i’ve been putting off writing about our trip to london because i’ve been unbelievably lazy since we got home. all that running around took a lot out of both of us, and traveling just makes you want to curl up and never leave your bed again. that’s not to say that the trip itself isn’t worth all of that, because it was. ohh… it was.
our flight left at 6:45 PM on the 13th and i was giddy and acting like a 6 year old on their way to disney world, per usual. adam slept the whole way and i couldn’t sleep a bit. i was thrilled that our plane actually had those individual TVs built into the back of the seats in front of us. i’d never seen such a creation but MY GOD IT’S AMAZING! i watched the office and no reservations (chick flick but a damn good movie) and scarfed down every bit of food i was served. in my past experiences with airplane food, it’s always been terrible, but i was happily surprised with lasagna and bagels and a plethora of desserts and jack daniel’s. only thing about drinking on a plane is the landing makes you feel 10 times more woozy than normal. i’ll be avoiding that next time around.
because of our late flight, we arrived at gatwick at 7 AM and waited at customs for at least 30-40 minutes. i actually ran into a girl i went to middle school with which was odd. i was nearly a zombie at this point because after waiting so long in a boring line with a ton of luggage, the lack of sleep and effects of sugar and alcohol were wearing me thin. on the other hand, adam was fine. next time, i’m bringing sleeping pills. once we got a little snack at the “Eat” store, i was feeling better. we caught the train to victoria station and from there we caught a cab to our hotel. it had a bed and a bathroom and a full-length mirror and a flat-screen TV. i was a happy camper.
despite the fatigue, it was still 9 AM and we had the whole day ahead of us. we only had 5 days so we couldn’t really waste all of them recovering from jet lag so we set out, not realizing just how cold london is mid-december. i had a tank top with one of adam’s zip up hoodies, jeans, and sneakers on. i had no hat, no gloves, no insulation what-so-ever. i froze my butt off. and adam didn’t even pack a coat on this trip.
after walking around the square and finding our way to a nice restaurant, i was more than appreciative of the heat and a warm meal. i had spaghetti bolognese (which was sooo good) and adam had some sort of spaghetti with clams. it was a tiny little italian place that was very cozy aside from the weird stares we got. i guess we stood out as dumb americans wearing close to nothing compared to everyone else all bundled up. we scarfed down our food and that was when the light bulb went on and i realized just how crappy the dollar is in england. i treated us to our first $50 meal. i’m so glad it was a tasty one, or i might’ve cried.
we made a quick stop at a little convenient store to get some sandwich meat, bread, juice, water, and chocolate (the basics), and went back to the hotel. we were spent and decided to call it a day. we snoozed in and out for a few hours in between TV shows and slept a much needed 12+ hours.
the first “day” was a learning experience so friday went a lot more smoothly for both of us. we were prepared for the cold and were well-rested so we could better deal with all the pedestrian traffic, crazy taxi drivers, pidgeons, and mass amounts of french people.
i never expected london to be so much like new york city as far as the big city atmosphere goes. i’m not really sure what i was expecting but it was far from boring and it’s a gold mine for people-watchers. and pidgeon-watchers. i was particularly fond of the pidgeons.
of course, no trip to england is complete without a traditional meal of fish and chips and a quick lecture on creatures of the sea… and so begins day #2.