Homeward bound

I am finally shoving off today. I adore London, and I wish I could’ve had more time to see more of it. As it is, I am exhausted from travelling and living out of a suitcase. I miss my house and my Mike. Yesterday I had almost no energy to go out after I came home from my 2 hour walk. I laid around the hotel room, read a book, and after dark I went for a little walk and then got some take away curry. I watched a little BBC on the telly and read a book until I fell asleep. I have an incredibly long day ahead of me. I can’t even tally how much time it will take me because I’ll be gaining hours as I go. I have to leave my hotel at 11am, my plane takes off at 3:20pm, and I arrive in Portland at 11pm.  I have about a 2hour layover in Chicago, too. Oh well, I’ve got a book and I can look at it as relaxation time.

Anyhoo, I’m showered, packed and ready to go. I have to wait around a bit so I’m not at the airport too early. I’m going to grab some coffee and read the paper.

Oh yeah, one thing I really need at home is an electric kettle. This thing is so great! Fill it with water, push a little button and in 2 minutes you’ve got boiling water. It’s amazing. I also need to buy a case of Lemon Fanta, which we don’t have in the States, but it’s delicious. I have a few pounds left to spend this morning (not enough to justify paying a fee on exchanging it back to USD). I’m going to stock up on british candy, which makes great stocking stuffers.

So Ciao for now. I may update from O’Hare if they’ve got free wifi. Otherwise, I’ll see you in Portland!

London, 7am

So yesterday ran as smoothly as it possibly could’ve. All of my connecting flights were on time, had an empty seat next to me each flight, and when I arrived at baggage claim in Heathrow, I walked in the room just as my suitcase came into view. My train from Heathrow pulled into the station just as I was walking up and my hotel happens to be only about 4 blocks from Paddington Station, where the train ends up. My hotel room is tiny but so cozy. The bed is a little twin bed, but could be a giant down-filled pillowtop mattress compared to the beds I slept in in Sofia. Anna and I went around the corner for Indian food for dinner. I had the most delicious lamb masala of my life. We came back to the hotel to sleep because we’ve only got 1 day together and we wanted to get up early to pack as much in as possible. We’re hoping to see: The Tate Modern, British Library and Museum, the Tower, and some other odds and ends along the way. It’s about 7:30am now and the sun is rising (good sign!) and the forecast is for 10 degrees C (50F). I plan on uploading photos tonight when we get back.

The greatest thing is that everything is in English! No more Cyrillic alphabets and quick-paced Bulgarian! My whole psyche is breathing a huge sigh of relief just for this fact. One downside of being here: things are expensive! I’m having to do new mental math when I read prices. In Turkey and Bg, 1lira or 1lev was about the same as $.70USD. Here it’s the opposite. 1 pound is equivalent to about 2 dollars.  

Alright, I’m off to start my day

Cheers!