First off, I must say "Thank you" for the wonderful visit!
I have been a member since 2021, and decided to join since I was retired and loved to travel. I figure that meeting other police officers all over the world would be fascinating and fun, after all the motto is Meeting in friendship and I was well met!
We started off by sending my bio to the volunteers and that helped a lot. The people who volunteered to meet me, were actually interested in me, my career and hobbies. We pre-arranged my visit through emails and what’s app. I was in London for 5 days and managed to meet 6 IPA 
members, I even had to turn someone away! There just was not enough time.
I started my visit with Tom, who is a retired gentlemen who now works as a tour guide. Having been to London a few times, I was looking forward to an offbeat tour of London. I saw the square in front of Bartholomew Hospital, an old Roman foundation, remote out of the way churches and plenty of stories to boot.
I spent my Birthday with Nerea and Necho in Greenwich. We explored the park, the royal observatory, the royal maritime museum and ate great food. We did some shopping at the market, flea market and area. We had a full day of walking, exploring and making new friends. I couldn’t think of better way to spend my birthday!
On the Monday, I visited the Shard, London bridge area with Kristina and then joined up with Alex in the afternoon for a guided visit of the Scotland yard stables. Turns out another 5 or 6 IPA members joined in. It was wonderful to see the differences between the RCMP and the London Team. To finish the day, I had an amazing dinner with Ryan and we ended up talking for hours, being a foody, he had suggested restaurants to try while I was there and I must say this was the best culinary experience I have ever had in my visit to London. Yes, I know how to use Google but that just tells you where restaurants are, the special recommendations were very much appreciated.
I felt so blessed to have had a chance to meet you all. I was told that sometimes there are little response and yet I didn’t have enough time to meet everyone. No fear, I will be back, lol! It made the whole visit completely different and so much more pleasurable. A special thank you to Alex for helping get in touch with everyone and the special visit to the stables.
I already have 2 visitors planned for September and I am looking forward to lifelong friendships.
Yours truly,
Sonya Roy, IPA Canada