London- Day 1: Here I Come!

 

Peeking out of a phonebooth in London

I have dreamed of going to London for the longest time and my dream was finally realized Saturday. After taking a bus, plane, train, and cab I got to my hostel and started my London adventure.

It took a while to get to our hostel but we finally did. Our trip started with a bus to the airport which was easy enough. We then took our Ryan Air flight to London-Gatwick Airport. I didn’t mind flying Ryan Air too much (the flight was only about 50 minutes and we got there 20 minutes early) but the weirdest thing did happen. The flight attendant made an announcement about the new Juicy Couture fragrance and then they wheeled a cart full of perfume down the aisle. Just bizarre.

We got off the plane directly on the tarmac as is the norm for Ryan Air. When we when through customs they didn’t stamp my passport because I came from Ireland which slightly saddened me.Brittany and I then caught the Gatwick Express train to London, which took about 30 minutes. It was very easy and they even brought a refreshment cart through the train reminding me of the Hogwarts Express. Actually, a lot of things in London reminded me of Harry Potter.

We departed the train at Victoria Station in London and the first thing I saw was the marquee for Billy Elliot which was like a dream. We eventually got our bearings a headed in what we thought was the direction of our hostel.

And the wandering began. I don’t want to go into details because I would rather forget the two hours we spent walking around London with our backpacks trying to find the Journey’s London Bridge Hostel. We were having troubles with the map we had and the streets were curvy and two hours later we ended up at the hostel after taking a black cab. The black cab was really fun though and when we told the cabbie where we wanted to go he got confused so it made Brittany, our navigator, feel a little better.

Black cabs

We get dropped off at the hostel and I don’t really know what to expect from a hostel. So we walk in and check in. They ask me to pay the bill for my room and maybe it was the wandering, maybe the fatigue, but I could not decipher any other the British coins. I eventually just asked the hostel worker to tell me how to pay.

So we walk up to the room, open the door and I see five three-level bunk beds. I am freaked out because the only light is the light from the hallway and in the darkness it looks scary. And scary just means “unusual to a sheltered upper-middle class suburban girl.” So I told Brittany that I needed to go downstairs and take a deep breath and brace myself for sleeping in a room with 14 other people. We sat on the couch enough for me to pull myself together and then headed back up to our top bunks in room 102.

Bunks in hostel

Hostel bar

For the record, after the initial shock I liked the hostel. It was clean and the staff was really nice. Also, they had a bar attached which served pizza and snacks which came in handy. Free breakfast of toast and cereal was a good start to the day and everything worked out.

Adventures Continue with London-Day 2.