I apologize but this is a long blog because there was a lot to tell. No I didn’t even tell it all!
WOW!!!!! 05/27/13 @ 1:37 am London Time (7:37pm US time)
Where do I even begin…..needless to say, it has been quite the journey so far!
WOW….meaning I can’t believe we have went through all these crazy, unexpected experiences, and WOW this is amazingly unbelievably beautiful!
Well lets begin at St Louis Airport. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to get everything done and to begin the journey we go to baggage check. According to AA from a phone conversation with my friend’s dad and in the information online, if you you are going to Kenya you can check 2 luggage’s for free, but low and behold we go to check it all in and they say it will be $60 per extra luggage…..”WHAT!?”…..but we paid it and moved on. We boarded our plane and then had a small delay of about 45 minutes while sitting on the runway. We arrive at the Chicago airport with plenty of time in between to get some food and catch our next plane, like 2-3 hours in between, however surprise, your flight has been delayed. What happened was there was a plane that was landed where our plane had to land that was having problems with getting their PA system to work so first they delayed us for 15 minutes, then they delayed us for 30-40 minutes, finally they canceled that flight and had the plane move out of the way, then our plane landed at our gate so we boarded about 50 minutes later than we were supposed to, then we had another delay while sitting in the plane on the runway because there were too many planes flying at once so we had to wait about an hour I would guess; then they announced we are going to have an additional delay of about 1-2 hours due to the weather in New York, where we were supposed to land. UGH!!!!…is what we were thinking. We had about 3 hours -ish before we had to catch our next plane after original land time in New York. We thought well maybe we will just barely make it but have to book it to the next gate. In the mean time, we had met a girl who already knew she was going to miss her connecting flight and was trying to figure things out. So we finally took off and landed at New York airport at 6:45 pm, our connecting flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05 pm, :(. We were hoping that maybe it was delayed and we wouldn’t miss it. Nope! That plane left on time and we missed our connecting flight to London.
So after arriving at the New York airport at 6:45 pm and discovering we missed our flight we had to book it to the American Airlines help desk where we waited in line for approximately 3 hours before getting to the desk to talk to someone. However, we did make some new friends wile waiting in line; one girl was from Switzerland, there was a guy from Arkansas going to London as well, and a guy and girl from Barcelona, Spain. All of these people had missed their connecting flights as well because they were on the same delayed plane as us. AA did reschedule our flight but not until 8 am Friday morning, bummer….threw everything off from there. So all of us got our rescheduled flights checked to make sure our luggage had been transferred and we all went to find food at the airport because we were all stuck until tomorrow morning and it was now 10:30 pm. We found out to get to the food we had to take a tram to and it closed at 11:00 pm. We made it to the food though to eat. Getting to the food was a fun experience, we raced through the empty airport and just tried to make the best of everything at the time. We had a nice visit with them and ate McDonald’s and Chicago hot dogs. Ruth and I decided to get a hotel for the night so we could maybe get some sleep, at least a couple hours. Special thanks to Josh for booking the hotel for us. We took a taxi to the hotel which was kind of sketchy, our taxi driver had no idea where to go and had to call our hotel to find out. Before getting in the taxi we had one skeptical guy that tried to get us to give him our information and what not for a “taxi”, we avoided him real quick, needless to say. We arrived at our hotel and tried to get a couple hours of sleep. Needless to say by this time I had not had much sleep, barely 2 meals in the last 48 hours and was not feeling well at all from exhaustion, stress, being overwhelmed from it all, and so on and so forth. We did catch our plane from New York to London on BA the next morning and safely made it to London, thank you Jesus. When we did arrive to London, Ruth’s luggage did not make it and we had to go to luggage claim to track it down and have them send them to catch up with her somewhere here. One thing after another it seems.
However, due to delays from all of that we missed our flight to Munich, had to cancel our overnight train from Munich to Paris, and cancel our Paris to London train. We did not get to go to Munich or Paris, but did have a few extra days in London.
Even though all of that has been a rough journey so far I am still very thankful for what we do get to do and I know that God has His hand in it all and there is a reason for everything. For example, Ruth luggage getting lost was kind of a blessing in disguise because it would have been very tough, nearly impossible to haul all that luggage around and this way it is easier. Ruth luggage has been found and it awaiting her in Ireland at her friend’s house. Luckily, Ruth and I are about the same size and I have been able to share some of my clothes with her until we reach Ireland.
