London remarks

It seems like I never have a chance to write in my blog anymore! Sad day... I have been so busy this past week with finals I just haven't had a chance to breath! Well, literally yes, but figuratively... no haha. I thought I would reflect on my experience in London with Emma, Lillian, and Chelsea.

We planned the entire trip ourselves- impressive in my opinion because its hard to coordinate traveling, places to stay, and things to do; especially for such a short visit! We left mid-day on Thursday and walked with all of our stuff to the train station. From there we took an hour long train to Pisa. At that point, we had to figure out how to get to the actual airport. We all had thought that at least one of us had been to the Pisa airport by train, but ironically none of us have; Chelsea and Emma had taken buses before that took them directly to the airport. Hmm, joys of traveling... Anyways, we asked around and we were able to figure out a bus that took us to the airport; luckily it was just a quick 5 minute ride. Once we got to the airport we realized that we could have gotten a train that took us directly into the airport... live and learn right? We arrived in plenty of time and there was no lines to check in which was nice. We took Ryan Air which is known as the "budget" airline for European travelers. I have heard stories of their horrible customer service, such as just canceling flights (see Amsterdam entry), instead of delaying due to weather. However, lets just say I was in for a "treat" once I embarked on the aircraft. The take off was very abrupt, and there was constant turbulence. Lillian and I were holding onto each other for half of the flight... no joke. The worst part was the landing... basically it felt like we were crash landing because they zoomed right onto the landing strip with full force. It felt like we were nose diving! All of a sudden- BOOM we landed and it was not subtle at all- everyone screamed. Once we stopped everyone on the flight clapped; that's when you know its bad! Ha Ha. I am just glad to be alive!! Coming back was pretty much the same thing- do they just hire non-experienced pilots? Geez!

Anyways, once we landed we had the lovely task of attempting to find our "flat" that we rented for the weekend. We ended up getting a really good deal for our package- only 16 pounds a night! WOW! That's less expensive than most budget flights! We first took a 75 minute bus into downtown London, and then took the subway to our stop after long research... we asked a few nice people for directions and then we finally arrived at the hotel that gave us our keys around 11:30 PM! We had been traveling since 2:15 that day. We were starving at the point so we quickly got our keys, took a taxi (on the hotel!), and dropped off our stuff at the flat. It was super hot in the flat the entire time we were there- we never were able to figure out how to turn down the heat. It was really nice though! It was equipped with a TV (with English channels of course!) and a kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, and two rooms with bunk beds. We walked around aimlessly trying to find something to eat at around midnight- we ended up going to Subway and Burger King. I was so excited to have Subway! I have missed it for sure. After we ate, we stopped by a local Shell station (who knew those were in London?) picked up some snacks for the next day, and then went to bed.

On Friday we walked over to the hotel that provided us the flat and they helped us plan out our day. We ended up signing up for Chicago and getting tickets for a 48 hour doubledecker bus ride tickets that made a big circle around London. This ended up being a great deal because we were able to get on and off as we pleasured at the various stops. We went to Starbucks (another thing I have missed from the states!) and got onto a bus. We road around on the top even though it was freezing and took lots of pictures. We got off at the shopping district (of course) we went into TopShop (so huge!) and H & M. I ended up getting two nice shirts. The exchange rate is pretty bad though so I didn't really splurge on a lot. Later that day we met up with a few of Emma's friends from Gonzaga that were studying in London for the semester. We caught them at a good time because they were all leaving the next day to come home! We went to this really cute coffee shop that served sandwiches. After our lunch date, we got on the buses again and road it until it got dark (which is pretty early in London). We came across the Big Ben, major parliament buildings, and other various spots. That evening, we got ready for our broad way show, took the subway there, had a few drinks at a local pub and then watched the production! It was fabulous- I really enjoyed it. I always love going to shows... my mom and I went to a bunch of them in New York and we saw Wicked a couple years ago when we went to Chicago.

The next day we knew we had a lot to cram in, so we first went to Starbucks (yum!) and then we saw the place at the subway station from Harry Potter of "Platform 9 and 3/4". I am not a huge Harry Potter fan myself, but I have seen most of the movies and Emma is obsessed with the books so we made sure to go there and take pictures. After our little visit, we went to the Tower Houses which holds the world's largest diamond! I especially loved all the crowns on display with all the jewels and velvet. Too bad it was rainy and windy all day- but what can you expect? Its much like Seattle in that it is known for its rain. My two umbrellas broke that day; that's how windy it was! Good thing we brought rain boots for our trip! After walking around the Tower Houses we took the subway to Buckingham Palace and walked around for a bit. We were pretty hungry again by that point so we had lunch at a pub restaurant. After our late lunch we took the subway (yet again- thank goodness for our cards we got!) and road the London Eye.That was super fun! It was nice to see a view of the whole city- a few of the hot spots were the Parliament buildings/Big Ben and the London Bridge.

That evening we ended up meeting up with one of Chelsea's friends who was studying in London for the semester as well. He took us to one of his favorite restaurants and Lillian and I each got a Coke, and split an order of garlic bread (which is nonexistent in Italy as well- I thought it was an Italian dish?!) and a grilled chicken salad. YUM! Lillian and I were exhausted by that point and we knew we had to get up at 4 AM for our flight the next day, so we said "CIAO" to our friends that were hardcore and partied for a few hours after dinner. Before we departed though, we got some sweet pictures by a classic red telephone booth. You have to do that while in London, right?!

Let's just say the next day was hell-- Like I said we all woke up at 4 am and then took a taxi (because the subways are not open that early) to the Victoria station and then caught a bus that was about an hour and 15 minutes away from the airport.That's another bummer thing about Ryan Air flights; although they are cheap, they take you into the most bizarre and inconvenient airports! This was the main reason why Lillian and I didn't show up for our flight that we booked from Milan to Brussels to go into Amsterdam a few weeks ago- its just plain stupid as my mom likes to put it. We arrived again with plenty of time (go us!) and we made it safely home (regardless of the crazy landing again). The one nice thing about only having a carry-on was not having to deal with the hassle of getting your bag at baggage claim. Oh yeah, that's another thing- Ryan Air will only let you bring one 10 pound carry on without extra charge. Let's just say I was forced to pack light- a very difficult task for me!

Once we got into the airport we took the bus again to the Pisa train station, but for some odd reason our train to Florence was delayed for like an hour so we just chilled outside at the train station for a good long while. At this point we were all tired, cranky, and stressed for finals the next day. I had two to study for once I took a nap- marketing and econ. It was definitely pretty stressful- but hey I got through it right? Finals are over! Woohoo!

I am so happy I made the trip to London even though it was before finals week (not a normal thing for me to do haha). It was my favorite place we visited so far; I loved all the sights and places, and the best part was the English speaking accents! I absolutely love them! I would recommend going to London if you have the chance to visit Europe- its worth it for sure. We were not able to do a few things that I wanted to do like go to Herod's (the world's biggest department store) and Abbey road (Beatles famous spot!).

I am so relieved to be done with finals! Now I can take a breather and just relax... today I did laundry so I am all set for clothes for the Christmas tour. One thing I need is heavy socks because I heard St. Peterburg is especially freezing! We are leaving mid morning on Monday so I have a lot to look forward to!

CIAO!