Day 1.5 - London

So after much planning anxiety, we got on the plane last night and went to London. Jon's dad drove us to Newark airport, where we caught a Virgin Atlantic flight overnight to Heathrow. After sleeping on an air mattress for a few nights in a row before that, trying to recline in coach wasn't the most comfortable sleep. But we fast-forwarded through the night, and landed in London at 8:50 a.m., which should have been about 2 a.m. normal time. Thus, we were and still are beat. But we're in London - you can't just throw in the towel that easily.

After landing in London we took the tube in from Heathrow to our stop at Gloucester Street. It was pretty crazy riding on the thing, hearing 'mind the gap' every single stop, and seeing just how massive London is. The thing was packed, we didn't even really get into the city, and the ride still took almost an hour.

Getting off the tube, we walked down Cromwell street to find the hostel we're staying at, which is called the Astor Kensington. The neighborhood we're in is ridiculously nice. About one out of every five cars is a Porsche, or at least it seems that way, and the cops drive around in BMWs. That said, the entrance to our hostel is a barely noticeable hole in the wall at 138 Cromwell St. Inside though, it's decent, and taking a shower was nice, even if I had to dry off with a weird microfiber towel. We're staying with 8 other people in our room that we haven't met yet, so hopefully they're alright too! Also Kate and our other two friends are staying in London too right now, so maybe we'll catch up one of these days and do something fun.

Anyway, this afternoon we went out to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which are pretty close to our hostel. The park is enormous and really nice. The hedges there are even thicker than in the Hamptons - and that's difficult to achieve. We saw the Albert Memorial, Princess Diana Memorial, and the old Kensington Palace. We don't know too much about these places because we are too poor too afford the tours (or even admission), but they looked cool from the outside nonetheless. Then we took a stroll down a few back streets and grabbed some food from a Mediterranean? type place where we ordered chicken kabobs that were pretty satisfying after having walked around for 5 miles. London's big, walking's tiring, and you're liable to be hit by a car at any moment because you're likely looking the wrong way for traffic out of habit.

Also, we got a phone so we can be in touch with people throught the trip (it was cheap). The number is, apparently, 011447918103774. Give a ring if you're feeling bored - it won't cost us anything, only you! Gotta go for now, but I think tomorrow we'll be doing the classic touristy stuff to write about.

And go Pens! ha


Our Street - Cromwell St


Random church thing on Cromwell St


Hyde Park


Albert Memorial


Kensington Palace Gardens