more time

Hello hello, so I've found a bit of time here to write. I've just returned to Paloma's from a lovely morning in the city. I got quite a bit of sleep last night. It was nice to finally sleep a long time. Still feeling a bit fatigued, but I suppose that's normal. In any case, I'm here to write and fill you all in on my various happenings and adventures so here goes....

So Heathrow, let's start there. Got into the airport around 6:15 am local time, was pretty happy we were a little early. In any case we were on the move headed for customs. I was hoping to try and get in touch with Masa, but it didn't happen. One thing I failed to realize is that it is definitely a good thing to have all of your information on hand (ie bank account information, flight details, phone numbers, addresses, and a clear idea of where you will be going and where you will be staying), I however, had nothing . So I get through the line, and get to the customs officer, and the questions start flying. She starts grilling me. Who are you staying with? My friend Masa Cernivec. How do you know this friend? Where did you meet? In Seattle, she was a nanny. Where is she from? Slovenia. What does she do here for work? Hotel receptionist, and retail. Where does she live? Uh, I don't know. Do you have an address? No. We're meeting at Wimbeldon Station. Do you have significant funds? Yeah. How much? About 4,000 USD. Do you have proof? No. Do you have a return flight? Yeah. Do you have proof? No. Which airline? It's British Airways (lol but I wasn't even sure). Anyway the theme of this conversation was "No I do not have proof" and "Yes I'm an idiot" and the fact that I didn't even know where I was going to be staying was sketchy as well. So I wasn't surprised when they asked me to take a seat and wait as they had to corroborate my story. Spent about 25 minutes sitting there, waiting. Finally a woman approached me to ask for more information. Ended up asking for my flight information for the following morning to Barcelona, and when I told her I needed the internet she was kind of pissed and then I kind of laughed and she said it wasn't funny, that I might actually be denied entry into the country. And then I was like "Eeeps!" Anyhow I was actually able to get online and find my flight information, but by the time I approached her to tell her she dismissed it and said she'd already found it. Afer lecturing me on how I should have been more prepared I was good to go and somehow had acquired a 6 month visa. I definitely learned my lesson.

So phew, was finally on my way. Got down to the luggage carousel and my stuff had been conveniently unloaded for me. Picked it up, loaded it onto a cart and headed out to find the underground. I was running a little late because I was supposed to meet Mosh at the Starbucks by Wimbeldon Station around 830 and I was still trying to orient myself. Finally, after realizing my debit card didn't work, and that the UK doesn't accept euro's, I finally purchased a ticket for the underground. I had all my bags, and It was beginning to become a pain in the arse to move around. Got on the tube, and initially there were very few people. But after a few stops the number had seemingly doubled, until I am standing awkwardly in the corner, hovering over my pile of bags. I guess it was perfect timing for morning rush hour. It was this way until I had to get off, and a woman gave me a hand with my stuff. Once off I only had to change one more time and I'd be at Wimbeldon Station. So off I go and I get to the station and I think by this time it was just after 9 am. Got to the Starbucks and made it across the street and as soon as I saw Mosh I was incredibly relieved. All I wanted to do was drop my crap and sit down.

So the next leg of the little morning journey begins, and we hop onto the Tram and head down two stops to go to her flat and this part was easy. Once inside I dropped my crap and just sat there. I think by now it's near 930 and we had until 12 to meet Chris. I got online and sent him an email with everything that he needed to get through customs unscathed. Unfortunately, he never got it. I had visions of him not making it through customs, or at the very least, getting lost in the London Underground and us not being able to contact each other. Since we have not traveled together I had no idea how he would handle being in a foreign country. Some people get flustered if they encounter difficulties, so I was very worried about this happening. In any case we arrived to the station and began waiting. When we didn't see him by 1230 we decided to go to the Starbucks and get online to see if he'd emailed us back. We sat down and got online and there was no email. So I was kind of getting worried. In any case we were only waiting about 15 minutes before I happened to look outside and I saw him across the street. Such a great feeling to see him there. I was pumped. So I ran outside to meet him and it was good to see him. We were both in London and I felt like things were going to come together. Funny story: the same thing happened to him as he tried to pass through customs. I guess not funny, more ironic, especially since I sent him the email that would have saved him so much time. In any case we were in London and we were set for our flight in the morning. Unfortunately we had to learn our lessons the hard way. More to come..............



Zach