Learning to Fly

I started out, down a dirty or rather rainy road. Woke up at 4:30, stressed about the weight limit on the bags, repacked, and then ended up hitting the road at 6:30am. Got into SeaTac round 2pm, and then the waiting began and to quote Tom Petty yet again, the waiting is the hardest part. Luckily flying British Airways offers a score of movies to choose from, including, and I am not kidding, True Grit, The King’s Speech, Black Swan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and 127 Hours. Unfortunately, for me, I don’t sleep on planes pretty much at all, so upon landing in London and I got a grand total of 2 hours of sleep! I suppose I’ll sleep when I’m dead. The plane was delayed in the air so it forced us to fly around in circles for a while, including circling round London. There was a point during this that the plane broke through the low lying clouds and reviled London beneath us. As a looked down at the city I hadn’t seen in 2 years, my heart started racing, my face into a permanent smile and then…tears! I didn’t realize I would get so emotional at the thought of London sort of saying “Hello again Makenzie, we’ve missed you too” through the clouds. I was back and I couldn’t really believe it.

After checking in to our hostel (the YHA Earl’s Court, nice and had very friendly staff) we went to meet up with some friends who we thought were meeting us at the Prince Albert Memorial but instead we bumped into on the road there. So luck found us and we had lunch at the infamous Nando’s, the restaurant of legend and the tastiness only known of by me, the last London group and any 20 something who lives near one. Then I decided to take them to the one place that was breathtaking, albeit slightly touristy. We got on the tube and went straight for Westminster, took the “Houses of Parliament” exit, and, boom. There it was. The first major piece of quintessential London was The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben residing over it. If you have never been to London before I recommend doing this route, it is really more than words can say the first time you see it.  My friend Brittany did a slight shriek of excitement and then we proceeded to walk the area around both the houses and the Abbey, taking pictures and letting the historic and majestic landmarks sink in. We were now in London. It doesn’t get any better.

Westminster Abbey

This morning after waking up at the dreadful time of 5am, I went for a walk with one of my friends around Earl’s Court. Stopped off at, of course, Starbucks for the mandatory drink of the Gods and just meandered until 7:30 when we checked out of the YHA and got to the official lodgings for the trip. 7 Brechin Place SW7 is a brick building and doesn’t particularly stand out from the other brick buildings surrounding it. But I have a room with a view, and it’s worth any decidedly average looking building any day.

Through 9 hour plus flights and over 24 hours of sleep deprivation, we have all arrived. Who knows what the next two months have in store!

Tommorw, 2^nd April 2011: Derek Jacobi in King Lear