We're in London bruv, innit? - 10/04/2026

Alright mate? We’re in London Borough innit?

Vietnam to London Gatwick - 4 flights over 30 hours:

Da Nang to Hanoi

Hanoi to Shenzen China

Shenzen to Beijing

Beijing to London.

A massive travel day/night because we couldn’t fly through the Middle East thanks to Trump and Netanyahu (The new Stalin and Hitler - ironically…)

 Then, guess what happened when we arrived at Gatwick at 6.30 am?

China Air lost both of our fricken suitcases.

After filling out forms with the lost baggage service, we were told that this happens daily with China Air, and we should get them tomorrow.

Luckily, we filled our carry-on with one set of winter clothes each because it was cold, man. 

Anyway, off to Pret we went for breaky baguettes and coffee. Oh, Pret, how we’ve missed thee. Jen sent an email to our host for the week, asking if we could drop off our luggage early and if there was any chance of an early check-in? It was our lucky day! She replied, saying the apartment was ready. Thank God! We were wrecked and freezing - we’d gone from 34 °C to 8 °C.

Then we were on the Gatwick Express, the tube to Borough and then checked into our apartment for the week just off the Borough High Street. What luxe!!

We had a huge bed, bathroom, kitchen, loungeroom, washing machine and heated floors! So good.

Off to Tesco we hopped - Jen joined the Clubcard program and we saved about 20 quid off our shop. Giddy-up!!

We spent the first few days sleeping, cooking, wandering around Borough Market and High Street. We also navigated the bus system and tried to hire e-bikes, but that was a bit of a bust as the app didn’t work

Three days later, we got a message saying that one suitcase had been located and the driver would deliver it that evening. The evening rolled around, and these two geniuses couldn’t work the intercom/camera/buzzer, so I bolted down to his van just as he was about to leave. Lo and behold, I looked in his van, and not one, but BOTH of our suitcases were there. YAY!!

Righto, the world was OK again, and we could change out of our clothes that we’d been wearing for three days!!

The rest of the week saw us looking at ads for motorhomes and eating good home-cooked food. I had a pint at Borough Belushi’s and spoke to the two Aussies behind the bar - the girl was from Tronno!! We did a tour of the Southwark Cathedral and looked for more motorhomes.

We also went and saw a performance of Romeo and Juliet at The Globe!!

Bucket list item for an English teacher. It was epic. It went for 90 minutes - no intermission - and was set in contemporary London with mostly African actors. We elected to stand in the pit - as commoners did in the day - and the whole thing cost us a tenner each!! Brilliant.

We also met up with Eva and her new fella, Gethin. We did a bit of a walking pub crawl around the South Bank of the Thames and had a great night. She seems so relaxed after quitting teaching, and it was great to see her so happy!!

Did I mention that we have been looking for motorhomes?

Most of the ones for sale are located up around the Manchester area - about 4 hours away on the bus, but we saw a dealership that was in Whitstable, in Kent - about an hour away.

Yesterday we got the bus down, and the motorhome dealer Jason - dead ringer for Smithy from Gavin and Stacey, right down to the voice - picked us up at the bus stop and took us to look at a few vans.

We were very interested in one, and guess what, WE BOUGHT IT.

The van is a Burstner Delphin, built on a Renault Master chassis. It has a built-in bed, kitchen, table, bathroom, etc… 

We’ve named her Delphi - (Delphin means dolphin in German), and she is awesome. See below!!

We check out of the Borough tomorrow and get the bus back to Whitstable, where Neil will pick us up, and we will start the next leg of the adventure.

We feel incredibly lucky to have found such a quality van, so close to London.

Tomorrow sees us become van-lifers!!

London has been great. We love the vibe of the city - and the cooler weather - so much. 

Righto, talk to you from the road - innit!!