Made It!

Im here! It was an adventure to get here...you see, Viv booked my flight a month ago, and I never really looked at the flight info...so Tuesday, the day I was to leave, I looked at the flight info. I was flighing Virgin Airlines, a British airline. My flight said it left at 18:00...well, having not gone to Military school nor being taught anything about Military-ness in school or life, I thought 18:00 ment 8:00?!?!?!...I was wrong! Viv called me around 3:00pm on Tuesday to see how I was doing, and what I was doing...I answered and was like, Oh, I'm curling my hair getting ready for the flight, which I thought I had ample time for...he was a little confused, and after a brief conversation, for which he informed me my flight left in 3 hours, NOT 5 hours!..CRAP!!!!! I wasn't even done packing....I called a cab up, and within 20 minutes had thrown stuff into my suitcase, gotten dressed, and was on the expressway on my way to O'hare. (no, i didn't have the luxury of time to finish curing my hair...half my hair was literally curled, the other half straight..nice look!?) After telling the cab driver I would throw in an exra $20.00 for him to speed, I made it with a moment to spare to the airport. It was close, but I made the flight (Viv thought there way no way I was making it and had already looked into another flight) The good news, I made the flight...the bad news, I didn't get to say goodbye to my Mom. So sad, but I think it was better this way, her and I would have been a royal mess had she driven me to the airport.

The flight was great, I slept the entire time. I was almost home to my new London address, but still had one more obstacle...customs.

When you enter a new country, they have you fill out this info sheet on the plane and ask questions like, how long are you staying in the country, why are you here, and where are you staying while in the country. Well, I was staying in the country a little longer then they would like, until Sept 6th, I have a return flight to attend a wedding. When I stepped up to the podium for them to "interview" me and see if I'm acceptable to enter the country, they came at me fast. Right away, the fact that I was staying in London for longer then 3 weeks made them a little suspicious. The customers officer asked for another, higher, officer to come over, and he asked me questions like, why am i here, who am i staying with, why am i here for so long...well, he must have not liked my answers, because he asked for someone else to come question me...so here I am, a little dozed over from an 8 hour flight, trying to get into the Uk, and i have 3 customs officers asking me crazy, detailed questions. This third guy asked me where Viv and I met, what I did for a living, how was I able to take a leave, when was I going back to my job, and long had Viv and I dated. It was a little scary, i will admit...but I'm totally legit! Well, they let me through...FEW!!

So my first day in the UK wasn't off to the right start, in fact, I almost didn't even get in! Viv picked me up at Heithro, and we took the tube home. I was so tired that all I wanted to do was go back to sleep (it was about 4am US time) Viv decided to go into work, which was perfect because I need a cat-nap. I took a lovely nap and woke up fresh and ready to unpack. Keith had cleared out a lovely wardrobe for me. I unpacked and got myself settled in a then left for lunch and a scenic tour of shopping with Marchella. Marchella is Viv's flat-mate, and so lovely that she deserves her own blog. She took me to Chelsea, a posh London neighborhood that had amazing shops and restaurants. Just a walk away, we had lunch at "farmers market" It is one of the few restaurants that you can eat outdoors. I had a salad of roasted butternut squash, feta cheese, and some kinda nut over baby greens..delish. After lunch, we walked to Kings Street, down the road. Marchella did some shopping at Reiss, Zara and a cute shoe shop..I watched her shop, giving her fashion advise! (It was a little painful, not shopping for myself, that is....but overall, not so bad) We, meaning Marchella, stopped for a cigarette break at a park, where Londoners were basking in the hardly-ever-see sun. It was 30 degrees today, which means about 70 degrees, I think. After a short walk home, Viv and I went to the store to make a dinner of sear-roasted tuna with fresh green beans and rice...delish!

It was truly a great first day!