And then there were six

On day 2 one of the girl's bf flew into London to meet us. So of course she went to get him at the airport and the rest of us went in to town to get started on all the touristy must-do things. We get off of the tube in Victoria park and of course not knowing British history all that well I didn't know who they were or their relevance but I took on the typical American tourist duty and snapped a picture of everything because I wanted to be able to say I saw it and have proof...even if I had no idea what it was, I was there. Lol pretty ridiculous. The weather was cold and a little wet but I still was enjoying taking in the scenery.

Some of the group members wanted to rent bikes to ride through town but I didn't want to get on wet bikes and ride through crowds of people and across traffic that I still couldn't predict. So yeah...I'm sure I was the wet blanket..but I digress.

We walked forever. I'd bought these new boots for the rainy weather. Turns out they aren't the best walking shoes, but I still ended up wearing them every day because I just couldn't have my raggedy tennis shoes on in all my London/Paris trip pics. I'm not sure distance wise but we definitely saw all the iconic buildings in London.

Parliament is gold.

I was kinda mesmerized by it. I've never seen a full on gold building before. The Thames was...well a river. But its always nice to be on the river front looking across at the view. So that was pretty cool. About the time that we got to the Thames is when we realized that we hadn't seen the palace....or so we thought. Turns out we passed the palace and even took pictures near it not realizing where we were.











That was actually pretty sad. But I'm almost positive that I have a corner of it in the background of a few of my pics. We then went on a search to reconnect with our fellow cg and her bf which was a bit of a hassle because we had to find WiFi to send them messages but we didn't know if they received it because they'd have to be near WiFi too. So it turned into a lot of sitting in one place waiting for responses which of course is draining. When you're in another country and just want to explore sitting around for hours trying to catch up with each other isn't the most fun way to pass the time. Idk how civilizations existed before smart phones WiFi and data packages. I don't. After awhile we just continued shopping near Bond St i believe and had a good time. There was a shoe carnival with tons of designers  and free snacks on the various levels. And eventually we did meet up with the others in a gigantic clothing/everything store called Primark. We all got lost in there and found each other. It must have been God because it was so jam packed it was hard to find anything in there.

After that we wandered around looking for good food. Six people with different six opinions about what they had a taste for wasn't easy but we eventually went with tapas and everything was very tasty. Or we were just starving idk but it was a good night. Then it was back to the tube and we ended our night at Costas. Another good day.

Day 1

So my first interaction with a Brit obviously was the customs officer. He asked the standard questions about the purpose of the trip and then he goes to stamp my passport and I let out a delighted high pitched squeaky "yaaay!!" And laughed because I knew I was being a complete dork. The guy laughed at me and said to his coworker "Americans are always so jolly when they get stamped," the other customs officer agreed that it is indeed only Americans that get excited. Jaz, Kenyetta and I were all laughing because its true. I told him the world would be a happier place if we all got stickers and stamps all the time. Which is 100% true. Lol.

When we finally get out of the airport we were SOOO ready to experience London and all its dreary drizzly weather goodness. This chic (me) left her coat in the very warm San Antonio house but thankfully Gerald had multiple coats and let me borrow one for the whole trip. So we leave our stuff at the Travelodge and ask the lady at the hotel desk how to get to the bus so we can get to the tube. I swear she says something along the lines of "You're gonna go right then left then at the petr' zebra crossing take a right through the street and the bus is there" Lol or at least that is what I heard. Lauren asked for her to repeat herself and..um...I still didn't get it but I assumed someone did. The lady did realize that we didn't understand Petr' and clarified  gas station (petrol) and on our way out we asked for an extra comforter to be put in the room for us. The pure shock and confusion on her face was funny and we said blanket to clarify. Apparently comforter in England literally means a person to comfort you and she was confused as to why we needed that in our room and why we'd expect the hotel to provide it. Lmbo. It was crazy the language barrier when we all were speaking English.

So when we got outside we realized that no one understood her directions but no one wanted to ask her to clarify a third time. Politeness will be our downfall it seems Lol. So we tried to piece bits of info together and we did get to our bus rather quickly without getting lost. Btw we were basically right next door to the gas station and the "zebra crossing" was the cross walk that led us to an alley that we walked up to get to the main street. The bus was this short red double decker bus. I couldn't look out the window for the first few rides because between the extremely narrow roads and everyone driving on the left side of the road instead of the right I would always misjudge vehicle travel direction and felt like I was gonna get hit.

Then we get to the tube station and it was similar to the metro or subway which I usually enjoy. The best part as I mentioned before was the "please mind the gap" phrase on repeat. By the end of the trip Jaz and I both wanted random souvenirs that had the phrase...however due to our chronic frugality we ended up deciding we didn't need to buy something to remind us of that hilarious phrase in that delightful accent.

So when we go off the tube we were on the extremely beautiful Regeant St. I mean gorgeous. I love architecture. Everything was so much different than anything I see in the states and I had to take pictures of everything everywhere. I mean simple shops looked that much more fancy and special because the building it was in was superb. We stopped at this lounge called Strawberry Moon. I think. It was nice and small and cheap but good quality food and drinks. Great mix of music. We sat in a reserved seating area because there were no tables and "Tanya" who had reserved the tables wasn't there. I know that's terrible. Bad Americans! But to our defense, a British party of 4 or 5 had the same idea and they were in the reserved area with us. Good times.

