Hey Everyone!
Just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived safe and sound...but tired and pretty achy after lugging around like 60+ lbs of gear. The flight over went pretty well. I started from SFO and had to change planes at JFK. There was a major thunderstorm in Philadelphia headed for NY, so we hit a little snag in time because we had to go around it then sort of fly the back way into JFK. I kept thinking about movies like The Out Of Towners and West Side Story which open with aerial shots of New York. I wanted to see all the tall buildings and stuff. I didn't see anything but tenement buildings from my side of the plane, but I really don't know how far away JFK is from all that anyway. La Guardia may be the one you need to fly into. :::ClassyChiq shrugs:::
We get off the plane and they have already started boarding the JFK to LHR flight, which was at the next gate over. We get on the plane, we're all ready to go and the captain tells us that JFK is closed indefinitely beacause of the weather. The one thing I was happy about was that I made it into JFK before it shut down. Again, I thought about The Out Of Towners -- and I'm talking about the original with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis. I imagined getting routed to, like, Boston like they were in the movie and me freaking out wondering how the hell I'd get back into New York to get to London. But luckily, all we did was sit outside for about an hour until the airport opened and then we were like 10th in line for takeoff. I watched most of Mystic River.
I didn't get to sleep as much as I preferred especially since I didn't sleep at all the night before I flew. (Shot out to Intermezzo's on Telegraph...Love that coffee. I often compare it to an abusive boyfriend.) We land in LHR about an hour late and the make announcements for the people that are supposed to make connecting flights. I feel really bad for them. Heathrow is like...mind-boggling how huge this place is and how many people must pass through there on a daily basis. Just pulling up to the gate and seeing the different planes from Canada and Malasia and Ireland and England and America... it was cool.
Getting through customs was okay. Getting away from the airport was more of a chore. There are four terminals in Heathrow and I swear there's gotta be a mile between each of them. The ATM in my terminal was out of cash and I had to lug my gear to the other terminal to get some cash. I did. And then I made it back to the Underground station to catch "the tube" (man, I gotta get used to these keyboards. The @ symbol is where " should be and the " is above the #2. And it's got a £ above #3. Tee Hee!) Anyway, I made it to the tube, got off at Pimlico station and after a couple of wrong turns, I eventually made it to my hostel with my like 60+ lbs of gear around 10AM. Check in isn't until 1PM. Great. I drop off my suitcase in the luggage room and put my backpack with the front desk. I leave to look for food because i feel like I'm going to faint.
I walk and even though it starts to rain, I don't go back for my umbrealla. I end walking to Victoria station which is where I need to catch the train to Falmer, which is where University of Sussex is. Victoria station is a major transportation hub servicing both the |Underground tube and National Rail. This place is like a little mall with book stores and clothing stores. I hit up the little take-out sandwich shop and get a ham torpedo with a Dr. Pepper and ...tee hee...smoky bacon flavored crisps (As you know "crisp" is what we Americans call potato chips and "chip" refers to what we Americans call french fries). I have my plastic sack o' food and decide to get some use out of my Underground Travelcard which lasts the whole day. I hop a couple of trains to where I think the British Museum is supposed to be. I was right! I walk over to the museum and eat my sandwich outside. I save the rest for later.
The museum is pretty friggin cool. I didn't realize just how cool until I go over to where a large crowd of people are hovering... The Rosetta Stone. The friggin Rosetta Stone is there! I walked around the Eqyptian section and I’m touching these granite arms and fists from these large statues...and there’s little plaques with drawings and hieroglyphics. It’s so intricate, yet perfect. You touch it and think “I’m touching something that someone made almost 4000 years ago!” And it’s so neat. I mean, I can barely write legibly on paper with ink, but they carved these tiny hieroglyphics...into rock and who knows how. It took me awhile to realize that the song “Pinch Me” by Barenaked Ladies was running through my head as I checked all of this stuff out.
I hit my exhaustion wall and my feet began to ache. I mean, I was practically immobile for 7 hours and then I did a lot of walking. I headed home and got my room key and immediately passed out...
To Be Continued...