So, here I am.
London. The United Kingdom.
January 14, 2012. (Or, as the Brits might say, 14 January
2012.)
Okay, okay…it’s technically the 15th at this
point. But you can’t blame me for being confused—it’s been almost 48 hours
since the last time I slept, but I wanted to get a lot of this out now, while
it’s still fresh in my mind.
At any rate, my journey abroad began in earnest yesterday
(today? two days ago?), 13 January 2012, at around 12:30 PM. With two large
suitcases, a laptop, and my book-bag, Nic and I sat out for O’Hare. I was a
mushy mess for most of it, but I did provide Nic with the…uhm, awesome (can I
call it that?) pre-trip interview you can find
linked here…
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| Who's This Handsome Traveller? |
Okay, so maybe it’s not the best video in the world—but I
think I looked cute in my little traveling hat. (By the way, did you catch my
Anderson-Cooper-like nervous giggle around the 1:00 mark?)
Shortly after the video we made our way to the TSA security
area and said our goodbyes. Pandas everywhere were weeping. It was pretty
sappy, so I won't go into it too much here.
And after that it was a matter of simply waiting for my plane…
And waiting…
And waiting…
And waiting…
It turns out that, thanks to the blizzard-like conditions on
Wednesday, numerous flights in and out of O’Hare were delayed. Including mine.
We didn’t actually take off until about 5:30 PM CST. Now, if I had been
scheduled on a direct flight to London this would not have been a problem—but I
had a connecting flight in Toronto at 8:30 PM EST.
Even then, I wasn’t too worried…
Until I learned that I would have to go through Canadian
customs, collect my baggage, and then make my way all the way to the opposite
side of the airport, recheck my baggage with British Airways, and then go to
the proper terminal...
And then BA informed me that American Airlines had not given
me the proper receipts for my checked baggage, so there was a chance I would
have to pay again. (Fortunately, a call was placed to a supervisor and BA
allowed me to just give them the copy of my receipt from AA.)
A long, tense story cut short: I made it on to the BA flight
as scheduled, and we took off for London at around 9:30 EST. That flight was
fairly uneventful, other than a baby who cried and cried the whole way,
preventing any chance at sleep. Oh, well—I can sleep when I’m back in the
States, right? Oh, and I got to enjoy a Canada Dry ginger ale while flying over
Canada. It amused me… Clearly, I was already sleep-deprived.
At around 9:30 AM GMT my flight touched down at London’s
Heathrow Airport. I was a bit worried going through customs because I had
received conflicting information regarding the visa application process, and so
I feared there was a chance I would be deported before I even had a chance to
do anything deportation-worthy. Fortunately, the agent didn’t seem fussed, and
actually commented that I had provided too much information—that all I actually
needed (for the length of time I’m staying) were the letters from Columbia and
UEL.
Within about an hour of my arrival in London, I was safe and
secured in the home of our (mine and Nic’s) friends, KG and MM—they’ve been
kind enough to provide me shelter from the elements until I conquer Buckingham
Palace and make it my summer home… I mean, find a suitable (cheap) flat
somewhere.
The rest of the day was pretty much a blur—I’m terribly
jetlagged (hence the boring post here, which you probably stopped reading eons
ago, meaning I can just say yadda yadda yadda shapoopie and no one would notice).
I have already discovered two awesome shows, however. The first is called “
Come Dine with Me” and the other is called “
Borgen” (a subtitled import from
Denmark). And, before I sat down to type this, I chatted with Nic and the Fish
through FaceTime for almost an hour, which was wonderful!
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| FaceTimin' it with the Family! |
And on that note, I need to grab some sleep.
Until next time…
