Final Days In London Part 2/2

......I woke up with a bit of grossness but not a horrifying amount.

Shopping was on our morning radar. Clothes, makeup and candy. That's what we wanted. That's what we bought. Phewwww

We picked up the rest of my luggage from my cousin's flat and then we headed back to the hostel where we dropped my two heavy bags (suddenly I had a multitude of wardrobe choices! YAHOO!) and then we got ready for the Saint Raymond concert at the London Scala.

I wanted Annie to try out my other favorite Italian Restaurant in South Kensington called Rocca di Poppa. IT IS AMAZING. When my parents visited me we went there and we were drooling over everything. So I took Annie there, except she didn't fully enjoy it because she wanted to get to the gig, I reassured her there would be two openers and he wouldn't be on till 9pm. She couldn't enjoy the meal or wine fully, but she still liked it. GIG TIME!

Saint Raymond did fantastic as always, and the gig was sold out too so that was ultra awesome (and yes I just said ultra). I felt a bit melancholy after the gig though because it was my last night in London. My whirlwind experience was going to come to a close.

As we walked home I spotted a pub that was still open. We ducked inside and I asked the man if they were still serving, he replied with a laugh and said "yes of course, but you only have about 20 min till we close the bar." Two ciders for us! Was my reply, we ordered, sat down at a very low table and I just looked around at everything British. Sigh. I knew I was going to miss everything about my life in London.

Afterwards, with bellies full of cider, ears ringing from the gig and smiles on our faces, we made it back to our room. Luckily our roommates were not back yet which allowed us to have our suitcases explode all over the room so we could fully repack our clothing. I face-timed my mom as I packed, feeling glum over the fact that I was leaving the next day. I was excited to see my parents and my sister and my cats but I really didn't want to leave. I think I cried a few times that night.

The next morning we awoke with the harsh reality that we were headed to the airport that morning, but more importably how the heck were we going to haul 3 suitcases and 1 duffel bag around the city and onto the tube....eeeewwww. I just told my sister to nix that plan and I would pay for a taxi for us to get to Paddington station. There was no way I was going to deal with that. Nope.

The taxi driver dropped us off, I handed over the last of my cash, we grabbed a trolley and off we went! TO THE ELEVATOR BECAUSE STAIRS WOULD BE STUPID.

Once inside the station I pretended I was going to hogwarts. My suitcase was where Hedwig would have sat, and I just continued to ask in a british accent "Could you tell me how to get on to the platform?" It was a jolly good time...for me at least.

We ran up the Heathrow Express window, forked over some more of my precious and rare money by swiping my card. Then the two of us booked it over to the train because it was leaving in 3 min....SHOOT. I didn't even have time to grab my pound coin out of the trolley because the train doors were shutting and they were blowing the whistle and suddenly I was covered in sweat.

Once inside, we sat with our 12 pieces of luggage and I looked out the window like a sad puppy dog. I think I shed a few tears. And then looked at all the men on the train with their suits, briefcases, and POINTY SHOES. Oh how I knew I would miss those perks of British life.

Arrived at the airport, dropped our things at the ticket and baggage counter, and then a man with a deep voice said something and we turned around to see Antonio! No, he didn't surprise us, we knew he was going to see us off at the airport but it was sure nice to see a familiar face.

This next part I am about to share with you is the best part ever......

SOOOOO mostly the reason Antonio wanted to see us off at the airport was because he wanted to play on these pods that they have at Heathrow. Annie and I had no idea what he meant, but we could tell he was very excited by the amount he was practically skipping through the airport. He took us over to the parking lot where these weirdly shaped vehicles were parked. These were the pods. COOLEST AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION (besides airplanes) everrrr!! They are robotic and take you from one parking lot to another....yes we were abusing the pods purpose because we were just playing with them, but hey what else are you supposed to do when you have two hours to spare.

We had to get off the pod at parking lot B, which then we waited around because there were business people needing the pods so we pretended we parked our car over in Parking lot B and then stood around waiting for the next pod.

The next pod arrived and Antonio was like a little child at Disneyland in the pod. He kept bouncing from one seat to the next, peering through the windows looking at all the planes and hoping to spot the Concorde. It.was.hilarious.

After getting to the next parking lot, switching pods and laughing the whole way back to the airport, we arrived back to our gate and decided to get some food and one last cider for this one(me). I enjoyed that last hour and looked at the departing flights many times trying to figure out how to "accidentally" miss my flight home.....

When food was over, and many conversations had been had, Annie and I had to say our goodbyes to Antonio. With sadness in both our eyes walked rather glumly and sluggish-like to our gate. Boarded the plane (as you do at an airport). I sat down looking out the plane at the last bits of England I could feast my eyes upon. I even envied the men who were loading the luggage on to the plane. And thought many times how I would dramatically run off the plane. Would it be by opening the emergency door? Would I just grab my stuff and run down the aisle of the plane through the door, up the walkway, and back into the airport? Hmmm...

I did none of that. I just sat there. Listening to the british accents surrounding me, cringing at the american accents and reminding myself I would be back in London in due time.

The plane eventually took off. I kept my window open, wiped some of my tears, and watched as England slipped behind the clouds.


........9.5 sleepless hours later....I was reunited with my best friend....