While I was waiting, I ran into my best friend Maddie's cousins Georgie and Fiona, and Fiona's parents. They were on my same flight en route to Spain. Small world. Anyway, I had a minor heart attack when the British Airways man told me they were overbooked because of United sending all their people to that flight, and I'd have to go on standby. Given my luck, I was just positive I wouldn't get a spot on the plane. Georgie and Fiona and I got lunch and ice cream and played cards, and as they headed to security I went to meet my doom.
The man was very nice, he let me skip the line and come straight up to talk to him. I was ten minutes early, so he asked me to step to the side (very politely) and wait a bit. After the ten minutes, I walked up and he said "Hi Miss Livermore," before checking very quickly and saying he was sorry but could I wait just a few moments more (imagine all this in a British accent). Then he left. Right then, another man came walking around asking if anyone was on the flight to London (which by now had started boarding). One person piped up and said she was on standby, and he shook his head at her and said there was no way. So I was feeling very hopeless.
Until my friend came back. He waved me over and said we were all set, handed me my boarding pass, and then offered to escort me to the gate since he was going there anyway. We went to the front of every line, everybody looking at me like I was some special-status something. Or as the guy in the UCSB baseball polo standing next to me in security said, "You must be really important." Anyway, I made it to the gate thanks to the VIP treatment, and finally, FINALLY boarded for London.
Extra bonus: somehow my seat ended up being in "World Traveler Plus," BA's equivalent of Economy Plus. On a ten-hour flight, though, you get a lot more than extra legroom. The man at the door checked my ticket and called me by name, showing me to my seat. There were built-in TVs in every seat. Flight attendants didn't go longer than half an hour without offering water or juice. The meal was easily the best flight meal I'd ever had--some sort of curry chicken rice business. They had a great selection of movies, and TV, and music. The seats went really far back and had legrests that came out. Not to turn this into some sort of British Airways Yelp review, but in short I was impressed. And in love. British Airways has so won my business in the future, along with my heart.
Anyway. London. I got to the airport and made my way pretty easily through customs, etc. The Tube was surprisingly easy as well. Really just... a typical subway. The difficult part was when I got off and had to find my way to the housing place where I was supposed to check in. That was an hour-long process, lugging an extremely heavy bag through the streets of Kensington on 4 hours of sleep. Finally I made it, with a half hour to spare before the walking tour of Kensington, where I finally met most of the people on the trip with me.
The tour was pretty interesting. Our guide was a woman who had lived there for 25 years and whose goal was to show us the side of London that only the locals knew, since we technically would be locals for a month. We saw a lot of interesting shops and an abundance of beautiful old churches. My favorites were the mews, which used to be where the people would park their horse and carriage, and now are small, usually one or two level flats. Despite their small size, our guide said they go for about 2 million pounds--although it's a far cry from the upwards of 25 million some of the seven-story houses get. I'm a little amazed they have student housing in such a nice area; the wealthiest street in London is just a few blocks away from us, right by the Kensington Palace where Will and Kate are going to move later this summer.
By the end of the tour, my jetlag had caught up with me, and I was enormously regretting choosing the three-hour walking tour to break in my new shoes. We made it back in one unit, however, and I was finally able to shower off the 2 days of travel before going grocery shopping. It's still all very surreal that I'm actually here, in a foreign country. I talk to someone and they are surprised at the accent that comes out of my mouth. It's very odd.
My one roommate Nicole and I are getting along great, which is nice. We're in a four-person room, but our other 2 girls we think are the ones who got stuck at SFO with the United crash and won't get in until tomorrow night. We have our first day of class tomorrow. I'm excited! Also my first-ever pub trip tonight, where I'm mostly going to eat because I haven't really had anything since the breakfast on the plane this morning. I figure if I can stay awake until 10 then I can wake up for class tomorrow and fight this whole jetlag thing. My body is mad at me right now though.
Hopefully I have more exciting things to report next time. Thanks for tuning in :)
-Charlotte
PS: If someone would like to give the Giants a kick in the pants from me, I'd appreciate it. Just because I leave the country does not mean they are allowed to start losing to the A's. That is all.
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