I'm so frustrated with blogger! After painfully typing out a long first post, it mysteriously deleted all of t when I added photos at the end. So here is my second try.
Firstly- please excuse any grammatical e errors that you may find in this entry, or any other entry in the future. Those of you with an iPhone know that sometimes autocorrect has a mind of its own, And after typing a few paragraphs on an iPhone your thumbs start getting a bit lazy, resulting in strange sentence structures and misplaced words.
Also, I've realized that updating this blog maybe be a bit more challenging than I initially expected- Using an iPhone, having Internet randomly, etc. So I've decided that this blog will probably be more photo heavy than I planned. At least this way ill have my travels documented, even I I don't have the time or resources to write a long entry.
First stop London for a 9 hour layover. My flight to London was great. I had a whole row to myself, and the plane was quiet and empty with no turbulence other than a teenage Irish couple having a lovers spat up and down the aisle of the plane.
I arrived in London feeling fairly rested, but still a bit groggy. I took the Hethrow Express to Padington Station and was greeted by two familiar faces, Charlie man and Tal. It was so great to see them after having traveled for 13 hours already. We went to the Prince Alfred pub in Maida Vale where Talia had made a reservation.
The pub itself is super unique and one my my favorite I've been to in London! It's a medium sized pub with a restaurant attached. It dates back a couple hundred years when pubs used to be sectioned off to divide patrons by gender and class. We had a whole section reserved for us, complete with posters of James Dean (how did they know that he's my old school cool crush?!) with "Curtis" written on it.
The first to join us were Ajda and Camilla! Then KJ and TJ, followed by the Watfkrss. It's funny because I had people ask me if I was nervous to travel with a friend who I haven't spent much time with in the last few years since leaving Rome. But that's the thing about great friends- no matter how much time you've spent apart, it never feels forced or phony.
After a pint of Fosters, a Ginger Beer, and a meat pie, I was spent and pretty out of t. It felt like I was sort of in a dream world. So I got my last cuddles in with my little man and got a private car to pick us up. For those who are curious, it was a lot cheaper to split a private car from Maida Vale to Hethrow than it would have been to both take the Hethrow Express. The car ride took an hour and was set at a flat rate of £26. From Paddington the fast train takes 15minutes And costs £18 per person.. Adding in the time it would take to get to paddington, buy tickets, etc... I think taking the car was the best call.
Saying our goodbyes was bittersweet, as goodbyes often are.
We arrived at Terminal 4, which I would later learn was a foreshadowing of what was to come. The first thing I noticed was we were two of a small handful of Caucasian women in a terminal STUFFED with people. It seems terminal 4 is dedicated to the more "exotic" (if you will) flights. Most of the airlines belonged, and were headed to, various Middle Eastern and African countries. After over an hour of insanity Ajda was finally checked in and we were through security with only 15 minutes to spare before boarding.
Boarding began with, "Final call for Jet Airways flight to Mumbai." This was another example of fine foreshadowing by Terminal 4.
More to come in next entry.
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