It has definitely been a while since I have been on here. Probably should have worked on this sometime on Sunday or yesterday but since I didn't I guess better late than never. I'll back up all the way til last Thursday. After writing frantically I lugged my suitcases most of the way down the hall and tried to get the door open, which didn't work too well. Thankfully one of the hostal employees helped me get my stuff out the door and downstairs. And there was my taxi guy all ready to go. We had a bit of fun trying to get my stuff in the back of the taxi but eventually it worked. I was so thankful for his help that I didn't bother to complain about being overcharged. You see he had put the starter fare as the fare for going to/from the airport and not just in city. Makes a difference of 3 euros. I'm just considering it a tip for getting me to my host mother's and then getting my suitcases to the door of the building. I rang the buzzer for her apartment and said a simple "Soy Kathryn" and the door downstairs was unlocked. Three elderly people who also live in the building saw me struggling with all my things and the man proceeded to help me get my stuff over the ramp and towards the elevator. One of the women with him shook her head and laughed saying that he is ever the gentleman but getting too old for such things. Somehow got all my stuff into the elevator which is pretty tiny and got to the 3rd floor. By the time I got the door open there was host mommy marveling out how I managed so much stuff. She is a very nice 80 year old woman. She showed me my room and gave me a mini tour of the apartment and even said I could start living here that very day. I thanked her but declined since I still had my backpack at the hostal and had paid for Thursday already. Nonetheless she let me unpack all of my things in my new room and showed me the router (yes wifi!!!!!) that she really doesn't know how to use. I got the code written down and hopped online after turning the router on. I will say that there is no ac. But it does not matter because I have a great window right by my bed that I leave open at all times and a nice breeze comes in. There is a fan for me to use when I want it but I haven't needed it with my window. I'm sleeping quite well now. :)
Friday I woke up kind of nervous. I knew how to use the metro but I had never taken it to/from the airport before. My flight was not until 3pm and check out was at 12pm. It wasn't too easy to kill time without my laptop, so when my phone was fully charged I grabbed my backpack and purse and went to grab a tortilla espanola next door. I'd been eating them for the last couple of days and they are good and pretty cheap at this place. It did dishearten me a bit when I found a hair in this piece. Yuck! I picked around it but had definitely lost my appetite. I would have just stopped eating it completely but I knew dinner was a long way away and that my flight was not going to be giving any on flight snacks unless one paid dearly for them.
Not even a measly cup of water. Turns out it is not too hard to get to the airport. I had to changed over a couple lines which can be like going through a maze in the big metro stations but it worked out. When I got to the airport I had to pay the supplemental airport metro fee of three euros before I could enter the airport. At this point all I knew was the terminal and the letter section of the airport I was going towards. No gate number. I also chose to do the online boarding pass on my phone because I didn't have an easily accessible printer to print out my boarding pass. It was cool to scan the image on my phone and go through security like that but at the same time a bit of a pain to continually reload it and not know how much data I might be using. So I just wandered around the somewhat confusing airport until I found H. And then as I was walking around in there wandering which gate was mine even though I still had like 2 hours I found an Iberia board that showed flights and their gates. Yes! To get to my gate I had to go through a tiny passport control. The man looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to go to my gate so early. He even told me that there was only one bathroom and coffee shop in my gate area and that once I entered I could not leave. Only one coffee shop? The horror! Good thing I don't drink coffee. And I figured if I was stuck with nothing else to do I might actually complete some more summer reading. Indeed I did. Filled up my water bottle in the bathroom. Got a lollipop for the cool machine and spent the time until boarding (and til other people from my flight entered the area) reading #3 of 4 chapters I need to have done by Friday.