And. They. Had. WiFi. Praise Jesus.

Seriously. It is so difficult to be without the convenience of the data plan. Since it is incredibly expensive to use it in other countries if you don't have an international plan we all were without and only could use our phones where WiFi was available. I won't lie there were moments during the trip when we weren't talking to each other because we had to update social media. But we had to take advantage of WiFi when we had it. Sad but true. I'll admit it.

Afterwards, we continued walking up and down Regeant St. 

It was still drizzling but well worth every second soaking up the London experience. The red superman telephone booths and our overall tomfoolery made the day end in a positive.

And we managed to make it back to the hotel without getting lost. I'd definitely call it a good day.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

I'm actually not sure where to begin. London was beautiful. I love the architecture I love the busyness of it. I felt like I fit right in, almost like I'd been there before. I think I could live there honestly. The few hours we spent in Paris was so much fun, but we needed more days to do it the right way. The Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, and the Louvre was all crammed into twelve hours of good times. We detoured unexpectedly through Boulogne, France which was amazing. And overall the trip was great.
How. Ever.

The transportation issues were so ridiculous! On the way to London. Yetta Jaz and I nearly missed the plane because our layover wasn't really long enough for the size of O'Hare airport. We have to wait for our plane side checked luggage, the shuttle that's late, and literally run through the airport. When we arrive to the gate they are doing their last calls and are at the end of the list. Luckily, Yetta and I are at the end of the alphabet so we caught our names. I know the stand by people were so mad that we got there at the 11th hour. But indeed we made it.

On the plane one of the flight attendants (FA) was so rude. Every time Jaz asked for anything this lady would take forever or have an attitude. And that flight is waaay too long to have to deal with rude staff. Luckily, the FA on my side was extremely nice and helpful. Of course the guy seated in front of me had his seat all the way in my lap. And the person on the right of Jaz was a grumpy old guy who obviously had no love in his life. Very cramped and very, VERY long. But what's a few (many) hours of sleep in an upright seated uncomfortable position in order to experience a new city with old friends? Small sacrifice. Another small sacrifice that I will have to do next time is upgrade to first class or business class. Mama likes her personal space more than holding onto a few pennies.

So we get to London. Yay London! But all the novelty starts to wear off as we wait to go through customs. I'm starting to understand the brilliance of customs. People are excited to be somewhere new where no one knows them and they can do anything they want. This leads to tomfoolery of the highest order. In order to check it, make them wait in an hour and a half long line with their luggage. In the heat. And throw a sign up that says £200 fine for misuse (whatever that means). The sentiment quickly changes to please God let me get to fresh air outside of this airport. And one is transformed from highly excited fool to surviver.

After, making it out of customs we wait for Lauren to meet us and Gerald plane to arrive. Which of course is late. But eventually we make it out of the airport and into the city. Yes! After of course many random pics to document the CG reunion. But I digress.

Note: never ever skimp on hotels or transportation when traveling. The hotel wasn't bad. Just basic. One bed. One couch. 3 pillows, 2 towels. Mind you, 4 people. But we all went to college. We can make it work. Sneak extra towels pillows comforters etc. And we were right by Costas which is similar to Starbucks and therefore awesome. And they had WiFi so we were able to talk to friends and loved ones online so that worked out well. The only bad thing is that the hotel was so far away from city centre that it costs a minimum £6 each way just to get to where all the action was. Next time, I'll just spend the money to stay in the city and spend more time enjoying it instead of traveling to and from.

One mode of transportation that I didn't mind though was the tube. "Please mind the gap." This was the phrase we heard countless times as the gap between the train and the platform varied from 1-6 inches at different stops. But not only was it a horizontal distance gap but some times a vertical one as well. 667 gap related injuries per year. I was very amused. But I like trains/metros/subways anyways so I didn't mind riding it at all. (Although I always minded the gap! Can't be a casualty in a foreign country!) 

Next major mode of transportation was the Megabus ride into Paris. *Sigh* I'm exhausted even thinking about writing about it. I will have to give you the cliff notes because I. Just. Can't. So we started driving about 15-20 min late because of a printer? Issue. Anyways we go about 1.5 hours when we hit traffic. And by hit traffic I mean literally sit in traffic for 9 hours without moving more than 10 yards. If that. Then we have to go through customs. The ferry. Back on the bus. Wait for a new driver. Drive to Boulogne. Get dropped off at the train station. Trains not running. Get put in a hotel. Drive to Paris the next day. So a 9 hour trip to Paris took a day and a half leaving us with a half a day in Paris before going back on the bus back to London through French and British customs and finally back to London.

Then a 2 hour delay caused me and Jaz to miss our connected flights and stay the night in Chicago. Then we finally home the next day after more plane delays for Jaz. I had to super cliff notes it because this post was entirely too long. I will go back and fill in the details. And add in all the fun. I promise. And it won't take me another three weeks to do so Lol.