London y Otras Cosas - Arrival and Day Uno

The trip started out being picked up at 4am by Groome transportation. After we shut the door to the car I immediately asked "Are we there yet?" Which apparently is not as funny at 4 in the morning. It was worth a shot.

I tend to panic when people ask me questions. Especially people I don't know. I dunno why. God forbid someone on the street ask me what time it is. So when we sat down in the exit row, a flight attendant came by to make sure I knew how to open it. I looked at the door and did not know how to open it, but nodded my head yes (If you ever see me on the same plane as you in the exit row, you might want to start praying). I must not have looked particularly confident because he asked me to put my hand on the handle I would have to pull if needed. So I did... and I miiiiiight have instinctively started to pull it. Moving on...

When we arrived in London the customs officer asked why I was in London. Suddenly, I couldn't remember anymore. Finally after some stuttering I answered "vacation". "What are you going to see?" he asked. ".............uuuuhhhh........... the Eiffel Tower." Blank stare. "I don't think you are going to have much luck seeing the Eiffel Tower in London." To which I simply replied, "Undo."

Also, there is a Ben and Jerry's vending machine in the lobby. I'm going to come back fat. And so ends our day of travel.

Day 1 started at 9:30am... freakin' 4am in Richmond, which is exactly what it felt like. I didn't feel happy when I woke up. Not even a little bit. That made me feel super ungrateful, but I snapped out of it approx 15 min. later.

In the UK, they drive on the left side of the road, so when you are crossing the street you have to look to the right. I don't think I realized how instinctively we look to the left when crossing. But it is painted on the street at every crossing "Look right." Which leads me to this question: Is the American right and left the same as the British right and left? We may never know.

We did some sight-seeing. We went to Madam Tussaud's wax museum (I expected it to be super lame but it was super not lame. It was lots of fun.) and The London Eye. We got on the London Eye at the perfect time. The sun was starting to go down and the clouds were really pretty. Side note re: the wax museum - I think I expected it to be lame because when I was 18 my dad took me to LA and we went to a wax museum there where it looked like someone had turned the heat up for a few hours. It was horribly awesome. Or awesomely horrible?

People in London are really friendly. For some reason I expected them to be snobby and annoyed with tourists, but that is so not the case. If you even look like you are looking for something, people want to help you. I like to walk down the street and smile at people and have them smile back.

We were looking at some statues and I pointed to one and said "Who is that?" to my dad. He said "That's a naked cherub spitting out water." That wasn't necessarily the statue I was pointing to, but it was pretty funny so I let it go.

Final note for day one: I have been layering on the chapstick all day and my lips are still super chapped. I'm trying not to let it ruin my trip/ LIFE, but it's tough ya know?