From my British Airways seat:
I was fascinated by how tiny the Sprite can was!
The windows didn't have covers; instead, they had tints that actually worked very well and you could adjust how much sunlight you wanted to let in on a gradient
This came with my meal, and since I didn't know that the flight attendants would come by afterwards to offer us tea or coffee, for which we could use this milk, I just drank it.
As soon as I landed, I had a weird interaction with the customs agent. He was very skeptical of everything I was telling him, and told me to reconsider Ghana because Ebola was there already. I was pretty sure it wasn't (though I hadn't checked in a couple days, so I couldn't say for sure), but everything he said just seemed so judgmental that I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I went directly on the Connect train from Heathrow to London Paddington. It took me forever to figure out how to get there and use the train, but I eventually figured it out. I was fortunate that my hostel was within reasonable walking distance of the Paddington train station, so I walked to it to check in and leave my luggage down. I then proceeded to try to find the Marble Arch and Hyde Park (Tip for people interested in London: you really don't need any cash, especially with a credit card that doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee. If you feel more comfortable with cash, just wait until you get into London and walk to any place that has a cash-exchange place because you will get a significantly better deal exchanging there, especially because of the competition):
I was ridiculously exhausted from the flight, and definitely jet-lagged, so I found a random bench in Hyde Park and laid down for a little bit. From a pamphlet that I'd picked up in the hostel, I knew that there would be a free tour of the East side of London in the afternoon, so I made my way there. Keep in mind that this navigation is testing my map-reading like nothing else ever has before and that my feet were hurting the way that only happens when you travel to a city in which everything is within walking distance.
On the tour, I actually met three other Longhorns - one alumnus and two who had just finished up studying abroad in Spain. Awesome!
Anyways, we walked past Buckingham Palace:
And then saw the British army people guarding Prince Harry's house (they perform a short walk every ten minutes to keep their blood flowing)
And then a couple of just pretty buildings that we walked past:
I also snuck some pictures of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben!
And a look at the iconic phone booths of London:
By this time, my feet are killing me. Nevertheless, I am too chicken to try to figure out how to use the subway system, so I end up trying to walk back to my hostel. I'm not bad with directions and maps, never have been, but the lack of cellular data is daunting. Since I don't want to spend the money to get a taxi, though, I head back towards Buckingham Palace. Along the way, there are several gorgeous sights:
I stayed in front of Buckingham Palace for a long time to give my feet another rest, and then head back to the hostel.
By the time I get back, I'm thoroughly exhausted, but I know that I have to plan out the next day so that I'm not wandering around aimlessly with a bunch of time that I end up wasting. The hostel is decent, but definitely not a hotel. I chose a room with 8 people; all the beds were occupied, but people were respectful of the space, keeping to themselves and keeping quiet. There's only one bathroom and it's tiny, but I couldn't have expected much more than that for the price I paid. Overall, good first day in the city!
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