London, England- May 1- 3

Wednesday morning (Cali time), my friend Johnny was supposed to fly out of SF. I was supposed to meet him at airport in London on Thursday morning (London time), and then check into our hostel and see some sights in London on our first day.

That didn't happen.

Thursday morning, before I left Amsterdam for London, I checked my email, and Johnny sent me a message that said his flight was delayed and then cancelled, and he wouldn't leave SF until late Wednesday night. After arriving at the London airport, I asked airport info about the flight. I didn't know his full flight number, so I wasn't sure from where exactly he was flying. Airport info said that he would likely be flying in from Boston later that day. That meant I would have to spend a few hours in London by myself. I arrived at the hostel in London, dropped off my things, and then wandered around London for a few hours. Early evening, I headed back to the airport to meet Johnny. At the airport, I checked the monitors and saw that the flight was cancelled.I started to tear up. Now what? I didn't know what to do or what would happen. "Did he get on another flight? Would I have to spend 3 days in London by myself? What city is he in now? What if he never makes it to the UK or Europe? What about all our travel plans? Does this mean…What if…" What made things even more difficult was that Johnny and I could not really contact each other quickly.

I asked info about the flight, and they directed me to the airline's desk. I talked to someone about the cancelled flights, all the while trying not to cry. He said he couldn't give me passenger information, but advised me to come back to the airport early the next morning.I spent the night at the hostel by myself, and then went to the airport the next morning. I checked the monitors and it said that his flight arrived. But that was about a half hour ago. I talked to info and asked if they could page him to meet me. They said that if he didn't show up, that I should talk again to the airline. I waited about 10-15 minutes, wanting to cry more and more with each passing minute.

Then I finally saw him!

I felt super badly for him because he was up for more than 24 hours (barely slept). His flight out of SF was cancelled. Then he got on a later flight to Boston. Then after Boston, his flight was cancelled a second time. Then he had to fly to Chicago before finally arriving to London. We checked into our hostel and rallied and walked around London for a bit.

From my travel journal:

We went to Queen Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace. There was a procession for something, but we didn't really know what was going on. We still took a ton of pictures. And there were even the royal guards in red suits and the funny tall black furry hats marching about (They reminded me of the guards in the Wizard of Oz. ha). Then we walked across the palace driveway (or whatever it's called) and stumbled across Westminster Abbey. We didn't get a chance to go into any cathedrals, museums, or palaces because we wanted to see a lot of stuff (and we didn't really have time, since we missed a day when Johnny's flight was cancelled). Plus, taking a lot of pictures sufficed. Then we saw Big Ben and Parliament. It was sooo sweet and pretty amazing - the massiveness and detail of it all. Then we just hung out at a monument next to Jewel Tower. The weather was okay most of the day. It showered a few times, but wasn't that bad…..I did cartwheels next to Parliament. After Parliament, we crossed the Westminster Bridge…

I wish we experienced nigh life in London. But we were both so exhausted from sightseeing (and Johnny was super jet-lagged and lacked a lot of sleep).

London notes:

-when crossing the street, you have to look right first. And then left.

-London transportation is amazing. -It is so easy to get around. Use the Underground (the Tube) and "Mind the Gap"

-Big Ben and Parliament are crazy/awesome

-there are a lot of bridges in London, but only one "London Bridge" - I think

-There are a lot of phallic-shaped monuments

-I love the English accent. It seems to make everyone so polite. It was even as if someone tried to be rude, their English accent would makeup for it and they would still sound nice.

And then on our last night in London, we had to sleep at the airport, because we had an early flight out the next morning (May 4) to Dublin, and public transportation didn't start early enough for us to make it to the airport on time. I probably slept for a total of like 1 hour. Johnny went to sleep for a few hours. I just couldn't sleep -- especially since the guy on the floor buffer was coming around our area. It seriously felt like I was sleeping right on the platform in the underground with the rumbling of the next coming train. I even dreamt that was sleeping next to a train. People were cleaning the airport all night. At about 5am, wee got up and moved our stuff and waited until the check-in desks opened. We were just sitting, facing the elevators. I had my headphones on, and zoned out every once in a while. I noticed that there was a bucket next to the elevator, with a mom stick wedged between the doors. But I didn't think anything of it. Dozing off to sleep, I heard sounds of a baby crying. I looked around wearily, and saw the mop stick still in the elevator doors. It took me a few moments to realize that the screams were coming from the woman inside the elevator. A few other people noticed about the same time as I did, and we called for help. That was weird.

Check-in desks finally opened. But we had to talk to someone to change Johnny's name on the ticket (because I put the wrong last name when I booked our flights). Then I cried because we couldn't change it, and he had to buy another ticket. We slept on the plane on the way to Dublin…