A chill of excitement ran through me when I saw Big Ben and the London Eye for the first time. My flight landed smoothly, and I was off the plane and down the jetway before I could blink an eye.
Immigrations and customs turned out to be rather easy to get through. Luckily, I had all of my papers in order, and there were no other problems. It had been smooth sailing the whole trip, that was until I got lost trying to find the bus terminal. If I can make it through Atlanta airport by myself with time to spare, I can take on anything. Come at me Heathrow! Well, maybe I shouldn't have been so sure of myself...it's bad enough when you get lost prior to asking directions, but there is a very special kind of embarrassment involved when you get lost after you receive directions. I'm still not totally sure how I got so turned around. Somehow, I managed to lug my overstuffed luggage around in circles for about twenty minutes before I pushed my pride down far enough to stop and ask for directions, again. The second time I managed to get headed in the right direction. After wandering down a few lonely corridors, past a rather sketchy looking freight elevator, and through the Heathrow Underground station, I finally found the bus terminal.
My next adventure was figuring out how to get on the bus. Yes, I am very aware how dumb that makes me sound, but I'm telling you, it's a lot harder than it looks. My bus was parked outside in the terminal. I found it with no trouble. The buses were parked under an awning type structure with a fence blocking the waiting area from the boarding area. I walked down to the end of the fence where the security guard was standing near the only visible opening in the fence. I asked him to confirm which bus stand my RailAir bus was parked in, and he pointed me in the right direction. Like any independent young woman, I took off in the direction of my bus ready to begin the next leg of my trip. I marched right up to the front of my bus, only to find that my driver was nowhere in sight. I looked around and saw the other drivers hovering near their buses. I guess I'll wait. A few minutes later I see my bus driver coming towards me, then I see the gate (I didn't see only moments before) being opened by what looked like my fellow passengers. Here I am standing past the barriers, literally in front of my bus, watching the lady and gentlemen that were very obviously supposed to be first people boarding the bus. Oh my gosh, I jumped the queue... Yep boys and girls, I broke the cardinal rule of British manners, I jumped to the front of the line. In my defense, it was totally on accident. I waited for the lady to board the bus, but the man behind her ushered me ahead of him. He was very nice about it, but I'm sure he was thinking all sorts of lovely thoughts about stupid foreigners who have no concept of waiting in line...or at least, that's what I imagined he was thinking as he shook his head and let me pass.
I boarded the bus, bruised ego and all, to be pleasantly surprised by the cushy leather seats, free wifi, and full seat belts (which we were required by law to wear). The ride wasn't bad, but getting used to riding on the wrong side of the road was a little terrifying at first. After I survived what I perceived as several near death experiences (in all honesty, they probably were not as bad as they seemed, but I was a little concerned we could potentially run over the very tiny British cars) I began to relax and enjoy the country side.
We arrived in Reading, where I grabbed lunch at Subway (yay American food) and caught the train to Cardiff. I really enjoyed the train ride. My train had entertainment centers on the backs of all the headrests, like they have on the big airplanes. It was a quiet ride. I struggled to stay away. The twenty six hours I had managed to stay awake was finally catching up to me. Terrified of sleeping through my final stop, I kept busy until we arrived in Cardiff. My hotel is literally a block and a half from the train station so I just walked over and checked into the Maldron Hotel. It's an independent branch of the Best Western Branch. I crashed shortly after I got in, my first adventure concluded.
Immigrations and customs turned out to be rather easy to get through. Luckily, I had all of my papers in order, and there were no other problems. It had been smooth sailing the whole trip, that was until I got lost trying to find the bus terminal. If I can make it through Atlanta airport by myself with time to spare, I can take on anything. Come at me Heathrow! Well, maybe I shouldn't have been so sure of myself...it's bad enough when you get lost prior to asking directions, but there is a very special kind of embarrassment involved when you get lost after you receive directions. I'm still not totally sure how I got so turned around. Somehow, I managed to lug my overstuffed luggage around in circles for about twenty minutes before I pushed my pride down far enough to stop and ask for directions, again. The second time I managed to get headed in the right direction. After wandering down a few lonely corridors, past a rather sketchy looking freight elevator, and through the Heathrow Underground station, I finally found the bus terminal.
My next adventure was figuring out how to get on the bus. Yes, I am very aware how dumb that makes me sound, but I'm telling you, it's a lot harder than it looks. My bus was parked outside in the terminal. I found it with no trouble. The buses were parked under an awning type structure with a fence blocking the waiting area from the boarding area. I walked down to the end of the fence where the security guard was standing near the only visible opening in the fence. I asked him to confirm which bus stand my RailAir bus was parked in, and he pointed me in the right direction. Like any independent young woman, I took off in the direction of my bus ready to begin the next leg of my trip. I marched right up to the front of my bus, only to find that my driver was nowhere in sight. I looked around and saw the other drivers hovering near their buses. I guess I'll wait. A few minutes later I see my bus driver coming towards me, then I see the gate (I didn't see only moments before) being opened by what looked like my fellow passengers. Here I am standing past the barriers, literally in front of my bus, watching the lady and gentlemen that were very obviously supposed to be first people boarding the bus. Oh my gosh, I jumped the queue... Yep boys and girls, I broke the cardinal rule of British manners, I jumped to the front of the line. In my defense, it was totally on accident. I waited for the lady to board the bus, but the man behind her ushered me ahead of him. He was very nice about it, but I'm sure he was thinking all sorts of lovely thoughts about stupid foreigners who have no concept of waiting in line...or at least, that's what I imagined he was thinking as he shook his head and let me pass.
I boarded the bus, bruised ego and all, to be pleasantly surprised by the cushy leather seats, free wifi, and full seat belts (which we were required by law to wear). The ride wasn't bad, but getting used to riding on the wrong side of the road was a little terrifying at first. After I survived what I perceived as several near death experiences (in all honesty, they probably were not as bad as they seemed, but I was a little concerned we could potentially run over the very tiny British cars) I began to relax and enjoy the country side.
We arrived in Reading, where I grabbed lunch at Subway (yay American food) and caught the train to Cardiff. I really enjoyed the train ride. My train had entertainment centers on the backs of all the headrests, like they have on the big airplanes. It was a quiet ride. I struggled to stay away. The twenty six hours I had managed to stay awake was finally catching up to me. Terrified of sleeping through my final stop, I kept busy until we arrived in Cardiff. My hotel is literally a block and a half from the train station so I just walked over and checked into the Maldron Hotel. It's an independent branch of the Best Western Branch. I crashed shortly after I got in, my first adventure concluded.
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| The view from my hotel room. |
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