Trip Blog. Day One and a half/Two.
10:48 GMT; 04:48 CST
I really was not sure whether or not I was going to actually make it, but I am now sitting in the common room of the Antigallican Hotel (which is brilliant, by the way), after a thirteen hour flight and about two and a half hours of transit. I really, really, really want to sleep, but my bed will not be remade until about noon. That's ok because I at least have a place to a) relax, and b) drink some water.
I have rediscovered my impatience with flying and my inability to sleep well (or at all, really) on airplanes, and I am very seriously considering upgrading to business class for the flight back if I have the money, because I completely felt like death (not just normal traveling drained; I was really quite unwell) when I got here and have not fully recovered from the feeling. A lot of it is nerves, I think, but now that I am here, I'm good. Business class has seats that actually recline, of which I am a fan because I really do not want to feel like death when I get home.
Anyway, I got off the plane and through Passport Control in about five minutes, and saw the nice little kiosk to buy my train ticket into London (Gatwick is about twenty-five miles south of London). I rocked up to the guy and asked for a ticket, and he tells me my card is declined. The Hell you say! I briefly panicked before deciding that a) it might just be the credit function or something and b) there's a reason why I packed forty bucks, so it is not like I can't just go to the money changer or something. That turned up to not be an issue because I found a cashpoint downstairs and got out a hundred pounds. So, no worries. Also, the automatic ticket selling kiosk at Victoria Station took my card, so the guy at Gatwick can just...sit there and keep selling tickets to everyone but me, I guess.
At any rate, I got to experience the Tube at rush hour. Apparently, the Circle Line is the most crowded, and me and this very kind businessman were mashed up against the doors ("Mind the Doors, Please") for the duration of my trip, which was fortunately only two stops; I changed to the Jubilee line at Westminster Station and took that to London Bridge station. At that point I moved to the overland line and got off here in Charlton, right across the street from my hotel.
Despite the fact that it is too early for my bed, the desk chick (Eastern European? I was not sure) showed me where my bed is, rented me a locker, gave me a towel and pointed out the common room with its very nice free Interwebs.
I believe that in a bit I shall go have a shower with my unlabeled bath products and nice fluffy towel, and then possibly have a nap. And then I shall Fire Zee Missiles. I perhaps ought to have lunch at some point as well; I did not eat much of the breakfast on the plane on account of my feeling icky at that point. If I do anything touristy today (which I probably will; it's still early), it's going to be Greenwich Observatory. I need to e-mail my friends and tell them I am here. And call my mom at two o'clock.
I really was not sure whether or not I was going to actually make it, but I am now sitting in the common room of the Antigallican Hotel (which is brilliant, by the way), after a thirteen hour flight and about two and a half hours of transit. I really, really, really want to sleep, but my bed will not be remade until about noon. That's ok because I at least have a place to a) relax, and b) drink some water.
I have rediscovered my impatience with flying and my inability to sleep well (or at all, really) on airplanes, and I am very seriously considering upgrading to business class for the flight back if I have the money, because I completely felt like death (not just normal traveling drained; I was really quite unwell) when I got here and have not fully recovered from the feeling. A lot of it is nerves, I think, but now that I am here, I'm good. Business class has seats that actually recline, of which I am a fan because I really do not want to feel like death when I get home.
Anyway, I got off the plane and through Passport Control in about five minutes, and saw the nice little kiosk to buy my train ticket into London (Gatwick is about twenty-five miles south of London). I rocked up to the guy and asked for a ticket, and he tells me my card is declined. The Hell you say! I briefly panicked before deciding that a) it might just be the credit function or something and b) there's a reason why I packed forty bucks, so it is not like I can't just go to the money changer or something. That turned up to not be an issue because I found a cashpoint downstairs and got out a hundred pounds. So, no worries. Also, the automatic ticket selling kiosk at Victoria Station took my card, so the guy at Gatwick can just...sit there and keep selling tickets to everyone but me, I guess.
At any rate, I got to experience the Tube at rush hour. Apparently, the Circle Line is the most crowded, and me and this very kind businessman were mashed up against the doors ("Mind the Doors, Please") for the duration of my trip, which was fortunately only two stops; I changed to the Jubilee line at Westminster Station and took that to London Bridge station. At that point I moved to the overland line and got off here in Charlton, right across the street from my hotel.
Despite the fact that it is too early for my bed, the desk chick (Eastern European? I was not sure) showed me where my bed is, rented me a locker, gave me a towel and pointed out the common room with its very nice free Interwebs.
I believe that in a bit I shall go have a shower with my unlabeled bath products and nice fluffy towel, and then possibly have a nap. And then I shall Fire Zee Missiles. I perhaps ought to have lunch at some point as well; I did not eat much of the breakfast on the plane on account of my feeling icky at that point. If I do anything touristy today (which I probably will; it's still early), it's going to be Greenwich Observatory. I need to e-mail my friends and tell them I am here. And call my mom at two o'clock.
Labels: Trip Blogging
posted by Ivy at 04:49
1 Comments:
yea, i can't sleep on a plane either, and not sleeping for a very long many hour plane ride across ocean is way not fun.
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