Backdated Entry added Feb. 7, 2006
September 13, 2005
Melissa and I arrive in London, customs is a breeze. I have my first stamp! First stop. The ATM to get some cash, only, our cards aren’t working. Of course! Another nice American girl says it’s not just us. She says her card and others she’s seen haven’t been working on that ATM, but there should be another one close by working. We thank her for the tip and wander around looking for the trains that’ll take us where we need to go, only, this airport is huge! Naturally we stop the first cute airport security guy with his cute english accent and he points us towards the huge sign that says which way the train is. Whoops, but we suppose he’s used to our kind by now. We find the train and a working ATM so we buy our tickets. The train into the city is about a 30 minute ride and I’m trying my hardest not to fall asleep after a near sleepless night. I also try my very best not to squee at all the cute little cars and cute flats we see as we ride along. The train stops at a tube station and we transfer onto a subway/underground car and have to transfer once more after that before we reach our stop.
As we exit the station and walk along Borough High St. I’m amused by the quaint little buildings and all the “Look Right” and “Look Left” signs painted on the street corners. The sidewalks are narrow and cobblestone, so instantly I’m glad for bringing a backpack instead of rolling luggage which my freind is having a little trouble with, but it’s not too bad. We arrive at our hostel (St. Christopher’s Inn) and are greeted warmly at the door. I explain that I’ve made a reservation, but they can’t seem to find me in the computer. I have a silent mini-freak-out until they discover that I stupidly booked the night before. “No worries,” the girl at the desk smiles changing my booking to the correct night. Only bummer is it’s a room with less beds so we get charged a few pounds more. Oh well. All’s well that ends well.
As we approach the stairs to our room I soon realize we have one hell of a task at hand. There’s no elevator (which I knew, and is common throughout European hostles.) and Melissa’s rolling bag weights 50+ lbs. accourding to the airline who’ve marked it as “heavy.” We have to carry this thing up 3 flights of stairs because we’re on the top floor, obviously. heh…
30 minutes later… kidding. We finally make it and there’s only one guy in our room who seems to be packing or unpacking, I’m really not sure. We talk to him a moment. He’s from Canada and just got back from Bath and seeing Stone Henge, he highly recommends it if we have time and disappears soon after. Melissa and I have a good laugh after he leaves thankful we didn’t say we were from Canada like everyone kept telling us to do. After getting our things situated we ventrure out for a little mapless exploration and some food. As we walk around it still hasn’t hit me that I’m in London. I feel like I’ll wake up any moment now in my bed. If I didn’t have photos to mark the day I still don’t think I’d have believed it was real.