London Day 1

First, I must fangirl a little bit at the fact that today was the day that I set foot in the same airport that Key and Minho did once upon a time. (For those of you who do not know who Key and Minho are or have never heard of the Korean Pop group called Shinee, I just told you who they are. I will give a picture to help aid your mind).

Shinee

Key

Minho

Moving on! Let me back track to before we left Charlotte-Douglas Airport. Now, for an airport I am not so fond of in comparison to RDU, it has a LOT of shops in the back. One in particular was a tasty little bagel shop called “American Bagel” I believe. I had a really good Egg and Cheese on a bagel (Asiago for those who care), but the ironic part was that the people who worked there had foreign accents. So after having this good bagel, we sat and sat and so forth. We then got on the plane and the group of us were in the 2^nd and 3^rd to last rows on the plane. This is all well and good except for the fact that I had to sit next to a child who I swear could be no more than 4 years old and who’s vocal record was stuck on the question “Is he a good guy or a bad guy?”. This was due to his father attempting to distract him with a Marvel coloring book. Okay, sure, but here is my question to the father. “Why would you put your son next to me when you could have switched seats with him and put him in an aisle seat where he couldn’t hit, kick, grab, or push me at all? With the added bonus of his mother being next to him across the aisle!” Due to that, I was afraid to sleep b/c I might fall over and squish him or I really couldn’t sleep because he was either hitting me or playing Angry Birds on his dad’s ipad (I hope his dad’s ipad anyway) and lighting up the screen in the dark cabin every 3 seconds. It didn't help either that the boys small sibling sitting with the mom decided to cry for the last portion of the trip. Not my problem as much as the older one, but still. I tried watching “The Great and Powerful Oz” to lull me to sleep. 

It almost worked. With the aid of putting on a music track, I at least lost some sort of consciousness that I know was not sleep because before it could be, the baby started crying (not loud enough to disturb me as it was across the way) but a flight attendant suddenly screeches at the baby “OMG ME TOO I TOTALLY DON’T WANT TO DO THIS RIGHT NOW”. I am glad to say I was not the only disturbed person, but really…I couldn’t sleep AT ALL after that. So, I wound up watching “Identity Thief” which is a TERRIBLE idea if you are sitting next to a four year old. 

This movie is not for children, I just thank the Lord the boy was asleep by then (pushing my leg with his sneakers , mind you). Anyway, the last 45 minutes were spent watching a random episode of “Storage Wars” that the airline had. Okay then…

SO! Arriving at Heathrow. We were taxied around the track quite a few times while waiting for another plane to move out of the way. Then customs was packed. I mean, whatever though, no big deal.  We took a charter bus that took far longer than expected which lulled most of us into naps or attempts at naps. While I was still semi-conscious, I took in the fact that London looks almost nothing like I remember it. This is obvious as I came here twice over a decade ago. The double decker buses are modernized as well as the buildings. The kicker for the buildings was the architecture. Their shapes vary and are REALLY cool. (Sorry, I was too lazy to take out the camera) BUT! I will describe something that is very cool.  Most office buildings here are made of glass. Oh, yes, you are thinking, “whatever, tons of business buildings in the US are, too!” WELL NOT LIKE THIS! These crazy, cool Londoners don’t cover their floor to ceiling glass panels with blinds and such. You can be driving and just look right in on a business meeting. It was awesome. Best part though was the silent excitement I got from seeing London’s SEGA building. Again, sorry about no pics, but right now my head is swimming from exhaustion and I still have to read an article before tomorrow despite my lack of sleep and a plan to go out with the group for some fun tonight.

Once off the bus, we went to our new home for 3 weeks to find that they weren’t ready for us. So after storing our stuff, we walked for awhile and then ate at a pub. No, I didn’t drink. I had water. After that, we went back and got our rooms. Now, here is where it is slightly amusing. The guys are in a suite on the first floor in one building with only 5 stairs to walk up. Us girls on the other hand had to lug our almost 50 lb bags up to the third floor (which is more like the FOURTH floor) which was hard and we never wish to do so again. Anyway, we made it and settled into our rooms before all going grocery shopping. Here are pictures of my room, the area, and Kaitlyn):

Once that was done, we unloaded and then I took a trip with 3 of the other girls (Katie, Danielle, and Kaitlyn) on an adventure around London where we found a gem of a place to eat and have a relaxing drink. A Chocolate Tres Leche Cake and a Classic Margarita

After that we went browsing and successfully learned how to cross streets here in London. This leaves me here. In my room typing this. That is all I have for now and I hope that you guys will continue to read my blog. I will update with entertaining things frequently, I hope. I leave you with random photos of London and one of the pigeons that doesn't care if you are human. Enjoy!