Traveling Part 1
So where do I start? For real. I feel like it has been an amazingly long time since I last wrote in this or talked to anyone from America. However, it literally has only been four days.
I guess the beginning is a good place to start from. Well, I left Pasadena a couple hours after I wrote and I said my goodbyes to the group. Brighid and I got in the car and on the way to the airport we were completely silent. I just stared out the window thinking….this is the last time I will see American cars, American road signs, American words…. I don’t know what Brighid was thinking, but it is extremely unusual for her to be quiet for that long.
We got to the airport and were informed that British Airways was still on strike so we would not be getting any food on our 11 hour journey. However they did give us 20 dollar vouchers, so B and I just stocked up on sandwiches, ice cream, and drinks. The plane ride was fine….we sat in row 53, the very last row and watched movies, and I stretched as much as I could for fear of leg clots that my family told me to worry about.
London came sooner than expected and we went through customs quickly. We waited for the shuttle bus for a couple minutes, and then B went inside to exchange our money. By the time she ran in and came back out, the bus had come and gone. No problem we thought. It comes every 20 minutes, we don’t mind the wait. Over an hour and a half later…….
Well that was a learning experience. We learned at training we would do a lot of waiting in Russia, and we started early. Good practice for me, being that I always like to be right on time. We got to our hotel about 6 and left for central London on the tube by 615p. It was raining and gray but we were so happy. After being in sunny California for 5 weeks I missed the rain like nobodies business. So we walked in the rain without any rain gear what-so-ever. We met a number of people on the tube and they all had advice about where to go and what to see. We had some good talks with a few guys that we named, ‘therapy man’ (he wanted to be a counselor), ‘travel man’ (he traveled…), and ‘tattoo man’ (I think you get where this is going.)
We ran around London, almost saw Jessica Simpson because her new movie was premiering there, but I was way more excited to see all the buildings, and streets, and double decker buses. We saw Parliament and Big Ben and took our picture with some guards. It was great fun, and we never did get lost. Maybe it was because I could read all of the maps and signs…..here comes Russia.
But before I can leave London I must say…. It is so expensive! I spent 32 dollars on transportation alone. And that’s all the money I spent there. At the airport they gave us 5 pounds for our voucher (that’s roughly 10 dollars) and my porridge with a smidge of golden syrup for breakfast was 3.75 pounds (about 7 or so dollars!) and when they say smidge, oh you better believe they mean it.
We left London at 10a and arrived in St Petes at 4p…and here is where the story gets a bit more interesting.
I guess the beginning is a good place to start from. Well, I left Pasadena a couple hours after I wrote and I said my goodbyes to the group. Brighid and I got in the car and on the way to the airport we were completely silent. I just stared out the window thinking….this is the last time I will see American cars, American road signs, American words…. I don’t know what Brighid was thinking, but it is extremely unusual for her to be quiet for that long.
We got to the airport and were informed that British Airways was still on strike so we would not be getting any food on our 11 hour journey. However they did give us 20 dollar vouchers, so B and I just stocked up on sandwiches, ice cream, and drinks. The plane ride was fine….we sat in row 53, the very last row and watched movies, and I stretched as much as I could for fear of leg clots that my family told me to worry about.
London came sooner than expected and we went through customs quickly. We waited for the shuttle bus for a couple minutes, and then B went inside to exchange our money. By the time she ran in and came back out, the bus had come and gone. No problem we thought. It comes every 20 minutes, we don’t mind the wait. Over an hour and a half later…….
Well that was a learning experience. We learned at training we would do a lot of waiting in Russia, and we started early. Good practice for me, being that I always like to be right on time. We got to our hotel about 6 and left for central London on the tube by 615p. It was raining and gray but we were so happy. After being in sunny California for 5 weeks I missed the rain like nobodies business. So we walked in the rain without any rain gear what-so-ever. We met a number of people on the tube and they all had advice about where to go and what to see. We had some good talks with a few guys that we named, ‘therapy man’ (he wanted to be a counselor), ‘travel man’ (he traveled…), and ‘tattoo man’ (I think you get where this is going.)
We ran around London, almost saw Jessica Simpson because her new movie was premiering there, but I was way more excited to see all the buildings, and streets, and double decker buses. We saw Parliament and Big Ben and took our picture with some guards. It was great fun, and we never did get lost. Maybe it was because I could read all of the maps and signs…..here comes Russia.
But before I can leave London I must say…. It is so expensive! I spent 32 dollars on transportation alone. And that’s all the money I spent there. At the airport they gave us 5 pounds for our voucher (that’s roughly 10 dollars) and my porridge with a smidge of golden syrup for breakfast was 3.75 pounds (about 7 or so dollars!) and when they say smidge, oh you better believe they mean it.
We left London at 10a and arrived in St Petes at 4p…and here is where the story gets a bit more interesting.
