UK travels!

It has been nearly a week since I left South Africa and it's been hard to think about the fact that I won't be returning anytime soon. Luckily, I have 9 beautiful classmates whom I can also call my best friends that are abroad as well, and I got to see 8 of them this week!

I flew out of Cape Town Monday afternoon. It was quite a process just making it to the airport! Let me backtrack to Sunday... Since for some unknown reason there is no train that travels to the Cape Town airport, my plan was to rent a car that would take us to the DMB concert and then to the airport the next day. Everything was set, but then when Rachel and Damon went to pick up the car, there were issues with licenses and passports, etc. So Emmi and I rode the train to GrandWest and they got a ride from the car rental company since they felt bad about all the trouble. The concert was amazing! Dave is so incredible live, and his opening act was really good too. It was a little awkward because I'm use to concerts where everyone stands up and dances but there was only a small standing section in front of the stage and the rest was seating where no one ever stood up. That's where we were sitting. And the majority of the crowd was older than 30, which was really strange for a Dave concert. That night we took a taxi home, driven by a cool older woman who told us all kinds of stories about being a woman driving a taxi through that area.

The next day we were scrambling to find a ride to the airport. Most shuttles were booked except one, which was one I didn't want to even try calling because it looked expensive. We chose Bettina Shuttles and I got an affordable ride in a Mercedes nonetheless. The driver was the owner of the company and he was such a nice guy! As sad as I was about leaving, he definitely helped lift the spirirt of the ride.

To spare you all the boring airport details, I left Cape Town in the afternoon, had a stopover in Dubai, and arrived at London Heathrow at 7am Tuesday morning. The first step was getting through customs. I had no worries at all because I was only going to be there for a few days and already had a return ticket. But then I walked up to the counter and the woman starting asking me questions. I had always assumed that when they ask how much money you have they are looking for an amount that isn't too big, so I said "oh, only about $50." The woman raised her eyebrows at me. She asked if I could get more money, and I said of course, that my mom was sending me some that day. She then told me that she couldn't let me into the country because I couldn't live and eat off that amount of money. She started asking me all kinds of questions about my family and where they work and what I'm doing in London, etc. I showed her my return itinerary as she requested and as I leaned over to put my papers back in my suitcase I heard her stamp my passport. Whew! What a rough start. With that over, I made my way to arrivals and baggage claim, where I sat for a moment to get wifi. That's when I saw a message from Bethany, one of my friends that was meeting me at the airport, saying the plan was to meet me at 8, but to wait until at least 9 and then get a cab to their flat. I looked at my watch and it was already almost 8:30 and I didn't want them to miss me so I booked it to the arrivals area. I looked all over and started to panic just a bit because I wasn't sure where to find them or how to take the tube or how much a taxi cost. I waited a while in the main area then went to sit at the meeting point. After about 10 minutes I heard someone say my name and looked up to see Morgan. I cannot tell you how relieved I was!

After a quick breakfast we took the tube to Russell Square and then walked to their flat, where they all live, plus one extra person. It was pretty early so it took about an hour for everyone to wake up and make their way into the living room. I've never answered the question "how was you flight?" so many times in a row! We caught up on our adventures abroad, then went out in the city. We walked through the Christmas market and to Piccadilly circus. I got to see the Odeon theatre where the premieres are and a lot of the shops in the city. Later that evening we ate at the flat and then went out to Roxy. I was ready for bed by 11 or midnight because I was so tired from flying!

The next day we took a little long getting ready but hopped on the tube and off and Westminster, where I saw Big Ben and the Eye. Ten minutes later we were back on the tube heading home and then I only had a few minutes to gather my suitcases.

Unfortunately, Wednesday and Thursday the Piccadilly line of the tube was down because of a strike so I had to take a cab to a bus stop and then the easyBus to Gatwick airport. I gave myself plenty of time; since the stop was only 6 minutes away and I had to be there at 2pm I took a cab at 1:30. I wasn't worried about time because if  you miss the easyBus the next comes 10-20 minutes later and within the first hour there's no extra charge. Traffic was pretty bad so it turned 2pm as we were only half way there. I got to see the lion statues and blue rooster in the middle of the city, and even Buckingham Palace which I was super excited about! When my driver stopped, he pulled into a gate and asked me to open in it, so I knew we were at the wrong place. The website said Earls Court/West Brompton station so we accidentally put Earls Court station. Luckily the stop was only a mile from there but he charged me 7 extra pounds. That was probably my fault but I didn't have time to ask for change. We drove past a bunch of people with suitcases and kept going, then he asked where it was. Luckily, all those people were at my stop. I got out and raced across the street to make the bus that had just pulled up, but since I was 11 minutes late all the 2:10 people got on before me and it was packed. Good thing I didn't take that one, because I looked across the street and noticed my wallet lying in the road from where I had gotten out of the cab. I watched 2 more buses drive up, fill up, and leave again. The next bus wouldn't come til after 3 so I thought I'd have to pay. I asked a nice guy from Australia to watch my bags while I ran to an atm. I ran all over the place then finally found a local bank's atm. About 5 minutes after I got back a bus pulled up and the driver let me on because I was running so late, and he didn't charge me! The ride to the airport was so stressful because I needed time to store my big bag, get through security, and make it to my gate in about 45 minutes. After rushing and sweating, I made it to the departure board, only to find out I had  to wait 10 more minutes before they even announced my gate.

