Sardines

We've arrived safe and sound. The best word we could use to describe our first 24 hours is "sardines". Let me explain. British Airlines loaded us onto what can only be considered a moderately-sized plane. My ticket drew seat number 27D, so I had to squeeze into a teeny, tiny seat right smack in the middle of the plane. Tim got an aisle seat, not a window seat, and he had a pouty lip for quite some time. In fact, I still don't think he's over it. There was just enough room in my seat to breath shallow breaths - yes, we were packed in like sardines. We boarded right on time - 8:30 pm - and settled in. We sat on the tarmac for two more hours while customs pulled 21 pieces of luggage belonging to one passenger back out of the plane, then triple-dog checked to make sure they had it all. Normally, that would be annoying, but the pilot gave us updates with his British accent every 20 minutes or so, and Tim and I both agreed that it was so politely done and sounded so nice, how in the world could you we be upset about it? We took off at 10:30 pm twenty-one suitcases lighter.

Guess what happened at 11:45 pm? They fed us dinner. First the children got stimulus packages filled with crayons and fun puzzles, so that kept all the little critters wide awake. Then came the children's trays full of something that the little girl directly behind me did NOT want to eat! She cried and cried about it for a good solid hour while I tried not to waste my food with Tim sitting so close by. Then the little girl got tired and started kicking the back of my chair, but she had a cute accent too, so I didn't mind that either.

We arrived at Heathrow an hour or so late, so I guess that means the pilot was speeding. We were traveling over 600 miles an hour and the temperature outside our craft was negative 61 degrees. That information kept popping up on my little screen, so I thought I'd share it with you! The very first thing we saw out the window as we came out of that little accordian hallway that leads you off the plane was - seriously - a row of pigeons. Of course we stopped and snapped a picture.

We then spent the next THREE HOURS lugging our four suitcases, purse, camera bag, and laptop through a maze of undergroud subways as we headed to our hotel. Do you know how fast those doors open and close? Too fast for the amount of luggage we were handling, but Tim pulled it off somehow. They call it the underground because you are hurtling through the bowels of the earth, so for each connection I had to stand with two suitcases at the bottom of the large staircases until Tim carried two to the top, then I'd run up the steps as he ran down to get the other two. People here use the subway ALOT, so we were smashed inside hovering over our luggage - yep, sardines.

We arrived at Elephant and Castle station at 1:30 and could not figure out how to get out of there. They like little stuff over here so our suitcases would not fit through the turnstiles. Someone who must have been in a back room laughing at us on a video screen suddenly emerged with a special key and let us out through a wider gate. Another fine English gentleman took notice of our bugged-out eyes and pointed us in the direction of our hotel, which was about seven blocks away. We walked.

Upon arriving at our hotel we discovered is was everything I thought it would be and nothing that Tim expected. It is set up in one of the old buildings that survived the blitz and whoever built it way back in the 1800s had hobbit people in mind. The room is smaller than anything you could ever imagine, so I won't even try to think of a picture for you. But, there are no mouse droppings and it only costs $150 per night, so we feel like it's a good deal. We have to shift around the room in order to open our suitcase, and I think I drove Tim crazy because I kept forgetting to get things out that I needed before bed. It's located on the third floor, which over here means the fourth floor. To get to it, you have to climb winding, narrow stairs that go up-up-up forever, so poor Tim had to drag all our stuff to the top by himself. I followed behind with just my purse and had to stop halfway up to catch my breath. It didn't matter that I had to stop because Tim was pointing out all the fire hazards and figuring out our escape plan in the event of a fire. Should a blaze occur, we will be climbing out the window in the stairwell on the second floor landing, onto a smallish metal balcony, then jumping over to the building next door - kind of like Jason Bourne does in the first movie. I ageed to do it, but I really didn't mean it.

Hey, we're packed in this room like sardines but we don't mind. We're in ENGLAND and that is really cool. After settling in we were able to take the subway across the Thames to visit Westminster Abbey, gaze at Big Ben, and avoid getting run over by red-double decker buses. We then walked across the way to visit the Churchill War Rooms, St. James Park, the Queen's guards, and a small pub. I ate shepherd's pie with onions in it, and I know you are all very proud of me for being so grown up about it.

We then walked back to our little nest and we're sitting here enjoying the sounds of England as we prepare to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thank you all again for sending us over here. The rest of the blogs will not be as long and wordy, I promise. Tomorrow we are going to the Britain at War Museum, then...... who knows?

Take care my fellow Americans and here's a shout-out to my dearest friend, Laura N. - God bless America and God save the Queen.

Lots of love,
Tim and Lori