May 6, Touching down in London town

I admit that I've been slightly avoiding writing blog entries about my London/Paris trip. It's not that the trip lacked any adventure or any stories worth repeating. The fact is, there were too many stories - too many for me to write about completely. I'm struggling over what to tell, and how to tell it. But the best way to sum it all up is to say, despite all the mishaps (and there were plenty - both minor and major), it was amazing and unforgettable. The downfalls don't matter when you're in such beautiful cities, being present in so much history and culture, experiencing new things; and experiencing these things with great company. But anyway, get ready to read chapters from novel about this trip.

Liatrice, Anna, and I were Heathrow bound on the morning of May 6th. We arrived at terminal 5 at 11am, leaving us a couple of hours to kill while waiting for Madusha to arrive at terminal 4 from Toronto. Once we claimed our baggage, we hopped on a train that would take us to terminal 4 for free.. except that that train did not take us to terminal 4. We knew something was wrong when the train conductor demanded for us to show him a ticket. The train was headed for Paddington Station. We laughed about this unfortunate incident because, of course the first thing we did once we got to London was to take the wrong train. Fortunately, the conductor was nice enough to not charge us and let us know how we could get back to Heathrow. Once we finally arrived at terminal 4, 45 minutes later, we ate lunch at Costa then waited by the arrivals area for Madusha. My smile and excitement was too grand to hide as she came through the doors! We were reunited at last, and shared the biggest and longest hug until she squeezed out tears from my eyes. Oh how I've missed the love of my life!


We took the tube to Stratford Underground from Heathrow which took an hour and a half. I don't know how Londoners can afford to take the tube everyday. For seven days, I already had to pay 35 pounds, oh and an extra fee for using my visa, oh and another extra fee for the actual oyster card. Total price: $75. After we lugged around our luggages up and down stairs on the tube, we finally got to Stratford Station. It was a cute area, surrounded by two shopping malls, hotels and apartment buildings. It's actually where the Summer Olympics will be taking place. But moving on, it was also where a series of unfortunate events started to occur. We were looking for a Holiday Inn. Turns out there were 2 near the station. We asked around for directions and street names, walked down wrong alleys, until we finally found it! When we checked in, turned out we had to pay a not-so-cheap extra fee for a fourth party, even though it was made clear that four people would be staying at the hotel. We were also told ahead of time that there would be free wifi but front desk told us that we'd actually need to pay for it. We entered our small room, and unpacked a bit. Most of us needed to charge our phones so we took out our adapters and of course none of them worked. We had no choice but to run on low battery.

After we got refreshed, we headed out to meet with B (the same Aussie friend that I had met in Geneva, as he was staying in London just for that one day). We had fish and chips worth 12 pounds by the London Eye, not knowing that the average price is actually 4-7 pounds. Oops! We later walked around, passing the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and arriving at the lovely St. James Park. We continued on to Buckingham Palace, so entranced by London's beauty.

We searched for a Starbucks (for free wifi, to charge our phones, and for a washroom that Liatrice would approve of) with no luck. Instead, we entered a pub called Shakespeare. After walking in, a man kept staring at us as if he worked there and wanted to seat us. We later then realized that he was merely a drunk man. It was obvious after he asked us where we were from (to which we replied, Sweden, Canada and Australia. How random!) and decided to mess up B's hair. The pub's free wifi had us sitting at a table, all on our phones, being completely anti-social. Very appropriate for a pub right? But of course after being updated with our online lives, we got to chatting. Madusha and I had our very first try at Guinness, which was alright at first but then got really gross and thick by the end of it. It may be my last.

We walked to Waterloo Station which was back by the London Eye, to which of course we passed by several Starbucks. London was absolutely beautiful at night, with everything lit up against the river Thames. It was so stunning that I couldn't fathom that I was actually present in the midst of it all. When we got to Waterloo Station, we said our farewells to B.

It was exactly midnight when we returned to Stratford Station, aka the exact time I officially turned 21. Once we got to our hotel, Madusha passed on a card/gift to me from my family, which made my heart happy :)


Ps. Also reunited with ketchup chips. My tastebuds were having a party.