Day 31: Goodbye Ireland! Onto London!

We packed up and left our B and B this morning. On the way to the Cork Airport we stopped by the grocery store in Killarney and got some last lunch items. We had lots of peanut butter, jelly, and vegan butter we needed to finish so we had to get bread.
The Cork Airport is tiny, but I still managed to initially bring the rental car to the wrong Hertz location. We got the car to the correct location, checked in and asked for the shuttle to the terminal. The terminal was on the other side of a partition from the carpark, so we walked about 100 ft over to the terminal. We found a grassy area on the side of the parking garage and ate our food. We did pretty good and had almost nothing to throw out.
The way the timing worked with the rental car, we had quite a bit of time to kill at the airport. After our picnic and going through security we found our gate (one of seven at the airport I think) and the kids left me with the bags while they wandered around.
Ireland has been amazing and beautiful. It has such great artifacts in museums, gorgeous old ruins that are generally free and super fun to explore, and a fabulously picturesque landscape. Driving is weird and often a pain, but getting full, full insurance with a zero deductible greatly reduces the stress of driving. I would probably try to drive less and stay closer to the areas I would like to check out if I come here again. Also, almost all pubs everywhere have "traditional Irish music" nightly, usually beginning around 9:30pm. Some have music starting earlier. There is definitely no need to plan around pub music, though because there are lots and lots of pubs so it isn't hard to find music. Kids generally get thrown out around 9:30pm, so that is good to know.
We arrived in London around 5:35 pm and took the underground to the city. It was so easy to get from Heathrow to Piccadilly via the underground. The ride cost 6 pounds each (Ezi was half price) and was direct. 

We had about a ten minute walk to our hostel. There were loads of people, but the crowds thinned out as we got toward the hostel. It is near SoHo and close to Oxford St. We made dinner at the hostel kitchen. 

The hostel room is okay. Just two twin mattresses sharing a sheet and blanket,  2 pillows, and a sink really. There is a shower and bathroom down the hall. Two bad things about it: our room is on the road (I am a very light sleeper) and it is (no exaggeration) about a zillion degrees. Our friends have a room away from the road, but we are both on the top floor of the hostel. Floor 3 is the reception, commons area, and shared dorm rooms. It is air conditioned. Edon is sleeping down here in the dorm room. Lucky boy. Floor 4 is hot and not air conditioned and floor 5 is ovenish. London is having a heat wave right now, maybe it will cool off soon?

Wah, wah. I am in London with awesome travel buddies. I have a cold and my noisy room is hot, but really we are so lucky. Tomorrow should be busy and excellent. 

p.s. I received the pic at the end from John today. I think he is bored at home without us...