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Published: July 15th 2013
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2005-12-31 23.00.00-163
The Back of Westminster Abbey My first flight was Chicago to Heathrow in London. Luckily, Given my stopover was almost 15 hours, I went through customs to leave the airport and get into the city. I topped up my oyster card, hopped on the Piccadilly line and rode into the city center. I walked around some – oh, how I can just walk in London all day long.
The itinerary for the day included meeting with one of my friends, Isaby, from Parliament. He now works for the Tax Payer Alliance in London. He was really busy working on getting press releases and things together for the day as the MP’s in Parliament announced that day that they would be increasing their own pay – not something that Tax-Payers like to hear. I mainly stayed around Westminster. Prior to meeting with Isaby, I found a little café, got a latte and did some of my schoolwork. After all, school is why I am on this trip in the first place.
Around half past noon, I met with Isaby and he took me to a quaint sandwich shop. I got a salami sandwich toasted with tomatoes and basil. It was delicious, but difficult to eat.
We caught up on each other’s lives, even though we haven’t seen each other in about seven years – we had a lot to talk about! He had to get back to work about about an hour or so; therefore, I had the rest of the afternoon to myself.
After we departed on our separate ways, I did some more walking. I decided to go to Covet Garden to check out some of the hotels where we will stay for the honeymoon. Oddly enough, I discovered Zara in Covet Garden. I say oddly, which really should be ironically, because the case study I was working on for my Strategy class at the café earlier in the morning was regarding Zara. So, I did what I do best and went into Zara to shop! I bought a couple of really cheap tank tops – something I could change under my tunic.
My last and final stop in London was South Ken – which was where I lived when I was there. I got a coffee at the shop where I got coffee every morning back in the day – how nostalgic!?! It was getting to be almost rush hour
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I just liked the orthodox garb..reminds me of Russia ;) time, and my first were hurting so, I decided to head back to the airport. It was about four hours prior to my flight, but I estimated it would take about an hour or so to get to Heathrow from where I was in London. In reality, it took about 1.25 hrs, so I was pretty close. I got checked in, went through security.
Good thing I gave myself time, because my bag got tagged by security to be check. They literally took EVERYTHING out of my backpack – EVERYTHING! Remember, I checked one bag and then had everything else in my backpack AND had made a few purchases in London…It was a very humbling experience.
After I got everything back in my bag, I headed to the waiting area until they announced the gate for my flight to New Delhi. During this time, I was able to connect with my mom via Hangout from the WiFi. It was nice because London is only six hours different from the Midwest, so I knew she would be around – acutally she was getting her jeep fixed, so I knew she would be bored!
My flight got called and
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A lovely London roadway I was overcome with a sense of deep apprehension. I was all alone travelling to a culture completely different from my own. I had no idea what to expect, no idea. Part of my nervousness stemmed from the unknown. I was relying on trusting people I don’t know, I have never met to keep me safe. Granted, the business manager from Oshkosh Corporation was arranging much of the driver and what not. Originally, my plan was just to arrive, meet my driver, go to the hotel, unpack, sleep and catch up on homework. Little did I know, things would not go according to plan.
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