First Moments of a Dream

Stepping from the plane was an invigorating experience not only was I free from the confines of one of my greatest fears but I was also starting one of my biggest dreams, I was in Europe, London to be exact.

To confirm my disbelief of being in London I turned and looked out of the clear glass window of Heathrow airport to see row upon row of British Airways planes of all sizes. I was immediately amused to think that Austin Powers was going to jump out of a corner yell some quick one-liner followed by "yeah baby" and the entire place was going to turn into a groovin 60's party. You can already guess where I get my true knowledge about Britain and many other places in the world. I think Nick put it best a little bit later by saying, "It has an odd Dawn of the Dead resemblance", which couldn't have been more true.

I was waiting to see Austin Powers jump out and say, "yeah! baby! yeah!"

My comrades and I quickly went through customs, an amazing feat. I didn't even have to stop, I just showed my European passport and was let through. We quickly headed toward the Piccadilly line, it took us a moment to figure out the currency to buy our ticket. Who ever heard of a 2 dollar or pound coin. In America anything that is a coin is probably not that significant in monetary value.

We got on the Picadilly line and got a great view of the suburbs of London. We were even able to see an elderly man with only pants on, in perfect view of the subway (at the time it was above ground) receiving a thorough shaving from his loyal wife.

As we passed through several suburbs it was amazing to see all the houses all squished together all looking the same, just like the Dursley's house in a Harry Potter film.

The tube reminded me somewhat of Mr. Toads wild ride. A slighty bumpy means of travel that just didn't quite feel like a usually form of public travel, however, there were a fair few people riding along with us in the morning commute.

After getting off the tube as I feel experienced enough to call it now we rose to street level via a huge elevator or lift. As we reached the surface our eyes were greeted by so many new experiences it was hard to take them all in. Big red buses, red phone booths with pictures of naked women in them, huge brick buildings that lined the streets(a big no-no in Los Angeles due to earthquakes), and some odd form of the English language.

We strolled over to our hotel which was quite convenient due to how close it was to the subway and quickly left for a true English breakfast. Because I was quite hungry due to my appetite being insignificant on the plane I partook in a quite large meal. I had bacon that was much thicker and fattier than its American counterpart, I also had eggs over easy, toast, sausage and beans?! (Something that was quite unexpected in a meal at that time of the day.)

Imagine if you will, that you have decided to travel halfway around the world. You get in a metal box filled with people coughing, little children crying and an annoying Asian man describing every detail of the plane from what model and year the plane was to the chances of something going wrong; charming fellow. After you exit the plane after what has seemed to be a lifetime you enter into a totally different world. One where common sense to you is about as worthless as the money that you currently possess in your wallet. Even something as simple as crossing the street takes a bit more skill. You realize that you are living one of the most amazing moments of your lifetime and also one of your scariest. This is how I felt.

As breakfast was dissolving in our stomachs the trio of us (my friends and I) started off by doing the most important thing you can do when traveling, we bought a map.

Now that we had refueled it was off to do the first thing that every person between the ages of 16 and 30 do once they get to Europe, hit the bar! We made our way back to our hotel and went to the large bar that is located within. Nick and Jessie finally had their first legal beer. It was just amazing sitting at a bar in the middle of the day talking and just enjoying the moments and seem perfectly normal. In the states if your indoors drinking anytime while the sun is up your an alcoholic.

After consuming a couple of Tatley's (a dark beer) we took to the streets. My preconception of England was that all women had bad teeth and hideous scowls. Ok, I admit I was wrong. England is filled with beautiful people. An interesting fact that I didn't know was that London is somewhat of a party town alot of foreigners come for the weekend to party at the local bars and clubs. It should also be known that where we were staying (Russell's Square) is a bit touristy due to the contiki tours headquarters at the Royal Hotel so the average age is probably about 25 or 26.

As we walked through the British Streets it was amazing to see how patriotic the British people are. Mind you we were in Europe doing the World Cup. Almost every building had a white flag with a red cross on it. A common misconception that I think alot of people have is that most people think of England referring to themselves as Great Britain, with their blue white and red flag. Apparently, after 2,000 years they still don't really like each other.

As the day approached evening I decided it was time to have a quick look in the British Museum. I've always heard that the British stole from just about every culture known to man, and while I can't disagree I wasn't that impressed with the museum. It was relatively small considering the hype. And the artifacts were pretty mediocre. I admit though that the Asian collection, especially "the shiva" was an amazing specimen which really brought me back to my Art History days.

Walking through the streets of London I came to realize how laid back all the people in London really are. In Los Angeles, everyone is in a rush no one cares who you are or what your about. In London it is totally different. We walked into a building that had a big sign out in front saying. World Cup games here. Have a beer and watch the game. To our surprise we walked into a building that had about two small rooms, just about the size of a large living room. There was a mini-bar at one side and a couple of "gents" sitting around watching one of the games. Did we just walk into somebody's house? That's what it felt like!

By 6pm London time, I was pretty burnt and retired to our hotel room. Nick and Jessie, a bit more enthusiastic about the day decided to go out and hit the clubs. About 3 hours later, Nick and Jessie come back in a relatively bad mood apparently, most clubs close at about 10pm in London, and the only one's that are open are gay bar's. I got a good laugh at how they almost mistakenly walked into a gay bar.

The first day in London was a complete success. I was finally living my dream of going to Europe. If the first day in this beautiful day had gone this well, I was overwhelmed to think about what the rest of this trip was going to bring!