London Layover

Well, I arrived early this morning in London having had only about 2 hours of sleep on the flight across the pond. Big mistake in booking my flight on United: you still have to pay for alcohol! So I ponied up ₤3 for a red wine with dinner. After landing early (even though we took off an hour late), I practically walked through customs it was so empty. Both of my suitcases arrived safe and sound, though secretly I was kind of hoping the big one would get lost, then found and held for me at Heathrow so I wouldn’t have to pay for left baggage! But the big one arrived as well, so I checked it at left baggage. Caught the tube into the city to meet my mom and brother at their hotel near where we used to live: around the corner from Russell Square.

We had a very full day.

We took the ‘Original London Bus Tour’ around the whole city, getting off only to eat lunch at The Shakespeare across from Victoria Station. We then went up into the London Eye, which my mom and brother had never done, but I did 2.5 years ago with Shelley and Kristy our first day of backpacking. This is a picture of the London Eye, it’s the tallest ferris wheel in the world and the view is spectacular.

Afterwards, I was able to breath a sigh of relief when I bought train tickets from Amsterdam to Paris on April 13 for Bryce and me at Waterloo station just behind the Eye. After a quick rest (as in, 45 minutes lying down), I said a tearful good-bye to my mom and brother and headed to Victoria Station via the tube to catch the Gatwick Express.

Has anyone run through a terminal without shoes from security? It's not fun. Luckily, after a pretty long sprint in my socks and clutching my laptop and liquids to my chest because the gate assignment for Dublin said 'Gate Closing' and mine was the last flight out (the security line had taken forever), my flight ended up being delayed.

I finally arrived in Dublin around 10:45 PM, but didn't collect my checked bag until midnight. Flying out of the UK, you're only allowed one bag (literally) onto the plane as carry-on baggage. I even had to stuff my tiny purse into my laptop bag to make it one carry-on.

Then my luck started to improve (keep in mind I'm still on 2 hours of sleep from the flight over). The bus driver for the AirCoach to the city from the airport in Dublin kindly dropped me just around the corner from my hotel instead of much farther down the street where the real stop was. The man who checked me in at the Castle Hotel, Dan, turned out to be Mauritius, so I told him about Bryce's pending vacation there and about Jodi's year in Reunion. When it turned out that the heater in my room was broken and the window had been open allowing in the 45 degree rainy weather, Dan changed me into a huge 4-person room for the 5 hours I would be there. Wake up call at 6 AM, breakfast at 7 AM.

Paddywagon tour bright and early Monday, March 19, 2007, 8AM!