Arrival in London

Our ETA was 12:20pm but we actually landed at 11:50am and out of the gate at 12:10pm. The United gate must have been the farthest as it took us a good 20 minutes to reach the queue at passport control. We finally cleared passport control at 1pm and proceeded to pick up our luggage. After picking up our luggage, we bought the following SIM card from a vending machine. Using an unlocked smart phone, this allowed us to use the internet and check e-mail even if there is no wi-fi available. It gave us unlimited data for 1 month and cost £15. The SIM card works anywhere in the UK but not in Ireland.

I booked a National Express bus to Victoria Coach Station for £5/person plus a £1 booking fee at 2:30pm. Since our flight ETA was 12:20, I thought we should have plenty of time to make the 2:30 bus. As it happened, we arrived at the bus station at 1:20pm. So I went to the National Express counter to see if we can take an earlier bus. The person at the counter said it's no problem, there's a bus arriving in 10 minutes and just show our reservation ticket to the bus. Here's our bus with the luggage compartment in the bottom of the bus.

Our hotel was the Premier Inn London Victoria which was about 4 blocks from the bus station and about a 7 minute walk. In hindsight, it probably would have been a better idea to use a taxi or car service upon arrival. Although it cost around £50-60 for a taxi, it was definitely more convenient after a long flight and pulling our luggage. The hotel cost £393 for three nights. It was a decent hotel and met our needs. It was close to the bus station with lots of places to eat nearby.

We finally arrived at our hotel room around 2:30pm. After taking a nap, we stopped at a bank ATM to get some cash. We didn't get cash at the airport after I read this article about the best way to get cash in the UK:
http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/cash-on-arrival-new-game-plan-for-airport-atms.html?id=21194088

For dinner, we stopped by Nando's which was just around the corner from the hotel to try their Peri-Peri chicken. It was pretty good - probably better than the El Pollo Loco we have back in Los Angeles. After dinner, we stopped by Sainsbury's down the street to get some groceries and breakfast food for the following morning.