Trip report by Lisa Miller.
On the morning of 28th July, we met at Stafford station to start our adventure in London, we arrived at Euston station at lunch time, and headed straight to Pax Lodge by taking the tube, this was adventure in its self for some of the guides as they had never been on the underground before.
When we arrived at Pax Lodge the sun was shining and we sat outside in the grounds to enjoy a picnic lunch before going to our rooms to unpack. After this we headed into the City, we started the Pax Lodge challenge as we had sites to see in London. One of the challenges was to visit Girlguiding HQ, we were able to look around and visit the shop. After this we went to Buckingham Palace, the girls were amazed by its size. We walked around to see as much as we could in the area but unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side and the heavens opened, so we got on a double decker bus (which took us past more sights such as Big Ben and the House of Parliament). We then went for a lovely meal out before heading back to Pax Lodge to complete more of the challenge.
On the Saturday morning after breakfast we took part in the flag raising ceremony. This was a fabulous experience and the girls read readings and helped with the flag raising. This set us up for the day. We again headed into the City and the girls wanted to visit the Science Museum. We spent the morning looking around and having fun with the hands-on experiments. When we left it was lunch time. We watched some street entertainers before sitting in the Victoria and Albert Museum to eat our lunch as again the rain fell. After lunch we had a walk and went to Leicester Square as the girls wanted to visit M +M World. After that we walked to Trafalgar Square (another part of the challenge). At this point the rain was really heavy and we had to bring the day to a close and we decided to head back to Pax Lodge. We ended the day with pizza and getting our Pax Lodge Challenge badges.
On the Sunday morning we packed our bags and again took part in the flag raising ceremony before we left Pax Lodge for the final time. But, it wasn’t time for home just yet! We had another challenge to complete (Pax Lodge’s – Harry Potter Challenge). We headed for the Harry Potter Studios in Watford. We had an amazing few hours looking at the props and sets that were used in the films. After a long and exciting day, we headed back to the Watford Junction station and back home. We arrived back at Stafford Station at around 7pm to be greeted by happy parents who were excited to hear all about our weekend adventure.
Photos from the trip can be seen in our Flickr album:
