Finally we got to go to the hotel, which was the Barbican Hotel. I think we ate dinner, and then later that night, we went to the West End to the Strand Theater to watch the production of Buddy. I really love musical theater, and if I wasn't so exhausted, I'm sure I really would have enjoyed that show. But towards the end I completely fell asleep, and I don't know how that was even possible because the end of the show was basically a concert.

We stayed about three days in London. The following day, we played a concert in a park somewhere, and then had some free time to ourselves. Me and some friends decided to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was PACKED with people. And I'm going to be completely honest...it was extremely boring. At least to a 16-year-old, it was. But I think even if I went now and saw it, I would still be bored out of my mind. There were people near the statue that were constantly shooing people off of it and making them sit on the ground. I would hate to be those people. 

Okay so here's the deal. Remember how I said that this was the days before digital cameras? Well, I loaded my camera wrong. The last day in London, I loaded my camera wrong. So I have no pictures of Parliament, and other things that we saw that day. Tragic, I know. So sadly, this is all there is of London. :( 

In the past, we used Pacific Money Exchange on Oahu in Waikiki to get our Yen. Their rates are basically whatever Google tells you the rate is that day, which is awesome because lately, I've seen the rate go all the way up to 109 JPY. My friend exchanged money two weeks ago and got 107 JPY to 1 USD. 

What did me and Kevin get? 96 JPY to 1 USD. That's one Yen lower than the rate we got last year when we exchanged with Pacific Money Exchange. 

Let me explain. 

Our options to exchange currency are limited here. You can either exchange your money at the bank, or do it online at somewhere like Travelex or Ezfoex. The problem with that is that they will still likely give you less than what the actual exchange rate for that day is. The day we exchanged our money, the rate was 106, but we got our yen for 96. I've read that bank rates are usually good because they get their currency at wholesale, but I'm not sure how true that is. Whatever the case, it wasn't 106. Banks, as well as these online currency places, will charge you a delivery fee of $10.00 or more. With my bank, the fee was only about $8.00, which isn't bad.

I'm not a finance expert in any sense. I'm just ranting a bit about my recent experience. Going through your bank is convenient if you want cash on hand right away (it took maybe four days to get our cash). I wish I was lucky enough to live near Pacific Money Exchange, but I just couldn't justify spending the airfare to go over there for the day just to get my cash. But after taking such a hit, I think next time, that's exactly what I'll do.