me throw out make up, hand sanitzer and face wipes. They only allow one small ziplock bag to go through which was surprising as I have traveled the world and had no airports care about the number of liquids I brought through. as long as each was under the size limit. Anyway, it was just adding to the frustration and would have at least appreciate someone who was slightly less giddy about having me throw out perfectly good products.

We ate a meal and took a nap on the floor and then finally boarded our flight to Chicago. No problems there but upon arriving at O'hare we waited in lines to go through customs for 2 hours, had to rush to a bus stop where we waited again to be transferred from the international terminal to the domestic one and then made it to the domestic terminal with only 25 minutes before our next flight. We had to go through security again and were pressed for time so we started our sprint through the airport, but then got the next bit of bad news... our flight back to Atlanta was cancelled. Which I really should not have been surprised by, because United hadn't exactly shown superb service or aptitude to this point. We went and stood in line to see what our next options would be (mind you we should have already been back in Atlanta for 4 hours on our original flight schedule) and this line was hundreds of people long as well. We were told the next flight we could get on would be sometime the next day and would be standby status. We gave up and I rented a car to one way drive from Chicago to Atlanta through the night.

We were definitely done with customer service but we rented our car through Routes Car Rental and I can not express enough how amazing to work with they were and how grateful we are that they had a car available. We drove twelve hours straight stopping only to use the bathroom and to get gas. This was all done on less than 4 hours of sleep over 2 days and yet, this was the best case scenario given the completely terrible service from United. It was also just super disappointing that in three months of traveling all kinds of airports and airlines, United and traveling into the US is the only one that we had any issues with. No delays, no cancellations and no disappearing reservations. Anyways, made it home just in time for morning rush hour traffic!

What an amazing three months and what a crazy way to finish it off. Every single experience made me who I am today. I am traveled, cultured, in love with the world and so forever grateful that I got to spend three months seeing the world.

My advice, if anyone is looking for it, is to go. Don't be afraid, don't worry about expenses, or what happens next, or what employers, friends, critics, etc will say. Go. Live. Learn. See the world and experience it fully. I learned that I never want to stop learning and falling in love with every part of this small world we live in. I can't wait for the next chance that I will have to visit another place and I hope to continue having the opportunity to share it here.

I hope you'll follow along and join me in seeing what's next!