Back from LONDON!
We did so much that I am going to do individual posts for each day!
Day 1: Saturday.
Our flight was at 6:55 pm out of Dublin Airport. We took the Aircoach Bus to the Airport so after packing all of belongings into our backpacks, checking and re-checking that we had all our confirmation numbers and travel documents, we walked to the UCD Entrance to catch the bus. The bus came about 4:15, getting us to Dublin International about 5 pm. After insuring that we got our proper return tickets from the bus driver, we headed into the Airport. Now, I am becoming a pro at airports so we quickly made it to the Ryan Air desk to check our passports and travel documents. Then it was off to security... liquids in a bag, checking my umbrella and testing it out, the security guy walked us through the whole procedure. I know it pretty well now, jackets off, shoes off (they just checked to see what kind we had on, didn't have to take them off), everything in a tray and move on through.
Dublin Airport is quite large... with about 300 gates. It was a bit of a hike to our gate, 105, and I felt like I was walking through a mall not an airport. They had all sorts of shops, and not selling like tourists things that you'd find in O'Hare. It was like Chanel, and classy things, not "Someone who loves me went to Dublin and got me this shirt" shirts. Claire and I found our gate and took turns going to the bathroom, etc. I popped a Dramamine... I've heard that Ryan Air can be a little rocky, so I was prepared.
Ryan Air doesn't have assigned seats, sort of like Southwest. However, it's more of a free for all. We lined up to board and within 10 seconds of us standing up, there were already like 30 people in front of us. In Europe, they allow you on the tarmac to board...so we walked down to the stairs...outside, on the runway, and up the stairs into the plane. We used the back entrance, because we figured it would be easier to get out the back when we landed.
Ryan Air is also very strict about luggage. It was easy to see why, the seats are pretty close to one another...little leg room. Luckily Claire and I snagged some seats in the 29th row, and were able to have a seat between us. I napped a little, but kept being woken up by the frequent announcements by the flight attendant who had a very thick accent. You are trained to wake up for this announcements, because usually they are pertinent information: weather conditions, ETAs, etc. Not on Ryan Air. It was like an informecial. First they were advertising smokeless cigarettes. With the heavy smoker population in Europe, that makes sense, except the flight was legitimately an hour, maybe an hour fifteen, from gate to gate. Then they were selling stratch off lotto tickets. And then, another announcement, selling perfume. Yep, possibly the worst product to have being sold in an inclosed space with recycled air. Thank you Ryan Air for the interesting experience. The passengers behind us were a bit rowdy as well...having a good time and laughing a lot. Before I realized it, we were touching down in London. A little rocky but not too bad. The celebatory music that they played when we landed was just the icing on the cake. I'm pretty sure it was like the "Charge" sound. Either way, it made me smile.
They only let us out the front entrance of the plane...so much for our great plan. We got inside London Gatwick and tried to navigate the new place. The airport was pretty deserted for being 8 pm on a Saturday. We found immigration, and after being redirected, ended up just having to give our boarding pass. No stamp for my passport, kind of disappointing. We got some pounds out of the ATM and headed to find our train. We then found the train station after a few points in the right direction. We had a confirmation number and I guess that's all we needed. We found our train and within a few minutes we were on our way into Victoria Station on the Gatwick Express. The Gatwick Express had a drink cart for its short 30 minute direct trip...but it made me laugh. Everyone we met along the way was very nice.
When we got into Victoria, we had to make our way to our hostel. Now in America, we are used to grid like streets. Not the case in Europe. Needless to say, we got painfully lost. It's not that often that I get lost...given I have a pretty decent compass, but we had a very undetailed map, and it was in my better judgment not to ask the strange people on the road (they were all shady looking) for directions when its dark and you are just with one other innocent looking girl. After stopping at a Shell station (what up America) and looking at a map, we headed towards our hostel. We stopped for sandwiches at the local Tesco and felt better.
However, we continued to be on the wrong street and walked significantly out of the direction. After about 2 hours of walking from Victoria, we gave up near the Park Place City Hall got into a London Black Cab (so posh and awesome). It made me feel better when it took the cab driver a few minutes to orientate himself with our map and figure out where to go.
He pulled up to our hostel... and we got out, so exhausted and discouraged. The hostel was on this backstreet, kind of desolate, and we had to knock to get in. Claire and I both looked at each other like "I want to go home". We were greeted by the worker who checked us in. We were feeling a little better...until we found our dark room 102 and had to find our bunks in the dark. Our hostel room had 5 bunk beds with bunks stacked 3 high. It is not good hostel etiquette to turn on the lights when its possible people are sleeping..(given it was midnight that applied) so we found our beds in the dark and climbed up. Both of us were all the way on the top. We found a light on our beds so that made us feel better. We were both just not feeling this whole situation but we knew sleep would make us feel better. I didn't sleep very well... kept waking up. At about 3 am, I got up to go to the bathroom and then my key wouldn't work to get back into the room. Luckily the desk is staffed 24/7 so I went down and they reactivated my key. I was hopeful that the morning light would help a little bit.... I was determined to love London.
Pictures of our hostel in the day time... which helped :)
(Bed M...that's me)
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