After arriving in London, we had to take the tube (underground train) to our destination which was a learning experience for us. For first time being in London and walking the streets (which are mostly brick roads by the way, very bumpy) with our luggage after midnight was quite interesting. Needless to say we really did not like the streets of London upon first arrival, tough for wheeling suitcases, but we made it. Oh I almost forgot to mention since we were traveling the tube we had to take our suitcases up 3 flights of stairs to get to where we were going; there is not very many elevators (lifts) in London, at least not the route we had to travel at that time.
London! I love London!
Anyway on to the good stuff! After we got all settled in we got some rest that night and half of the next day due to exhaustion from previous flight journeys and then went out to explore. London is very beautiful, I was sad to leave and say bye until later. I do love to hear the accents of people in London and just hear them talk in general. For example, if you can imagine in your head a about 6 or less year old boy saying, “Daddy, why is everyone coming out instead of going in?” (in regards to a museum there).
On the first day finally after figuring out tickets that had to be cancelled, we went out about 4 pm London time to get some food. We walked for a while and finally found a place to eat by County Hall. We both ate and were still pretty quiet just trying to take everything that had happened in. I had lamb fillet, salad, and, rice, and it was delicious! Before the meal they bring out seasoned green olives, bread, and some sort of spread or dip for your bread, it was good as well. Ruth had the fish and chips (fries), I tried it and it was good as well. I had a coke to drink and it seems all the coke’s I had in London were sweeter than in the US, but good. Each coke bottle there has a name on it and says, Coke with whatever name is on it, interesting, right? Anyway, enjoyed the meal and moved on.
We were still a bit bummed but headed out for a walk, while walking we turned the corner and suddenly there was “LONDON”, Big Ben, London Eye, and so on and so forth, UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL! It felt as if we were in a dream. Nothing like I had imagined, a million times better! The detail of every building is unbelievable. Buildings are huge, I don’t even know how to describe things to you. I was so WOWED! It’s awesome! We walked across Westminster Bridge and then saw Westminster Abby, beautiful church where Kings and Queens are crowned. Yes, there are tons of double decker red buses in London, and it is weird to see people drive in the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road compared to US. In taxis there, the back seats are where people people have their back to the front seat or face the front seat. 4 people can face each other in the back. Overall the people of London are extremely nice and helpful, especially to Americans. I felt safe walking around London and had a great time. When crossing the street you have to read the road to know which way to look before crossing, at least until you get used to it I guess. We made sure to take pictures by the phone booths. We saw House of Parliament, which is attached to Big Ben. Did you know that Big Ben is actually the name of a bell at the top that you can’t see the name just grew and became the known name. We spent a lot of time near Westminster Bridge, beautiful! We also got the chance to see Buckingham Palace, London Bridge (which is actually called Tower Bridge), the London Tower, British Museum, Hyde Park (where Jack the Ripper history happened), and much much more. On Sunday evening we rode the London Eye, so awesome! We rode it right at sunset too, gorgeous!
Some interesting things in London, friends are mates, and every time you board the tube, “Mind the Gap”. We rode a lot of escalators and the tube is a great way to get around. The post office box was quite unique also. Ice cream there is known as soft soft ice or whipped. A que is the line, line of people. Tea is very good and a very common thing in London, but don’t forget to add the milk and sugar to it.
Keep calm and carry on is also a popular saying in London, and Ruth and I have kind of made this our motto from now on as you can guess why. I got a pretty good idea and learned about getting around on the tube there also. It cost Ruth 30 pence to go to the bathroom at the train station, lol. I had to pull the string to start the shower and pull the string to flush the toilet in one area of London, which was interesting. I could go on and on about London, I love London, it’s all around amazing.
For now I am going to enjoy the beautiful sunset with the all around beautiful scenery for the rest of my train ride to Edinburgh. Oh and I just saw a baby on standing on top of momma sheep, how cute, not to mention the ocean out the other side of the train window!
So sorry this is so long, but there was so much to say and inform you about over the last several days that have seemed like a month to us, lol!
Until next time, God bless!
PS – Sometime you can ask me about our hotel there, very interesting.
Sounds like you are having a great time in spite of your beginning. I think I am exhausted though after all of that excitement! LOL. Just reading and thinking about it all made me tired!!
Take care and watch for God at work! Love ya!