The whole entire first day. Yep. The whole thing.
The flight to London was fine; I slept for about an hour at the beginning of the flight, woke up in time for the meal, watched "Hancock" (it was pretty good, actually), wrote in my journal, read about London and decided where I wanted to go. I got through customs with no real problem, and my pack was floating around the baggage claim area before I even got there. That's when it started. When I was putting my pack back together, (I had taken my day pack on the planes with me) I went to get my camera out of my day pack to put into my pocket.... only to find that it wasn't there. I've lost my brand new digital camera that my rents got me for my birthday. I went immediately to customer service to see if I'd left it on the 747 I'd come from, and they promptly had me wait an hour before telling me the plane had been put away and I had to go somewhere else. So, I went to the left baggage counter to put in a claim, and they gave me a phone number to call tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes. I really really hope they find it; I wouldn't even mind having to go back to the airport tomorrow.
So I finally bite the bullet and head into London. I hop on a shuttle train - for thirty dollars - and land in downtown London, with not much of an idea where I am. I know my hostel is west of Hyde Park, so I look for that thinking I can go from there. Following my instincts and eventually a couple of signs, I go straight there. However, in Hyde Park I got turned around a couple of times due to a couple of confusing maps.... suffice it to say I hiked abou 6-7 miles in London to try to find the stupid thing when I only needed to hike 4. Oh well.
I was completely exhausted when I checked into my Hostel, so I took my contacts out to take a nap for about three hours... it was going on noon London time (so 7 in the morning at home... I'd been at it for 22 hours).
I woke up eight hours later. Oops. So I've decided to just keep sleeping until tomorrow (I've already slept a few more hours), get up real early, call the baggage claim place, go for a run, eat breakfast, book another bed for tomorrow night, and see London all day tomorrow. Maybe I'll go someplace else during the day on Wednesday, maybe I'll just stay in London. I dunno yet.
So, as far as first days go, this one could've been better. But I've still seen some pretty cool stuff in Hyde Park (omg it's so huge) and seen parts of downtown London (just like New York except not nearly as tall) and heard lots of people in funny accents. Hopefully, tomorrow will go my way.
-Swag
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4 comments:
Hey Sweets. Dad and I didn't realize how tense we (yes, both of us) were until you finally posted. We're glad you're safe and sound, but sorry that you had such a lousy first day. For good or for ill, the challenges (i.e., crap) that occur while traveling is part of the package. Hopefully you will get up feeling rested, find out that they have your camera, and have a jolly day in London tomorrow. If not, there are other cameras to be had. Dad says if that's the worst thing that happens on the trip, you're doing pretty well. We love you! Can't wait to hear about tomorrow.
Don't forget about what we talked about Ben...... Be safe, have fun, enjoy the time away....Then come home and find a place... OH! and its called ABSINTHE and is green..... get me some.....
Much Love
-Rusty
Hey Ben...My first trip to Europe we were separated from all of our luggage for 2 days. And we had no idea where we were going to stay the first night so we couldn't tell the airline where to deliver the luggage to. Fortunately we packed overnight stuff in the carry-on so it wasn't a huge problem. Like your mother says... it's all a part of the adventure.
Hey Swag!! I am glad to hear that you made it safely and I hope that you found our camera! Ricky and I miss you very much Swag and we cant wait for you to get home!!
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