We've arrived!!! Oh my goodness...where do I even begin?! The past few days have been a whirlwind and if I wouldn't have wrote all the details down in my journel, then I'm sure I would have forgotten a lot.
Friday, March 18, 2011 and Saturday, March 19, 2011
We got to the STL airport around 5:30pm and went straight to the ticket counter. We both didn't think we packed that much but when we put our suitcases on the scale, the scale told us otherwise. Jason's bag was about 9 pounds over and mine was about 4 pounds over. We opened up our suitcases and crammed crap into our backpacks. UGH...nothing worse than carrying around a backpack with clothes crammed in so tight that we couldn't get to our snacks or to our entertainment to the flight. Oh well, right?! We were headed to England and we were determined to keep a positive mind. We walk to our gate, sat down and realized that we weren't sitting together on any of our flights. Immediately, Jason went to the ticket counter to see if we could get this fixed. Our seats were fixed alright...she put us in aisle seats on our Chicago flight and on the flight over the pond to London. We could stretch out our legs so far we couldn't even reach the seats in front of us...perfect!!
Our flight was overnight so after dinner was served, we went to sleep and didn't wake up until we were starting to land. Those 8 hours passed so much quicker than we thought they were! We arrived in London early, got our baggage pretty much right when we got through customs and found the nearest payphone. We called the taxi company, 72500(pronounced seven-two-five-thousand), found our driver and started the 40 minute drive to Epsom. Once we got out of the city and into the countryside, the views were breathtaking. There were sheep along the roads with their babies trotting behind and the horse stables were so old, yet so beautiful. We were pretty excited once the driver dropped us off at our flat. 
Well once we opened the door and saw that flat #9 was on the third/top floor and with no elevator, we couldn't help but to laugh. We drug, kicked and manuevered our suitcases anyway possible to get them up the three flights of stairs. We unlocked our flight and we were a little disappointed. We were expecting a cute little flat with everything in the perfect place but what we got was a smokey room that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months. 
The smell of smoke and the lack of cleanliness was just what this Missouri girl needed to send me over the edge and into a full blown panic. Jason assured me that everything would be okay...he took the hand sanitizer and cleaned the shower, the sinks and the floors that weren't carpeted. I felt a little bit better and by this point, the traveling had us exhausted and we needed to take a nap. We layed down (on top of the covers and fully clothed) and didn't wake up until 3:30pm. Once we woke up, we felt refreshed and ready to take on the UK, well Epsom at least. Epsom definitely needed to be explored! We loaded up our backpacks and headed down a walking path to the center of Epsom, Ashley Centre. I'm sure everyone knows that this part of the country drives on the opposite side of the road from US drivers but the confusing part is looking to see if traffic is coming before crossing the road. We are so used to looking left to right that we almost were a goner on a few street crosses...now Jason looks left and I look right. Once we got onto the walk path, we realized how beautiful the town really was. Parks, ponds, flowers and trees made the walk very easy and comfortable. 
Well once we opened the door and saw that flat #9 was on the third/top floor and with no elevator, we couldn't help but to laugh. We drug, kicked and manuevered our suitcases anyway possible to get them up the three flights of stairs. We unlocked our flight and we were a little disappointed. We were expecting a cute little flat with everything in the perfect place but what we got was a smokey room that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months. The smell of smoke and the lack of cleanliness was just what this Missouri girl needed to send me over the edge and into a full blown panic. Jason assured me that everything would be okay...he took the hand sanitizer and cleaned the shower, the sinks and the floors that weren't carpeted. I felt a little bit better and by this point, the traveling had us exhausted and we needed to take a nap. We layed down (on top of the covers and fully clothed) and didn't wake up until 3:30pm. Once we woke up, we felt refreshed and ready to take on the UK, well Epsom at least. Epsom definitely needed to be explored! We loaded up our backpacks and headed down a walking path to the center of Epsom, Ashley Centre. I'm sure everyone knows that this part of the country drives on the opposite side of the road from US drivers but the confusing part is looking to see if traffic is coming before crossing the road. We are so used to looking left to right that we almost were a goner on a few street crosses...now Jason looks left and I look right. Once we got onto the walk path, we realized how beautiful the town really was. Parks, ponds, flowers and trees made the walk very easy and comfortable. We walked through the town for about two hours--we found the train station, a grocery store, a post office and any other store that we could possibly have a need for. 
We loaded up with a few groceries before heading back to the flat and enjoying our first dinner together...pepperoni pizza. Haha! It was the cheapest thing we could find at the store without needing to really cook. 
At this point it was about 6:00pm and we wanted to contact our family to let them know we made it safe and sound. We walked to the hospital, hoping to see a friendly face that could direct us to the right place, and saw nothing. Literally, nothing! 
No receptionist, no patients, no nurses, no doctors...we wandered the halls and the different floors of the hospital but found nothing that would help us contact our family. We were pretty bummed so we went back to the house, got out all of our maps and travel books and planned our Sunday trip. (**sidenote-our smoke alarm started freaking out and we couldn't figure out how to get it to stop beeping at us. Jason even turned off the breaker labeled "smoke alarm" and the dang thing still beeped). We went to bed excited for a full day in London and a beeping smoke alarm....great first day in England!
We loaded up with a few groceries before heading back to the flat and enjoying our first dinner together...pepperoni pizza. Haha! It was the cheapest thing we could find at the store without needing to really cook. At this point it was about 6:00pm and we wanted to contact our family to let them know we made it safe and sound. We walked to the hospital, hoping to see a friendly face that could direct us to the right place, and saw nothing. Literally, nothing! No receptionist, no patients, no nurses, no doctors...we wandered the halls and the different floors of the hospital but found nothing that would help us contact our family. We were pretty bummed so we went back to the house, got out all of our maps and travel books and planned our Sunday trip. (**sidenote-our smoke alarm started freaking out and we couldn't figure out how to get it to stop beeping at us. Jason even turned off the breaker labeled "smoke alarm" and the dang thing still beeped). We went to bed excited for a full day in London and a beeping smoke alarm....great first day in England! 
0 comments:
Post a Comment