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It turns out that setting the alarm last night for this morning was definitely not necessary!  Sleeping, on the other hand, was an entirely different scenario.  Planes roared overhead until around midnight, waking us just as we drifted off into sleep until they finally stopped and we could get some much needed rest.  Ahh, pillow! Adrenaline must be running high because even I was wide awake at 5am - madness!

The skies were clear as we woke to our last morning in the UK.  We headed out on the free shuttle bus to Terminal 5 just after 7am to wait for our 10am flight to NYC.  Boarding was completely hassle free but the communication towers were having issues so we sat on the plane for almost 1.5 hours before we finally got the signal to take off.  Heathrow International airport is truly amazing.  Plane after plane takes off.  Our flight was actually in a queue - unreal!

The flight out was so very straight forward. As always, our little portable suitcase scale gadget helped us to get our luggage just right. No overweight charges for us... whew! The only bit of advise I can give when travelling with a husband who has a broken wrist is to remind him (before he goes through the metal detector) that he needs to remove is metal clad brace... oops! Matt and Zane walked through at almost the same time and, consequently, both got a thorough search (not too thorough though... all dignity still in tact).  Not a mistake we will make again - I hope!

The flight over to America was very smooth. The boys enjoyed the willingness of the airline staff to answer their every request for refreshments.... hope they don't expect this service at home. One of the stewards, a male, even had a giggle with the boys about them enjoying it while it lasted :D  I would highly recommend British Airways for their customer service.  The staff on board the flight were A class. 


We arrived in New York to a heat wave at around 2am to a heat wave.  What is is with us and heat waves?  We have now had them in Rome, Spain, Venice, Scotland, New York - unbelievable!  Lucky we're built for it.  The shuttle bus to our hotel was 'interesting' to say the least.  We were crammed in with a very tight load of travellers, zipping in and out of traffic like something out of a movie.  Crazy!

A slight panic when we arrived to our gorgeous hotel only to find that they couldn't find our booking. Oh no! Five minutes later, and a bit of panic on our part, they found our booking and we were sent on our way to our very lush room. The Excelsior hotel is right across from the Natural History Museum (from Night at the Museum) and a hop, skip and a jump from Central Park.  Oh, and it turns out that you definitely need to tip your bellhop.  They literally hover until you cough up.  Not used to that in Australia but it was fun!

Once settled we headed out for a walk through the park, where we stopped to watch a game of softball, before heading off to Wall Street. We had a good giggle at all the zig-zag shaped fire escape staircases on the sides of buildings - just like in the movies. The stench of the city was a little overwhelming though.  Smelled like it could use a good clean... not sure why parts of it smell like a great big urinal.

We finally made it to M&M World... number 1 on this afternoon's agenda. M&M World is a massive 3 story building filled with every shape, style, colour and flavour of this yummy treat you could imagine - not to mention a huge rainbow wall of M&M Colour as well. The boys did manage to buy themselves a little treat (not cheap) before we headed out.

Right near the M&M store was our favourite kind of shop ~ "Disney". We had a ball walking around and exploring this little wonderland.

Our highlights for the day's walk were: Time Square, M&M's, Disney shop and Central Park.

Turns out we left London at the right time.  There were apparently riots there last night.

Sleep tight everyone.  We have gorgeous hotel beds waiting for our weary heads.

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