ENGLAND. UK Trip 2017

HELLO. ANYONE.

No I did not die. I just forgot how to type and tell stories. But I am back...for now.

I recently returned from a trip to England and thought I probably most definitely should blog about it because when I am old and full of mold, I will want to remember something bright and cheery. So here we go.....starting with day ONE, travel day.

My sister, my parents and myself found ridiculously cheap tickets through Norwegian Air and bought round trip tickets to England for less than $500 dollars a piece. Dream come true? Yes. Booked the tickets back in May and on the daily I would crack a weird smile, my eye would water (left or right you take your pick), or I would simply clap and sigh. I LOVE ENGLAND. And I could not wait to be back on that blessed soil.

The morning of September 24th, a Sunday, a rushed and anxious/excited day, my sister and I awoke to sheer bliss and second thoughts about what we had packed. I think I loaded and unloaded items several times and then quadruple checked my luggage for my passport and debit card. I had it all ready to go, we just had to wait for our parents to arrive and it would be LONDON TIME...in 10-13 hours.

Our parents arrived with our sister and brother-in-law in tow, as they were driving us to the airport. I could not believe how quickly the day had gone by, and the drive to airport felt rather uneventful, like there was no way I was heading to my favorite place. This. was. a. dream. surely.

Once through security, we headed to the gate which was at the VERY end of the airport, took about 8 years to get there, but we made it. I was sweating under my button down, sweater, and leather jacket combo, but it would not defeat my mood, because England. Once we found a seat, the family across from us began talking and out came a british accent from their mouths, and then the couple behind us were british and I nearly collapsed because ENGLAND.

Twelve hours later (actually 2), it was our turn to board the ship of dreams. Our dad had very lovingly upgraded my sister and mine's seats to premium which was the first time I would ever be sitting in a fancy seat with a football field length of leg room, a fancy pop-up tv from the arm rest, AND blankets. WHAT EVEN. Also, the head space was insane. I was sat next to a very wonderful husband and wife and the wife talked to me for a bunch of the journey. I was ecstatic. The flight took forever, as it does when you are excited. But those seats were GLORIOUS.

We landed and I almost wet myself because I was legit HOME. We hopped off the plane, made it through customs, and then we had to get into London. So after panicking and feeling completely out of sorts, we found the ticket area, bought tickets, got on a train and into london we went. Mind you we were getting close to hitting 24 hours with out sleep. So delirium was about to be inevitable.

Once we arrived at King's Cross, we caught a cab to take us to our friend's flat. It was a long journey of me trying to orient myself to places and where in the world we were in London. I figured it out. PhEW.

Dropped our stuff at our friend's place, rested for 2 seconds. My mom made tea, HALLELUJAH. I got in contact with our cousin from norway who was studying in London to see where to meet up with her, and we decided upon St. Paul's cathedral. We headed out (this is where the delirium begins) and caught the tube. Now, it had been 3 years since I last took the underground, so my skills were rusty, but not completely broken. I forgot how fast people move about in london so I did feel like a squirrel crossing the road trying not to get hit or die...but we managed. Speaking of road crossings....uhhhhhh totally forgot which way to look. So here's a trick from me to you, just gage people's head turns from a ways away. That's what I do until I remember which way to look on my own. Anyways. We found our cousin, our parents toured St. Paul's while we walked around London with our cousin. I felt slightly loopy, so I felt like I wasn't actually in London...which made me act like a loon.

After a few hours of walking, and talking. Our parents finished their tour, we got some "lunch" with our cousin and then we parted ways with her. We had a lot of sight seeing to do, and had to get to a specific pub that our mom wanted to eat at in the financial district. NEVER FELT MORE LIKE A TOURIST THAN IN THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT. But also...MEN IN SUITS EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE. It was a dream come true.

We went into the coolest pub, it used to be an old bank so imagine the hardware and layout people. GORGEOUS. The server came to our table since we obviously looked out of place. But he was the nicest person and helped us out massively, he even joked with us which was great. Then the news came on tv and my sister saw the thing about the threat from Korea to America and that was the end of positive peppy sister. But to be fair, we were all beginning to drag.

We left the pub after devouring fish'n chips, steak, and something else (I forget). We decided to call it a day (as it was now nearly 7 PM) and we headed back to the flat. We stopped off at the store to grab food for the breakfast the next day, and obviously to buy much needed digestives. We all crashed that night around 8 or 9 pm. But it was a glorius return to England.