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Published: January 18th 2007
Although Sarah and I have been planning this trip for months, the commencement of our journey still managed to come as something of a surprise to us. The days leading up to Wednesday were packed full of last minute travel tasks and left us very little time to get truly excited. It wasn't until Sarah and I were sat in a YVR restaurant, after having said tearful goodbyes to our friends and families, that it donned on us. We are going to India!
Of course, we had a scheduled stop in London for ten days first. At 7:30pm Wednesday evening, we made our way to gate D52, (not D56 as Sarah had confidently declared) and sat across from one another repeating the phrase, "I can't believe we're actually going", over and over until our tongues went numb. We then continued to communicate that same phrase to each other through a series of blinks and snorts. (Just kidding, Sarah never snorts....) Our plane took off on time and we were lucky enough to be surrounded by screaming children for the enitre nine hour flight. After the many days without much sleep that led up to our departure, even screaming children could not keep us from nodding off. The majority of our flight was uneventful until we began our descent into London. High winds and a back log of landing planes kept us circling the city for nearly an hour. As we lost altitude, the plane was rocked harder and harder by the wind. To steal a quote from a Brit in Heathrow, "It was like being on a rollercoaster, only worse, because at least you know you're safe on a rollercoaster". He exaggerated a little bit, it wasn't quite that bad and little did we know, the real fun was only just beginning.
Sarah is a British citizen and I am not so that meant different passport point lines for each. Of course my line was much longer and before I had even made it to the front, Sarah had already zipped right through. When a non-British citizen enters the country, the are to fill out a landing card. You give a few pieces of redundant information and are also asked to give an address at which you will be staying while in the UK. I've been here twice before and both times left the address line empty. Both times they welcomed me with open arms onto their island. Today however, I left the line blank and was refused entry. Unless I had the exact address of where I was staying it was a one-way ticket back to Canada for me. As they raised me onto the stake and held the innocent little Canadian girl up to prove their lack of discrimination, Laura from Terminal 4 Immigration was calling our host, David to confirm that I was not a bomber, and that if I was, he was at least expecting my presence at his flat in West London. Meanwhile, I was being interrogated at Terminal 4 Immigration. I had to prove I had money, a ticket to go further on to India, that I could spin plates on top of sticks while dancing the macarena and that David Branton was not a figment of my imagination. Eventually, a bit of persistance and a kind demeanour was prooving to be entirely futile so I decided to play dirty. I quivered my lip and scrunched up my nose and that sap of an immigration officer gave me a pat on my back and sent me on my way.
My rush to the baggage claim was all for naught. Sarah sat in front of carousel 4 with an empty trolly and a look of exhaustion. Due to the high winds it had been impossible for the baggage handlers to remove any crates from the cargo hold, save for two. Since Sarah and I had checked in to the Vancouver airport quite early, we figured first one in equals last one out and prepared ourselves for a long wait. At least our luggage hadn't wound up in Nice. Much to our delight, the carousel popped out all four pieces of our (very heavy) luggage like a hen lays eggs, and we set off to find the tube.
They call it the "Underground" but that is deceptive. Large portions of the track are, in fact, above ground. As we watched the turtles, snails and sloths zoom past us, our train crawled along due to "speed restrictions implimented because of fallen trees on the tracks." It took us about two hours to reach David at his tube station. He was surprised we had even made it. When Sarah and I stood in front of the giant Underground tube map at Heathrow, we contemplated our best route. There were about four or five possible options. We chose one that had the least number of stops, although on the map it looked as though were were going a little bit out of our way. We chalked it up to the deception of the tube maps and were on our Oyster way. We fought through the throngs of Londoners just off from work, ignored the minging smell of the London Underground and lugged our large luggage up and down stairs and in and out of packed trains. We were like little English sardines making our way into your salade nicoise. (or are those anchovies?) As I said, David was surprised to see us. This isn't because he doubted our directional capabilities. We found out that nine of twelve Underground lines were closed because of the wind. Had we taken any other route, we probably would not have made it.
The journey was starting to wear on us by this point but it was great to see David again. He is a schoolmate of my (ex)roomates (sniff sniff) and I met him earlier this summer in Wales. This relationship and much more was critiqued and scrutinized by immigration before they let me in. A double decker bus took us to David's flat in West London and I can honestly say I've never been more elated to see a futon than this very evening. After some banter, some television and some wine, I was just about dead to the world. David had plans to have Indian food with his friends. Sarah has gone along and I have party-pooped. My goal is to stay up until 9pm so as to avoid being too jet lagged. It is 830 now; I think I may make it.
So, to make a long story short, Sarah and I have arrived safely in London. We are excited to begin our trip and I am ready for a very long, very deep sleep. All the best to all of you. I will write again when we have accumulated some London antics.
Chip chip cheerio!
Carlie
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A. Karen
non-member comment
Happy to hear you and Sarah arrived safely. Thoroughly enjoyed reading your journal. Let the adventure begin!