Day 12! Well it’s been a good 12 days in London, but I’m ready to move on!

My morning started off on the slower side with sleeping in, having a late breakfast, and then joining my dad in the lobby of our hotel while he graded his students papers. But my chill morning quickly became a bit stressful…

For my next destination, I’m heading to Vietnam!! I’m very excited to experience a new country in SE Asia and see what beautiful sites and people are in store for me!

But Vietnam requires you to have a eVisa approved prior to entering the country. Andddd my eVisa is still pending.

Now I need to admit, this is entirely my fault. Since my plans changed last minute, I bought a last minute flight to Vietnam and submitted my eVisa application with very little leeway for it to be accepted.

And of course I messed up. Not just once, but twice… pushing my visa into the non-working weekend where it wouldn’t be processed in time. It’s a learning experience as always 😅

So with a bit of panic setting in since my flight was TONIGHT and I still didn’t have my eVisa, I reached out to a WhatsApp group I’m in for solo travelers in Vietnam!

One of the members quickly messaged me back and put me in contact with a travel agent that was going to help me get this all sorted and my visa expedited.

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I was being scammed, but with not much of an option I put my trust in this stranger and his connection.

I paid the stranger to help me get a letter allowing me onto my flight and also for her to expedite my eVisa. And I wasn’t quite sure if it would work out…

But nerves aside, it was time for a late lunch with my dad! My last meal in London!

We went on a nice walk to a pancake house called My Old Dutch that’s located in Holborn.

These pancakes were DECADENT! We ended up getting two 15 inch pancakes and splitting them both. One was sweet and one was savory.

These pancakes were just what I needed to calm my nerves for my upcoming travel. The savory one was topped with feta cheese, tomatoes, and onions! My mouth was watering at the site of it and I was so glad we got a sweet one to split for after because I was craving more!

The Sweet one had bananas, a fantastic chocolate sauce, nuts, and 3 scoops of vegan coconut/chocolate ice cream! They were absolutely delicious and my dad and I scraped up every last drop of both of them!

This restaurant was fairly inexpensive too compared to other London restaurant prices. And on top of that, the music being played was making me dance with enjoyment and loving the tunes! When I’m back in London, I’ll definitely be going to this place again and I’d highly suggest you check it out too!

As this was our last walk back to the hotel, we had to take one final walking selfie together!

It’s was absolutely amazing getting to spend almost two full weeks alone with my dad in London! We had so many great adventures, tasty foods, and made lots of very happy memories.

I was very glad I could meet some of his colleagues too. They all made me feel like I was part of the crew and I enjoyed hanging out with all of them as well!

I can’t express how thankful I am for the time together with my dad and everything he did for me while we were together in London. I’m not sure when the next time I’ll get the chance to hang out one on one with him again, but I’m sure I’ll be seeing him and my mom sooner than we all think!

I love you both!

After we said our goodbyes I headed out for the Tube and took my final ride to the London Heathrow Airport.

On the ride I just sat with my thoughts. I didn’t take my phone out and didn’t listen to anything. It was a lovely hour of decompressing, people watching, and thinking of all the great things I did these past two weeks and how many great things I’ll get to do very soon!

I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check in for my flight. And I’m glad I did because I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to make it onto my flight with the document the travel agent gave me…

Now, I usually can check in online and have no problems bringing my backpack onto the plane. But since I was flying Shenzhen Airlines I had to check in at the desk because their app doesn’t work!

So now I’m carrying around my laptop, lithium batteries, and my snacks in a plastic bag… please send me positive vibes that my luggage does NOT get lost!

After failing at trying to sweet talk the flight desk into letting me take my bag, I had to present them the document so I could get my boarding pass and get on my flight! There was a little confusion, I believe the agent I was working with was on the newer side, but after some discussion back and forth and having to explain some things they found the information they needed and gave me my boarding pass!

I was relieved but I’m not out of the woods yet… We’ll see what happens once I get to Vietnam. Worst case scenario is I hopefully just buy a last minute plane ticket to Thailand where I don’t need to apply for a visa… but let’s not get to that yet.

I made it through security and waited for my flight while working on this blog post!

I’ll be landing in China at around 5pm (China Standard Time) and having a layover at Shenzhen airport for around 6 hours where I’ll need to recheck my bag, go through security again, and I believe apply for a 24 hour visa so I can stay for my layover… fun things ahead!

As long as everything goes to plan, I’ll board my flight to Vietnam at 12:15am and land in Vietnam at 1:50am.

It’s going to be a long few days, but I’m freaking excited!

– Elie