London – Day 1

I had 75lbs of checked baggage in 2 suitcases… for TWO WEEKS of traveling. This is completely unacceptable… but what can I say, I like having options. And about 20lbs of it was my air mattress and bedding (that’s right, I’m that hardcore). Oh but my arms paid dearly for it as I had to lug it all up and down stairs from the L to the A to the air train to the airport. Good thing my “bulging biceps” (*cough cough*, +5 to anyone who gets that reference) were able to handle it. Yeah i’m a trooper! Except my arms still hurt now. 

I’m currently listening to the new Miley Cyrus album nonstop, which unfortunately means it’ll end up being the soundtrack to this trip. I know, I’m disappointed in myself too. Now I’ll forever associate cheesy lyrics like “suddenly my cell phone’s blowing up with your ringtone” with my European odyssey. Sigh. 

Um, so when I arrived in London, there was absolutely no line to get through passport control. So I went up to the desk, and the guy starts asking me a million questions that I’m pretty sure cross the line as unnecessary and a wee bit too personal… e.g.:

- why are you in london? – visiting a friend 
- is this a boyfriend? – uh no 
- where did you meet him? – in sydney 2 yrs ago 
- is this his address? (the one i listed on the arrivals form) – yes it is 
- are you going somewhere else after london? – yeah, switzerland 
- visiting someone? – yup, another friend 
- so, you work in IT? – yeah, unfortunately 
- where? – at an ibank 
- which one? – uh, UBS?

etc etc… this can’t be normal, can it? I mean honestly! 

So I’m reuniting/staying with my Dutch friend who was pretty much my closest friend while in Sydney in 2006, and we’re hanging out in the kitchen eating cheese sandwiches (yeah, some things never change), and then he mentions something about how he’s looking to find the right kind of sauce to go with these tagliatelle noodles (a thin, wide pasta). So I go, uhhh how about tomato sauce? And then he pulls out a ketchup bottle and goes “yeah I usually use this, but it won’t be so good with this type of pasta”. WHO USES KETCHUP ON SPAGHETTI, thinking it’s just like tomato sauce?!?? Needless to say, I was nearly on the floor laughing. 

Before we set out this afternoon to explore, I said that I wanted to try really hard NOT to be like the typical dumbarse tourist. I think step #1 to that would be NOT to wear my “lower east side” t-shirt from NYC… right, note to self. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. 

 
 
 
 
So since I’d already blown my spot, I went ahead and did the typical touristy photos with the red telephone booths and the meridian line in Greenwich. We then proceeded to buy discounted tickets to Les Mis and totally acted like ignorant tourists (yes, even though my friend has been living in London for 7 months). But on the plus side, I’ve already got a good grip on how the transport system works here (glory be to the oyster card!). 

Ok I’m dead tired since I barely slept on the plane ride here, so it’s sleep at long last! I thought for sure my new air mattress would melt when I tried inflating it with the voltage converter (aerobed advises against this), but it survived thank god!