Landed in Heathrow airport without any trouble and started the next adventure: finding my way onto the Heathrow express to Paddington station. In order to do this i had to make it through customs, find an atm to get some pounds and then purchase a ticket. I scrambled to get the info card filled out before I got to the desk. I failed. But the woman was nice and helped me finish it when I showed her all of my printed papers my mom had put in a nice little envelope marked "London" before I ever even left for Madrid. She might have thought me dumb because she had to repeat some questions a couple of times for me to understand. It was tiredness and the accent that kept me from comprehending but I wasn't going to tell her that. When she gave me my stamp and let me through I tried to follow people and signs to find what I needed. It ended up being me asking 3 different people for help. When I got to the atm it was right across from a Krispy Kreme which filled my heart with joy!
I didn't get a doughnut but figured on my way back to Madrid maybe. After the atm it was not too bad finding the ticket counter I needed and then the train. Though being so nervous when I got on it I did ask a girl near me if I was indeed on the Heathrow towards Paddington. She affirmed it and I relaxed a bit. Pretty short ride and then I made it to Paddington. As I left the station it was drizzling and this seemed very appropriate to me like the London in my imagination goes hand in hand with drizzle. I attempted to follow my printed out directions to the hostel. And though streets are better marked in London than in Madrid I struggled. By the grace of God I found Westbourne Terrace and consequently Equity Point hostel. Check it went pretty smoothly though he was a bit annoyed that I gave him 40£ to pay my balance of 30.60£. I said sorry but the atm does not give smaller bills than that. I think I might have actually had some pound coins from buying my train ticket but really did not want to dig through my tiny overstuffed purse to locate them and decipher which coin was worth what amount. Found the room and then spent five minutes figuring out which bed was mine - turns out it was the first top bunk I saw upon entering. There were lockers for each person which I had known about but it had never dawned on me that they wouldn't provide me with a lock for it. So back downstairs to inquire about a lock. There went 3£. I consoled myself with the rip off because I knew that now I wouldn't have to carry around my backpack when I met up with Tom. Put my things away and rearranged my purse and counted down the minutes til I would see my friend. What a wonderful site to walk outside the hostel and look to my left and see Tom walking towards me :) Great reunion! He does not know Paddington very well so we tried our hand at the "tube." First hurdle was getting a ticket.
It was 4.30£ for a one trip ticket or 7£ for a day pass. All fine and good except the machine only took a credit card. I had not brought mine with me because I figured if anything happened to me and my purse got stolen or something then I wanted my card in my locker at the hostel to be able to get more money or whatever. I'd even placed one of the tiny keys for my new lock on my locket chain as a precaution. So I just gave Tom the 7£ and he was nice enough to use his card. We went all over the most touristy part of London near Big Ben and the River Thames. He kept apologizing for not really knowing this area that well but it did not matter to me. Sp I told him that I would incorrectly pronounce River Thames every time he apologized needlessly. And I did. After a while he stopped and all was well. We ventured more on the tube to an area to find something to eat. It was already about 8pmish and we were both hungry. And lost. After walking around for a good 30 minutes we finally found a decent place. called Pizza Express. Apparently they are all over England. Decent prices too. I had canollini (sp?) while he had pizza. We also had an appetizer of dough balls which were wonderful. They came with this very garlicy butter sauce that was divine. Though we were pretty full by the end we still went for dessert. It was called Chocolate Glory and it was glorious. We were still raving about it by the time we got back on the tube towards Paddington to drop me off. It was also at this point that I realize why my left foot was hurting so much. I had worn a pair of my new shoes to London. They had been fine walking in the day before so I figured why not wear them to London? They are cute. Bad idea. It not only gave me a blister but tore it open. Good times. Looked terrible though after I got a bandaid at the hostel and washed it with some water from the sink it was not bad at all. I still like the drama of the one pic though. So being a tad morbid I am putting it on here. Lesson learned: new shoes are not good for traveling and walking around in all over a strange city before being properly broken in.
This concludes part 1 of the London adventure. A full day of touring and getting back to Madrid in part two. I've already been at this like an hour so I need a break. It is my birthday after all so I don't want to spent it sitting in my room all day writing. I'll finish up the chronicles later today or tomorrow :) Thanks for reading!
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