The flight was smooth and I made it to Edinburgh around 7. I had to wait a few minutes at the airport for Katie, but I was so excited to see her once she got there. We took the bus into town and walked a bit to her flat. I was starving so we went to the Golf Tavern next door and had dinner with a few of her friends. The pub was really awesome and very authenticly Scottish-pub looking.

The next day we visited the castle and walked the Royal Mile and Greyfriar's Cemetary, where the original Tom Riddle from Harry Potter is buried. Later we went to see Catching Fire that evening at the filmhouse.

The view from Katie's window

Friday Katie showed me Princes Street, where all the main shopping is. I was really surprised at how small-town Edinburgh felt, yet there were people everywhere. We stopped for tea at a spot above the street. That evening we went to see the play "A Christmas Carol." It was held at the Lyceum Theater, which is really beautiful inside. The play was incredible! I was a little nervous at first since I've seen the story what feels like a hundred times, but this one was very creatively-done. At the end, snow fell on stage and then the cast picked it up and threw it on the audience, and then snow started falling from the ceiling as well! After the applause, the older woman sitting next to me said sorry about something and she was very excited and teary. It wasn't until after I had reached for my jacket that I heard her husband say to the people behind us that Tiny Tim was their grandson. I talked to them for a few minutes while the theater cleared out and she told me all about him and how proud they were, which was so awesome to hear.

Saturday we slept in a little late because it was so cold but then made our way to the Christmas market and gardens. On our walk to Princes Street the day before, I noticed a statue of a woman and child with flowers laid at their feet. Neither of us knew what it was for and we didn't stop to take a look, but that day on our way to the market, I decided to look because there were even more flowers on it. As I got closer I saw a familiar green scarf with the words "South Africa" on it. It turns out the statue was in commemoration of the anti-apartheid movement, so people had placed flowers on it because of Mandela's death. Looking over the amount of items placed there, from pictures to flowers and South African items, I started tearing up. Considering that I had just been there and I was so far away, not expecting to see much about him in the UK, I was shocked and proud at the same time.

After snapping a few shots, we walked on to the Christmas market, through the gardens. There were some really cool vendors, like a woman who made necklaces and other jewelry out of clocks and recycled gears, another booth with spoon and fork jewelry, paintings of the city, wooden carvings, etc. We ate dinner at the Tavern again and then I went to bed around 10. I was surprsingly really awake when I had to get up at 3 a.m. to catch the bus to the airport. It was cool to see the city at night and be so awake for it all. My ride only took about 20 minutes so I was very early at the airport, where I typed  the first half of this message.

More flowers for Mandela 

My flight from Scotland back to London was a little rough. I had an entire row to myself so I tried to sleep a bit, but I woke up because I had to pee. Just as I opened my eyes, the guy one row ahead on the opposite side of the plane was handing a full barf bag to the flight attendant. So, of course, I started to feel every little bump of the plane even though I hadn't felt any of it before. I tried to go back to sleep but was too nervous that someone near me would get sick again. Luckily, I was sitting next to the window and started watching the landscape below and the sunrise over the horizon. I eventually fell asleep for a few minutes before we landed.

My last mission before my final flight was to pick up my big suitcase that I had stored, change my carry-on items into a duffel in that huge bag, and make it to the South terminal in time to check my bags and go through security. In my head, I thought this would take a lot of time so I rushed out of the plane to the airport. However, retreiving my bag and changing them out only took a total of maybe 15 minutes, and then I found out there was a train between the terminals, which only took about 1 minute. At the South terminal, there was no line to check my bags so I was ready to go by about 8:45 a.m. My gate wouldn't even be announced until 10 a.m. but I figured I should go ahead through security to the gate area just to be safe, because there would be food there, right? Nope. I passed all the restaurants and went through to security, where I had to chug half a bottle of water because I forgot to dump it out, and I was in the departures area by 9 a.m. I walked all the way to the end and found a Costa and a snack stand, so my breakfast consisted of a blueberry muffin, orange juice, and Haribo goldbears. When my gate was finally announced, it ended up being the one right next to Costa so I was the first one there. They had to check my bag and pat me down since the flight was going to the U.S. I waited as the room filled up and then finally it was time to board my 9-hour flight back to America!