Thursday, June 11, 2009

Just touchdown in London town (JUNE 6TH)

We arrived in London roughly at 8am. The flight was good and what made it great it that there were 3 seats empty next to me. I was able to stretch out and relax a little. I was not able to sleep though; for some reason I cannot sleep on flights. Hopping the pond wasn’t all that bad and Virgin Atlantic made it a lot better. Our meals were great and it seems every hour we were served some sort of snack or beverage. Our plane arrived at Heathrow around 8am. Mike and I jetted off to customs and found ourselves at the end of an enormously long line. I am not a fan of waiting.

The border agent though it odd I was only staying in London for a day and then proceeded to ask for my flight itinerary, etc. Mike and I didn’t have a hotel when we landed, we thought we would find some place inside Heathrow (no idea where) to throw our stuff maybe shower and hit the town. After that flight…it didn’t happen we were almost ripped off. We went to the “Hotel Desk” at Heathrow and the agent told us “The cheapest we have is £150. That’s about $1.5Billion. Not really, but close. She then said oh..now the cheapest is £100 so I figured she wasn’t giving us what we wanted.

Mike and found the internet (Hotwire) and got a hotel for $50. I still think there will be some conversion rates applied, but only time will tell. SO our grand plan of hitting the town had to be put on hold, because hotels in London do not allow you to check in until 2pm. We sat in the lobby and passed out. It was probably 3am in the US around this time and jetlag was creeping its way through. Mike talked to the receptionist and she let us in at noon. I don’t think I feel asleep any faster than that ever in my life.

We woke up around 5:30GMT and took the Underground to central London. The Underground was about £7.50 for a day pass. This was my first time in London so I wanted to do a little sightseeing. Mike’s been there before with the band so he knew of a couple cool touristy spots for us to check out (Big Ben, Westminster Abby and London Bridge). The day pass was useful in getting around because…the taxi’s are “so damn expensive” (Taken the movie). We took some cool shots and Mike got asked about 4 times what kind of camera he has. It’s huge and for the pros. We ate at some pizza place and had some wine. After the bill came we noticed that for pizza and some wine and tip we easily spent £40 on dinner that wasn’t so amazing. London is expensive. Our flight tomorrow is at 6am. The train ride back home was the most interesting part of the day in London. We saw a group dressed as pirates, 80’s dancers, and some Aussies making there way to a pub that Mike and I got off the train to join, but then realized we wouldn’t be able to make it home if we did. SO back on the train and the rest of the night we slept.

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