Day 2 - Arrival in London


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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » London City
January 23rd 2006
Published: January 24th 2006
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We arrived in London around 12pm, got off the plane and before we got our bags, we had to show them our passports, visas and baggage tags. We got our bags and made our way to the main area where we checked in for our airport tranfers. The bus picked us up at about 1:45pm and people got dropped off at hotels and hostels all over the place. We were the last people on the bus and when the driver realised we were aussies, he started pointing out where all the pubs were in our area! About an hour later, we arrived at our hostel - YHA City of London. The driver reckons its in the middle of nowhere but its just a quieter area than everywhere else which suits us fine!

After we checked in and got our room keys, breakfast vouchers and transport pass, we started to carry the bags to our room...up SEVEN FLIGHTS OF STAIRS!!!!!!!! It was the biggest mission ever but we finally made it after almost falling down the stairs and tripping over. In the end, I think every person in the building knew we were there because of the noise our suitcases made hitting every stair!!

We are in room 39 and it's really small!! Well it might not be that small but with all our bags in there, there is only room to open up the door. It has 2 single beds, a sink, heater(of course), a tv and a small table between the beds. The room would probably be about 3-4m wide and about 6m long.

When we settled ourselves in, we went for a walk to find an ATM which was just around the corner and found a sports shop that had 90% off sales. I came out about 30mins later with a $100 jacket for $15-$20 (Australian).

We were slowly running out of things to do to keep us awake until it was a reasonable hour to go to sleep. Dinner at the hostel is between 5-8pm so at 5 we went straight down to eat. They had a specials menu(all meals £4.95) which was a choice between 3 different chicken dishes, an omelette or lasagne. So seeing as I've been banned from eating chicken or egg, it didnt make the decision too hard! The lasagne was really nice but we were too tired to eat it all.

It was still too early to go to bed and we knew if we went back to the room, we would fall asleep so we bought a phone card and tried ringing home. It took about 30mins to figure it out...we had to dial the pin number, country codes, area code and then the number we wanted to call and we did all that but it still didnt work so we asked the lady at reception and apparently we have to take off the 0 on the area code...so instead of (02) it was (2)...wierdos!! After we called home, we went to bed...that was at about 8pm and had no troubles sleeping!

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24th January 2006

hey, glad to hear your settled in and safe!!! keep reeling in those bargins kell! good job on stering away from that chicken... stick to the other, other white meat ;). Fam says hi and sends their love. Thinking of you guys. Live it up!! Hope to hear from you soon. xxoxoxo
24th January 2006

Hi Kel, I am so happy for you, finally after all the planning and working, the dream begins!! We miss you here already but it's nice to be able to read your journals. I guess no photos yet? Bargain shopping already? Do you have internet access at the hostel or did you have to find an internet cafe? How's the weather, is it cold enough for you? Luv you heaps Mum

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