Journey to the Center of London

Before I could make my trek across the pond I had one minor thing I had to sort out... my passport. Not even a month before I was supposed to come home for the holidays my wallet was stolen, which stupidly contained my passport. After having to make a trip into London all alone, I learned my lesson. Don’t carry your passport in your wallet, don’t go to the only sketchy club in Poole, The Penthouse, and maybe don’t get your fun meter stuck on high with the entire club to see.

So about two weeks after all the contents of my wallet, except a beautiful picture of my mom and dad and a camera memory stick (a thief with a heart) and a trip into London to replace my passport, the embassy called to tell me all the contents, down to plane ticket stubs and old Publix receipts was sent to the embassy by a sanitary waste company nowhere near Poole. Now to the bad news, since this package contained all my personal cards, ID, and old passport it and my new passport could not be mailed to me. That meant another trip to London Town. I could have peed my pants in fear of trying to tackle the underground alone, again!

I figured I had plenty of time to prepare myself for my next adventure, since we had planned on leaving the UK after Christmas. This of course is until Andy tells me I will be going home asap. It was Sunday when Duncan, Andy’s brother who gets us standby tickets, informs him the only flight I could get before the 31st was that Monday! This meant in the morning I would need to make my trip into London and try to catch the flight after picking up my passport at the Embassy. I think I had a mini heart attack. What about my luggage, the tube at rush hour, and how on earth do I get to Gatwick from the center of London!?! Well there was no time to answer these extremely important questions or even curl up and cry, just time to pack!

So on Monday morning at 6am I got on the train to London with a 50 pound suitcase in the hopes that Andy would be able to get me the ticket home and that I can make it to Gatwick before the plane took off at 2pm! The fun began with trying to weasel my way off the train at Waterloo to catch the tube onto the Jubilee line, all while lugging this huge suitcase. Then I had to transfer from Jubilee to Central line and I think the most packed and busiest line of all the tube. I was like the little invisible girl no one wanted to look at in fear they might have to help! People did anything they could to push past me and my enormous bag and beat me on the train. It was as if my big huge bag had some kind of virus they might catch. Note to anyone travelling on the tube during rush hour; don’t take any large item with you because you will be shunned! Once I finally got through the train ride it was on to climbing a few flights of stairs while dragging my embarrassingly large bag with me. What a workout and relief when I finally made it to the streets of London.

I don’t usually get embarrassed too easily but when you are walking around the business district with a hand drawn map in one hand and a 50 lb paisley and flower print bag rolling behind you it’s another story. It was such a relief when I reached the embassy until I saw the 100 person line waiting to go in! All I could think is, “I will never make the plane”! It was already 9:15!! But I put on my brave face and got into line only to be told by another line stander the embassy won’t let you take any luggage inside. WHAT!?! So I got out of line walked down to a small and, quite frankly, scary little pharmacy, where according to the barley English speaking line stander, they would hold my luggage. Sure enough they had a little TV stand set up where there was a paper, telling of pharmaceutical things. When the paper was flipped over there were the conditions and fees to hold items for embassy visitors. I suspect this was all done illegally but I had no time to waste, so I left them with all my belongings for a grand total of 3 pounds!

Back at the embassy I learned I was standing in the wrong line, which is why it was so long! I was in the non-American line which was 99 people longer than the American line. I soon also discovered Americans, coming to pick up their passports, can take their luggage with them inside!!! After picking up my new passport, old passport, and cancelled credit cards I was ready to get my bag and race to Gatwick and somehow catch my flight! All this was shattered when I called Andy to report I had gotten the new passport and was on my way when he said he and Duncan were unable to get the flight. They instead got one for the next day!!