My London Disaster

This past summer I had a once in a lifetime experience; I got the privilege to travel to Africa for ten days. My trip getting there was a hassle though. My grandparents were the ones that took me and they thought because of the length of the flight that we should stop in London for about a day and a half, so we ended up doing that. I thought the idea was nice because it would have been like a 16 hour flight, but instead it was about 7 ½ hours to England, and then another eight hours after that.

So I was all excited, getting packed and ready for this trip. I just came back from the beach and the next day I was on the plane. Everything was going perfect until we got off the plane in England. The first thing that went wrong was the fact that we couldn’t find the baggage claim. After the red eye we took, and it being 6 A.M. there, we were all really grumpy. We were walking in circles, and the London-Heathrow Airport was so confusing. We finally found where we were supposed to go about an hour later. Then we tried to figure out where we should go. Should we go to downtown London, or should we try and see if we could drop off our bags at the hotel. We finally figured that we would find the hotel. So we try and find the buses to the hotel. This takes another 45 minutes at least. We finally find the bus terminal and get on a bus. We look at our schedules and papers and the hotel’s name is Holiday Inn. Well, yet another issue. There is more than one Holiday Inn in London. We ended up getting off the bus and getting all of our stuff settled. My grandpa went up to check in, just to find out that it was the wrong hotel.

So we wait another 20 minutes after that to get on another bus. Then we find our hotel finally. We drop our stuff off and wait for a bus. It takes about 15 minutes of all of us sitting there before we decide we should call a cab, because we have to go back to the airport to get on a train to go visit downtown. So we get in the cab, and get to the airport. By this time I’m really grouchy and pissed. I got no sleep the night before, and I didn’t want to go through all this mess. Anyways, we finally got back to the airport and then we try and find the underground subway system/metro. And again, this place is the most confusing place ever. There are no signs anywhere, and the levels are all labeled wrong on the maps. We finally find this stupid train. The underground ticket area is so confusing too. We had to get the European money equivalent to dollars, which is pounds, and then try and get tickets out of the money we had.

Alright, now we’re on the train. I’m relaxed and a lot more excited now that we are actually getting to the downtown area. This train takes about 25 minutes to get there, but that’s ok because I was stoked to see the London I see in the movies. It took us 5 ½ hours to get from off the plane, to downtown London. Wow.

After we get there, we try and decide what to do. I say, “Let’s try and get on one of those double-decker tour buses. The ones in all the movies. The red ones.” So we paid for tickets for a bus and waited outside for one to arrive. A bus is supposed to arrive every 15 minutes. But of course with the luck we have had that day, it didn’t happen. 45 minutes later we go into the place where we bought the tickets and ask for a refund. As soon as that happens, the bus starts to come, so we quickly decide to get everything together and jump on the bus even though we had just waited forever. The bus driver was a real tool too. When we got on the bus, my grandpa asked the driver what had taken him so long to get here. His response was, “Well I don’t care how long you’ve waited. I take my time. I get paid by the hour.” He then went to the first attraction: the “Arch”, which was dedicated to all the horses who died in one of the big world wars. He circled around it four times, and then parked it. Everyone was so confused. We then hear over the speakers: EVERYONE MUST GET OFF THE BUS. THIS BUS IS DISABLED AS OF NOW. My mouth dropped. Seriously.

We get off that stupid bus and get on another one. This one decides to be nice and give us a tour for awhile. We went to four attractions with this one. Yet again, it decides to become “broken” or “disabled” and everyone must get off. At this point I just wanted to go back to the hotel and go to sleep. We had to sit on this stupid bus ride for the next three hours; the buses only go one way. I ended up falling asleep on the bottom of the double-decker for about an hour. We finally get back to the stop we started off and got off. And again, we go down to the train station and get tickets, and get on a train. Everyone is dead at this point and we are all glad to be going back to the airport/then hotel. We sit down and wait.. and wait… and wait…

15 minutes goes by, and we are still waiting on the train. The conductor comes on the intercom and says, “I’m sorry, but everyone please exit the train. This train is no longer in service.” I busted out laughing and looked at my family members. Then they all started laughing as well. How did we seriously get stuck having the worst time in a new city. So we all get up, walk out of the train, and go on another one. As we are sitting there, waiting for this train to start, I look over and the other train that was “broken” is leaving. It just took off! My mouth dropped again, and everyone in my family was dying with laughter. My grandpa was crying he was laughing so hard.

How could I have such a bad day?! How does this happen?!?!?!?! There were points in the day where I wanted to just go home and forget about the trip, but I got through it. I guess I’ll tell you about the actual trip to Africa next blog post.