Author Archives: Wendy

More Love for London

by Wendy
I’ve written a lot about London. It’s like the blog is called Looks and Leaps and London. I can’t help it! I love this city and would happily travel there more often if I could. Here are a few more reasons why for those of you who aren’t sick of hearing about it. Continue reading

Favorite Photos from Iceland

by Wendy
When blogging about an Iceland road trip, images take center stage. I asked my fellow travel companions Jack, Mom (Cindy) and Joe (Dad) to choose a favorite photo or two and write a few sentences to accompany it. Continue reading

A Few Fall Photos

by Wendy
October, November and December are busy months for Jack at work, so our travel is often limited to day trips or family visits during the holidays. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, and while I would love to see Madrid or Rome or Cophenhagen (the list goes on) this time of year, we have many beautiful weekends in the Mid-Atlantic. Here are a few photos of fall, both past and present. Next week I’ll probably go back to writing about London and Iceland.

Continue reading

An Afternoon at Parliament

by Wendy
Next time you’re in London, consider booking a guided tour of Parliament followed by afternoon tea. That’s right, you can actually drink tea in a House of Commons dining room! This is a cool activity for anyone interested in England, history, politics, the Queen, or a fine afternoon tea. Continue reading

Hanging out in Heathrow and Gatwick

by Wendy
Spending quality time in an airport like Heathrow isn’t difficult. There is so much to notice. It’s enormous, one of the busiest in the world, with plans to expand. Prepare to navigate crowds, queues, escalators, elevators and moving sidewalks to get where you need to go.  Continue reading

A Salute to English Breakfasts

by Wendy
There are so many things I love about London. One thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned before is the full English breakfast.

As far as I can tell, there are variations of the full English, but a plate often consists of fried or poached eggs, beans, toast or fried bread, sausage or bacon (or vegetarian option), mushrooms, and tomatoes. Sometimes kippers, or maybe bubble and squeak. Continue reading

I Heart Stairs. And Heights

by Wendy
There were a lot of stairs on the Iceland and England trip. Not like running up and down my basement stairs to deal with laundry. Not like walking up and down a few flights to my office floor instead of waiting for what must be the city’s slowest elevator. This was more in the line of trudging up hundreds of steps in a narrow corridor or next to a steep drop-off. The work was usually rewarded with an impressive view, but that didn’t stop me from complaining. Continue reading

Dover: A Delightful Day Trip from London

by Wendy
follow me on twitter @wendylooksleaps

Interested in taking a day trip from London to another part of the country? Consider Dover. We had a brilliant time in this southeastern city on the coast of the English Channel. Continue reading

Shower Power

by Wendy
We interrupt this (semi) regular blog for an important announcement about showers in hotel bathrooms overseas.

I should know the drill by now. But I get distracted and forget that certain steps have to be taken to adapt. After one careless shower in an Iceland hotel that left me using almost every towel to mop up water on the flooded floor, I was more cautious and did not run into any other problems. Continue reading

Random Iceland Tips from Jack and Wendy

by Jack and Wendy
Iceland is such a popular destination right now. Flip through a travel magazine and you will likely see an article on the country. There are decent deals and free stopover options on Icelandair and WOW. We just missed running into several acquaintances who were visiting in the weeks prior or after our trip. There is a lot of information available if you’re planning to go to Iceland, but we are here to offer a few hopefully helpful tips from our perspective. Continue reading