I'm at a Payphone

Hey, guys! This past weekend was a very exciting one! Louise and I went to London and it was amazing. I loved every second of it and wouldn't change a thing about all that we got to see and do. The only thing I had a small issue with was the cost! It was very expensive, especially compared to US dollars. For every $10, you barely get 6 sterling. I became poorer the second I stepped into the United Kingdom! Nonetheless, it was still easily one of the best experiences I've had this summer.

We started the trip out very late Friday evening/early Saturday morning. Since Louise had to work Friday, we took a late flight that didn’t get to London until nearly one in the morning. Needless to say, we were very tired when we arrived at our hostel! We had lots of time to waste at the airport beforehand though, as you can see below. :)

Aren't our different passports cute side by side? We liked the contrast!

Also, Louise told me something hilarious that I just have to share. In casual conversation, she was telling me about a colleague who was out sick. He apparently just had a small virus, but Louise referred to it as “the man flu.” She breezed right over the term, continuing on with her story, but I stopped her to ask what that was. She laughed, and remarked that she was surprised I’d never heard the term. Apparently, that’s what they say in Ireland about guys when they get sick. This is how she explained it: “Oh yeah, ya know when a man gets sick and it’s just a typical hay fever but they act like they’re on the verge of death? Yeah, that’s the man flu.” I thought it was totally amusing and adorable. Sorry fellas, but it’s true.

Anyway, our airport was about an hour outside of London’s city center, so we prearranged for bus tickets to take us there. When we arrived just after two in the morning, we didn’t want to bother with trying to walk to our hostel especially because we didn’t know its exact location. I hailed us a taxi, and the driver promptly pulled over. Proceeding as what I thought was the usual, I reached for the back door and tried to open it. No such luck. I looked back at Louise, who shrugged, and I pulled on the handle again. Nothing! It wouldn’t budge. I saw the driver look over his shoulder at me, and I began yanking on the door again thinking that maybe he would notice he accidentally left it locked. That’s when Louise walked to the passenger window, and asked if we could have a lift. Very obviously annoyed, he spat, “Depends. You need to tell me where you’re going first.” So….within ten minutes of being in London, we learned an important lesson: you must inform the taxi driver where you’d like to go before you’re let inside the vehicle. If only someone would have explained this to me before I stood on a curbside yanking the door handle as hard as I could for a solid twenty seconds. London: 1. Alyssa: 0.

We eventually got to our hostel and had a look around. It seemed pretty decent and safe enough. To be honest, at three in the morning and tired from a full day of work, all we wanted was a bed. As we were checking in, the male receptionist heard my accent and immediately recognized me as an American. First thing out of his mouth? “You know Chuck Norris? THAT’S AMERICA!!!” I just kind of half laughed, hoping he would give us our keys and let us go sleep in peace. Yet, he continued in a really over-enthused tone: “You know Pauly D? THAT’S AMERICA!!!” I laughed again, seriously hoping this guy would just give it a rest. Ha. Nope! “You know David Hasslehof? THAT’S AMERICA!!!” Finally though, he gave us our room cards and as I walked away I said, “I hope you know you chose the worst representatives possible for America. Goodnight.” That was probably harsh. Sorry, man. I was tired.

After getting some good rest, Louise and I got up around 10. We had big plans for the day! We were to see two shows on The West End, a matinee and an evening performance. We knew we were seeing Wicked, but the second show depended on prices and availability. We had decided to buy our tickets on the day, and if you know me you know that it put me on edge not having everything pre-planned and pre-purchased. It worked out though, as it always does, and we got amazing deals! We ended up choosing The Phantom of the Opera for our second show. We paid less than 25 pounds for each performance, and our seats were amazing. I was in such awe watching the productions because I’d never seen a live show before. Now, I can’t wait to go back! :)

Afterwards, we found a little restaurant that served familiar food so we decided to give it a try. They definitely get an A+ on presentation!

Other random highlight: we successfully found a payphone. It’s such a London must! 

Cue Adam Levine.

The next morning, we were none too pleased to find out that breakfast is only served in our hostel from 7-9. Louise and I joked that they probably kept those hours to save revenue knowing students would never wake up that early! :) Despite the painful wake up call, I still made it because we had to check out by 10 o’clock anyway. After we left, we set out for The London Eye to get the best view of the city possible! It was worth every single penny (or every single pents? I don't know...I can't keep up with all this currency), and we even upgraded to the champagne experience. Our guide kept us laughing the whole time—even making fun of Louise and asking if she was old enough to join us with a drink. I suppose she doesn’t look to be 24, but that’s a good thing, right? ;)

After the ferris wheel, we set out to find Buckingham Palace. It was enormous and very posh! One thing that I’ll admit I was a little disappointed about was that the famous guards were inside the gates! You couldn’t even get close to them. I wanted to take some selfies beside them, or try to make them smile or watch them all simultaneously turn to face another direction. Not this time, but that’s okay! I still got to snap some photos and see a famous site.

By that point, we really needed lunch so we set out to find somewhere cheap and easy. Guys, guess what we stumbled upon.

Hello, beautiful.

Yep, that’s right. Chipotle. Cue the heaven choir.

We had just enough time before our flight to do a little shopping, so we headed over to a famous store called Primark. We actually have the same store in Dublin, although it’s called Penneys. I didn’t want to buy anything that I could get in Ireland, so I went with a bunch of tacky London gear of course! I got the cutest rain jacket with double decker buses and the famous guards all over it, even though Louise joked that I should heed caution wearing that around Dublin for fear I’ll get booed or something. Whatever. I’m such a tourist.

Other random things to note:

-Early on in the weekend when we were trying to figure out the tube system, we would ask people what stop would be best to access the theatres. They kept saying what we thought was “Jury Street.” Seriously, at least four people said that to us, so we thought that must definitely be the stop we were looking for. To our confusion, though, there were no J’s on the tube map and it went in alphabetical order. We didn’t understand why we couldn’t find it, until finally someone enunciated the stop to us. It was actually “Drury Street” that we were looking for the whole time. Whoops. Suffice it to say, Louise and I had a good laugh about that. London: 2. Alyssa: 0.
-The tubes are very far  underground, so you have to take escalators to get back above ground once you've arrived at your destination. Louise and I just lackadaisically hopped on and blocked the whole aisle as we waited to ascend to street level. After a few seconds, a very impatient man pushed past us and gave us a scowl on the way by. We wondered why he was in such a bad mood/hurry, but we didn't think twice of it. Then, a few seconds later, a similar thing happened! A woman in a very flustered voice said EXCUSE ME as she made her way to the left side past us on the escalator. That's when we realized that you're supposed to stand to the right, pass to the left. SOR-RYYYYYY GUYS, WE DIDN'T KNOW! That's it, London, you win.
-I actually liked Ryan Air. I thought the classical music playing on board was a really nice touch, and all of the attendants were pleasant enough. I feel bad for them for having such a negative reputation! On the other hand though, both flights were delayed by an hour, so I suppose I can see where people might be annoyed by that. In Ryan Air’s defense, they came over the loud speaker both times and apologized! They’ve got a loyal customer in me, at least.

To put it simply: this weekend was unforgettable and I left a little piece of my heart in London. It was lovely, the accents were brilliant and the performances were so amazing. I can’t wait to go back some day! Thanks for reading, yall!

Xox,

Alyssa