I MADE IT!!! London and the UK so far...

After over 24 hours of travelling, we’re finally here. And its wonderful. I absolutely love London. And now a bit of our very non-eventful journey here.

We left Columbia for CLT airport at 9 AM Tuesday after a wonderful goodbye breakfast with Marty Mar. Because of my extremely anal mother, we had to get to the airport at least 2 hours before our flight… ughhhh. I think it’s all just a ploy she came up with to get more steps. But our first flight was short and smooth. Then we landed in detroit- for our FOUR AND A HALF HOUR LAYOVER. Gun please?

So we walked the very straight airport to the very end, had margaritas and mexican, then took the train back to the middle of the airport. Now the highlight: The underground tunnel that connects the large terminal to the smaller terminal is AWESOME. Star trek anyone?

Finally, we boarded our flight for our 8 hour journey to LON HEATHROW. The flight itself wasn’t bad… the food was surprisingly tasty and we each had our own individual tvs. I watched “Adventureland”, “Scrubs”, “The Office”, and “What Not to Wear”. And I attempted to sleep…. The worst part had to be the guy with terrets sitting behind me, who apparently felt the need to knee the back of my seat every 30 seconds.

We landed in London at 7:40 AM, or 2:40 AM Columbia time. After virtually no sleep, that’s kind of early to start a long day of sight-seeing. Sooooo, we waited in immigration for over an hour. And somehow we passed… my mom looks a tad bit like a terrorist, so I think we just got lucky.

Then we began the TWO HOUR TREK to the hotel…. UGH. Carrying 4 extremely large suitcases on the underground is almost impossible. IF YOU FIND YOURSELF TRAVELING IN LONDON WITH THAT MUCH JUNK, SPEND THE EXTRA MONEY AND TAKE A DAMN TAXI. (My mom disagrees.) Ok, ok… It wasn’t that bad. But some tube entrances don’t have elevators, meaning we had to carry the four GIANTS up flights of stairs. NOT FUN MAN. But there are some wonderful gentlemen in England,who were kind enough to help lug them up. Saved the day.

We finally got to the hotel around 10:30 AM and dropped off our junk. We took a small breather and set off to a full day of sight-seeing.

Now the good stuff:

First, we went to Picadilly Circus. Its pretty much the Times Square of London, except its actually classy. Then we walked to Traflagar Square, which was so pretty. The architecture here truly is breath-taking. We then stopped at the Texas Embassy for a bit of TEX-MEX food. Its definitely over-rated but I guess the whole idea of it is pretty neat. (It was the only embassy Texas had when it had declared itself as a country. Now it’s a restaurant.)

We then walked through St. James? Park. It reminded me so much of Central Park but I liked it even better. We saw a bunch of little kids wearing bright neon vests that looked like security guards… school field trip I think. I love English children.

Then, we made our way to Buckingham Palace and saw the funny guards. One of them broke the rules and asked for my phone number. That’s just how amazing I am.

Next, we week to Westminister Abbey, where we wasted 15 Pounds a person on the most boring audio tour I’ve EVER experienced. It was absolutely gorgeous inside, but keep in mind my mom and I are running on verrryyy little sleep and we’ve been up since 2 AM (Columbia time). Hearing extensive details on every aspect of the church might be good if we were lucid, but it drained us EVEN more. It actually pushed my mom over the edge. She pretty much freaked out and raced around the church looking for an exit. She even tried to ditch our audio devices ON A CHURCH PEW and suggested we make a run for it. Please don’t get Lou Clyde sleep-deprived. She’ll go nuts.

After we escaped, we found Big Ben and the Parliament. Verrrry nice. We then walked across the Westmisinter Bridge to the London Eye. I think this was the highlight of my day. We saw the most amazing views of the London landscape. It also gave us a much-needed, thirty-minute rest for our legs.

We then made our way back to the hotel and passed out for two hours. Waking up at 7:30 PM London time, we decided to set out for a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, we missed out on all the stores, (with everything closing at 8), but we were able to map out a good shopping route for tomorrow. There’s definitely some potential!!!!

We quickly at a gourmet meal at Mickey D’s and made our way back to the hotel again. But my alcoholic mother insisted that we stopped for a bottle of wine for a quick detour.

Now back at the hotel, we’ve been lounging around the executive lounge, (Yes. We’re very important people.) and chatting with Dad, Linda, Marty, Christen, and Chase via Skype. This technology makes me feel so much better about being away from everyone. Its just so easy and it makes it seem like we’re not an ocean away.

Going to bed now. Can’t wait for tomorrow!