Gravel In My Tread
excerpts from a travel journal
26 JAN 2017
I find myself currently on a train - a real, above ground, no messing around train - from London's Euston Station en route to Holyhead. Which I think is still England. And also I think it's pronounced "hollyhead". Actually it might be in Wales, but I don't know if that's part of England, Britain, or the UK. I don't really know what the difference is there. This country is very confusing to me. Well, it's simultaneously confusing and extremely familiar - in the sense that London feels like any other heavily populated area, but with fantastically, authentically old architecture. I love the vibrant colored doors on muted and musty buildings.
Today is the third day of our adventure. Originally, well over a year ago, Roxanne, Noah, and I bought tickets for three weeks to and from London. January 24 - February 14. Late last year Roxanne and I split and she dropped out of the trip. Noah was still game. I thought that was great because I was coming here no matter what, but I didn't particularly want to do it alone.
Tuesday, Jan 24 2017 -
So! We woke early on 24 Jan (I know, I'm terribly inconsistent in my dating system. I see the value in both and find myself doing whatever spills out first). We boarded a plane from PDX and flew three hours to Dallas, Ft. Worth. Finding ourselves with three and a half hours to kill, we explored the airport. It was a big airport. Walking the extent of it alone took nearly an hour and a half. We busied ourselves with small talk and smoothie drinking for the remainder.
We finally boarded the two-level plane (a 747? Maybe?) and promptly took off, spending the next 9 or hours in the air. This flight went how you would expect: painfully boringly. WE slept off and on, mostly just occasional nodding dotted with seat adjustments and changing of music or the TV screens built into the back of the seats preceding us. Eventually we landed. We were now eight hours ahead of home, making it about 7AM 25 Jan, or almost exactly 24 hours after our first plane boarded. And now we had a whole day ahead of us that we simply couldn't waste.
I mean, we were in London!
Wednesday, Jan 25 2017 -
We navigated our way, slowly, through the customs line. There is a short form you're expected to have filled out, which we didn't. So we're working on that in line surrounded by hundreds of other people who clearly knew better than we. Now there's a line there on that form that asks for your point of contact while you're in the UK; given that our plans consisted entirely of "fly into and out of London" we did not have an address to offer. We left the field blank. To put it bluntly, the customs agent (who I think is actually referred to as an immigration agent) was not impressed and told us "I can't let you through without an address." We were told to step aside while we figured it out. Well, we figured it out alright! I had Noah Google hotels and we wrote the first one on the list down. Continuing to a different agent, we were passed through quite easily. Take that UK!
We made it out of the US and into the UK. We made it past customs. Now we had to get from the airport (Heathrow) to the city. We took a direct shuttle train. While convenient, I suspect it would've been cheaper and less touristy to have taken the tube. Oh well. As soon as we stepped off the train into Paddington Station, we finally really felt it: We were in London proper. What a magnificent station. High ceilings, tall beamed archways, glass and brick, at least a dozen different tracks. We had really made it somewhere else. Another world. Well. Another continent. Well. Another country.
I got a text from Drew. Drew is my best friend and roommate. He's watching my dog Remus while I' away. The text says "You up?" Yeah. "Where's the card you left behind?" In my nightstand. What's up? "Remus got into sugar-free gum. I have to take him to the hospital."
Now in case you're wondering: yes this really did take away from the incredible moment I was having in Paddington Station. And yes, this is not good news. And yes, everything turned out fine. And yes, that is how I spent more than half my travel budget in the first two hours of my trip.
I don't have loads more to write regarding London, day 1, but the remaining will have to wait. There's quite a view outside and I'm also due for some shut eye.
---
I'm back. Still on the train. We've realized we are on the wrong coach, so we tried to move to the correct one at one of the stops. The stop was so quick we didn't have time to get all the way there though. After taking in the surrounding seats, we decided if we're going to be stuck in the wrong seats we might as well go back to the nice ones. So we did. But there was a man in one of them so we went ahead and just grabbed some new ones. This coach is mostly empty anyway. No one seems to have noticed.
Back to London, yeah? It's 8 or 9 in our second morning of what feels like the same day. We set out blindly into the city and soon find ourselves in a small cafe. I got ham and eggs and chips. This turned out to be two eggs,a couple mostly cold shavings of ham, and what we call French fries. I also got a coffee which was quite nice. Noah ordered a bacon sandwich. This, we found out, was quite literally bacon between two slices of bread. It was served with two slices of toast.
We moved on, completely aimless, wandering through the city. Through Westminster to Kensington Gardens. At least that's what I thought, but I'm looking at a map and that simply cannot be. I don't believe you can be lost should you lack a destination, so let me tell you plainly we were utterly unaware of our location. For most of the day. And likely most of the trip ahead of us.
The street signs are few and far between. They are not on posts but attached to whatever wall is present, affixed to any spot that isn't a door or window. Were we on an itinerary I can only imagine we should find this extremely frustrating. We chose not to mind.
Kensington Gardens is a seemingly vast park filled with trees and dogs and gray squirrels (I don't think they're gray back home, right?) and swans. We meant to continue to Hyde Park but took a wrong turn and promptly lost interest. I suspect this will happen quite often. After several more nondescript hours of walking through city and suburb, we did decide it was nearing time to find a place to hang up for the night, mostly because we really needed to get our bags off our shoulders for a bit. I have a very nice, large hiking bag which is perfect for a trip like this. Lots of space, adjustment straps, waist buckle - the works! I opted for a less imposing bag of canvas in an effort to not play up my role as American Tourist Who Overpacked. In fact, I brought very little and I'm quite proud of it.
We found a pub, the Jam Tree, and settled in at the bar. I asked for something local and he served us two lagers. We toasted to Noah's first legal drink. It was alright. He finished before me.
I think I just saw 200 cats in a field.
What a strange place.
Anyway, utilizing the free WiFi I booked a cheap hotel in Earl's Court and we set off to find it. It took us a while, but that was fine. We checked in and opened the door to find a room the size of three single beds, containing two single beds. There was also a small shower and the most powerful toilet I've ever experienced in my entire life.
We rested for a few and then set out to the London Eye in Westminster, utilizing the tube for the first time. I refused to let myself feel intimidated, so we easily bought tickets for our zone and hopped on a train. Which was going the wrong way. We got off at the first stop and headed the other way. Nailed it.
As soon as you step out of the Underground you are positively dumbstruck with the sight of Big Ben looming over you. It is absolutely beautiful and we were just in time to hear it chime 5PM. We continued across the bridge to the Eye. WE boarded with maybe 20 others who spent the entire time taking quite literally hundreds of selfies and passing off Nikons to get every formation of their families form every vantage point possible. Noah and I enjoyed the view of fog stricken London.
Some things I missed:
- Noah excitedly buying Jaffa Cakes from Tesco Express. He's heard of them a lot online - they're very good.
- When we got tot he hotel we decided to book a trip to Ireland for the following day, in part to see Astronautalis in Dublin
- On our way back from the Eye, Noah bought more Jaffa Cakes. I bought Jammy Dodgers. They are good.
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