2008- Flying to London

Jumping right into things, Chelsie and I decided to start our trip in London, England. I have always wanted to see London, and she had been there before when she was about 13 I think. We would then stop in Bath and Brighton before we headed to Paris.

The towns of Bath and Brighton were chosen for two reasons:

a.) They are said to be incredibly beautiful.

b.) We love Jane Austen, and she lived in Bath for a period of time.

Chelsie and I spent the better part of a year planning this trip. We found a great travel agent, and we made our itinerary. Chelsie did most of the hard work, figuring out where to go, how to get there and so forth. I basically okay-ed everything, seeing as I had no idea about any of it. Chels was organized though, so I had a lot of faith in her skills.

I don't think my parents believed me when I told them of my plan. The summer of 2007, I was working at an out of school care center as a summer student, and returning to school in the fall. I had decided to put away half of each pay cheque every month into a savings account that I would use for the trip. I probably saved over $4000.00, if I remember right, just in that summer alone. My parents have never travelled abroad, so I was entering new territory.

This was the plan, graduate from school with a BA in Psychology, work for a few months, and then leave for my trip. After I came home? Anything was possible.

I graduated, (very exciting, yes, yes it was), and found a job at a bakery in Riverbend. I sort of just wanted any job and didn't really care what it payed. I was also working part time with kids with autism, juggling the two jobs until I would leave.

Time to leave.

I had no clue how to pack, what to bring, what not to bring. I packed like I was going to be camping for 3 weeks. Seriously, the clothes I brought...what was I thinking. Worn hoodies and Nike's, it was like I would be hiking in the bush, not travelling in civilized cities for crying out loud.

I also brought the most boring books on the history of the planet to read on the plane. Was I thinking they would suddenly get interesting on the plane? I sort of left the ipod to the last minute too, and didn't really put a lot of music on it that I would have liked, not realizing how often I would be listening to it as Chelsie and I covered miles by train and plane. My preparation in these areas was just stunning now that I look back.

Chelsie came to my house in the morning, and Kenton was to drive us to the Calgary airport for our afternoon flight. I had said goodbye to my dad the night before because he was going to already be at work the next day when I left. Chelsie's mom had brought her over. We all chatted for a few minutes, and after saying our goodbyes, our moms tear up. The realization that we were actually leaving for real, was setting in. Their daughters were flying across the ocean, by themselves...two girls...roaming around in foreign places. Oh dear.

 Our wonderful travel agent helped us get the cheapest flights possible, but you pay in another way for those. I didn't know what "red eye" flights meant until that departing flight.

Um yes, I was very sad to leave Kenton. We were dating at the time, and a month was like...FOREVER to be apart. In Chelsie's words, "You handled it better than I thought you would!" Thanks Chels.

By the way, I journalled most of our trip, and that is what I am referring to as I write this. Thank goodness, just reading it all now shows me how much I forgot.

-The Flight-

This was my first time on a plane, ever. I can honestly say now, after being on a few more flights since this trip, that I do not prefer air travel. This may be foreshadowing for a story later on...

It's about an 8 hour flight to London, Heathrow Airport, and the tv screens on the headrest in front of our seats don't work. Awesome. An 8 hour ride with no movies...just Top Gear resetting itself every 15 min and playing over and over and over...By the end of the flight the screens do work again, but I fail to realize that I can plug in my own earphones and hear what is being played. I watch Harry Potter 5, in silence. Why am I so smart?

It's basically impossible for me to catch a nap on this flight. When we arrive in London, it will be 6am their time. I am too excited to think about how tired I will be once we get there. I can't even believe this is happening now. Almost a year of saving up, planning, discussing, fretting, and being giddy, and we were finally doing it!

We have arrived to London, and we are exhausted, but sort of running on the adrenaline of arriving and needing to figure out how to now get to the city.

We are in Heathrow, meaning we still have a short journey ahead of us to actually get into the city. We get our bags, and I have realized I have slightly overpacked. To give you perspective, Chelsie is carrying what looks like the size of an elementary school kid's backpack, and I look like I am about to climb Mount Everest. I borrowed the backpack from my friend Lindsay who took it on her YWAM. It was big. Too big. And she gave me a cover for it so that none of the strings or things got ripped off in the shuffle. Chelsie thinks I am crazy by this point, and I ditch the backpack cover, the first of many things I will be leaving behind throughout this trip.

We wander around and figure out that we are to take a bus. This bus leaves in about 2 min and we have no clue where it is leaving from in this foreign place of people rushing about. Running through the airport (yeah picture me right now, lugging this bag as big as me, trying to run and not cause us to miss a bus that won't come around again for a long time), we make it to our bus before it decides it has everyone it wants. It is a beautiful morning, the sun is coming up and dew is shining on the trees across the street. Seeing how nice it is out, I kind of forget how tired I am for a moment . The countryside of England is also something you just have to see in person once in your life. It is amazing! The ride is about half an hour to our true destination...

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