Cheer-e-oh!

Getting off the plane to London was one of the weirdest experiences I've had so far. Hopping off the plane, I imagined a cloudy, dreary town filled with pubs and British folks surrounding me. Let's just say that when I hopped off the plane I didn't exactly see my vision. Instead, every person I saw was indian and the sky was hot and bright. From the moment I walked through the terminal I though I had just taken a 10 hour flight and landed back in LA only the drivers all had long white license plates and were driving on the wrong side of the road. I was so excited out of the airport and meet my friends in town especially since my flight was an hour delayed. By once I carefully crosses the street and waited for the bus to take me literally less than a mile to my hotel, we got there a ridiculous hour later. I realized that everything moves much more slowly in Europe. The reception hosts at the hotel, the waiters, the drivers, everyone. Once I finally reached my hotel room, I walked into a typical looking room. One thing that was strange, though, was that they had no alarm clock or any clock at all, which doesn't help a jet lagged traveler with her time keeping. I figured out a way to keep my iPhone juiced up enough to tell time with it ( thank you World Clock!) and showered and headed on my one day London adventure.

I hopped ona bus after a couple missteps and Indian drivers giving me the " stupid american" look, and headed to the subway, or as Europeans call it, the tube. After staring at a map for a good hour, I finally tried to make my way to central London hoping Id find inspiration once I got there. It turns out my trip on the tubes lasted much longer thAn I anticipated. Getting lost, losing track and many mistakes later, I wound up getting off at the Waterloo station and made my way to the London eye around 5;45. Hoping I hadn't missed a chance to go on the riverboat cruise and the London eye, I stood in line at 6:15 and hoped Id make it to the boarding of the6:45 riverboat cruise and suceeded with seconds to spare.

The cruise took us up Thames and I got to see Big Ben, The London Bridge, and much more. Just as we exited the tour, I got in a huge touristy line for the London eye and had to make myself understand that I was in fact the tourist and not running the operation, which, coming from my background at universal was a daunting task. Once on the ride, we flew high above in the sky and watched the world raise up and I could see all of London. I did it right at susnet, which was super sad for the lonely American tourist. Once we landed and I was missing my boyfriend, it got colder and I had a decision to make. Try to find a pub and Caitlin when I couldn't get her on the phone or make my way back to the hotel for a drink and eat at the bar. I chose the second option which proved to be best because I got all kinds of lost on the way home. After getting on the tube around 8-ish, for a half hour tube ride and a half hour bus ride normally, I didn't manage to get back to the hotel until 10:30 pm. I had missed the dinner hour at the restaurant ( and hadn't eaten since the plane ride) so I opted to take a seat at the bar and prayed they had fish and chips. To my surprise they did and it was amazing! Best fish and chips I have ever had, topped off with a Newcastle night cap and off to bed. All in all a long but wonderful day.

I decided to retire to my room to get some sleep that was much needed and forgot to reset my phone to london time. Instead, I placed an alarm for 6:00pm and hoped it would work. When I awoke in the middle of the night and looked at my phone, I panicked thinking I was laste for the airport as it said 6;45. I hurried in the shower and packed super fast only to find out that 1. It was still dark out, 2. There were still people sitting at the bar I could see below my hotel room window and 3. I had set a wake up call that obviously hadn't happened.

As I looked out my window to the bar I noticed a bunch of drunk guys pushing eachother around playfully. I continued to look out the window partially in pure boredom, and part interest I'm watching drunk guys when one of them rolled on his back, pulled down his pants and showed everyone he was with, and subsequently, me, his ass. He then stuck his fingers in between his cheeks and I immediately looked away for fear of what else Id see. I went to sleep promptly after that out of terror and the fact that I would be on another excrutiatingly long plane ride in 4 hours.