Here I am, sitting in my posh flat in London, listening to Frank Sinatra. But that last part is just chance, as I've got my itunes on shuffle. Let me tell you about my journey so far...

So I arrived at Sky Harbor around 7:15 and took off at 8:45 as scheduled. I arrived at Dallas Fort Worth a few minutes early and called my Aunt Jill, as she and her bf Norman live there and took the day off to see me because I had a 4 hour layover. (I hadn't seen her since she moved 2 years ago, so it was exciting).

So they pick me up at the airport and we go eat "a big Texas lunch" at this Texas bbq and smoke house. I forget the exact name, fill me in Auntie. Anyway, it was delicious and I had a bbq sandwich, seasoned fries, rolls, nachos, beans, cinnamon apples, and ribs! Yeah, I was full after. After that we stopped by their house, chat, took some pictures, and then I was on my way again. It was cool because when we got to the airport I walk right through security, and right on the other side was my gate, which was boarding! So I pretty much get out of the car and right onto the plane. Very good timing I must say and their airport is set up much different where like each terminal has their own little security.

I was now on my way to New York where I would have an hour layover before my flight to London. On the flight I sat by a lady from Greece who was now on her way home to NY from her vacation in Palm Springs which she spent with friends and her little chuawa (sp!?) Juanita, who was sleeping under the seat in front of her.

At 11 pm, New York time, I was finally on my way to London. I was seated next to one of the guys in a 5 piece band from Portugal! It wasn't like a bunch of cool rockstars, but more like Mr. Bean and his 4 older friends. Haha, it was kind of funny. And what was even funnier is that he would kinda copy what I was watching on the tv. (Every passenger had their own personal tv complete with lots of movies, shows, and games to chose from. It was awesome. And good thing, b/c I couln't sleep, no matter how hard I tried.) So a first I chose this Scorsese doc on the Rolling Stones, and the guy would look to see what I was doing, and then he did it too, and even told one of his friends to watch it. So all three of us were watching this movie together. But then it got boring b/c it was mostly just their concert, and not old footage and stuff, so I switched to Penelope. When I switched, he switched, and would look over to see what I was doing, lol. But he ended up choosing his own movie, College Roadtrip, and I waited for mine to start. After his movie he slept, and after mine I tried, but ended up watching Fool's Gold instead.

We got two meals on the plane. One was this chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans with a salad and water in what looked like a Jell-o container. It was kinda good. Then an hour before landing we got a hot roll with jelly/ : Then we were finally in London and I thought I was going to die soon from sleep deprivation. So then I go through customs no problem, get my bags which both come out like as soon as I got to baggage claim, and then head over to the shuttle to take me to the flat. I finally arrive to the flat about 1:30, which is very nice and quite big. Its almost as big as a house, with a kitchen, entry, living and dining room, 2 bedrooms, and 3 baths! Oh, and I even have a little balcony! And here is the view from that balcony.

So after getting all my stuff in I put on my pjs and hop into bed. I set my alarm for 7:15 and sleep for 5 hours. When I wake up, my new house mate Rob hears me and comes in to introduce himself. Yeah, we just met. So he asks what my plans are for the night tells me we are going out to meet up with some of his friends from work, a fancy insurance company located in the Royal district. So we head down there on the tube and both buy very tasteless sandwiches from a convenience store underground on the way. Luckily, when we got to the pub where his friends would be, they weren't there. Instead, they were at a modern looking Indian restaurant, just about to order. There were 7 guys and one girl sitting at a large table, and I was seated across from Rob in between two of the guys. There was already a glass of white wine at my place and lots of flat wafer like bread with three types of spreads. Then we all ordered meat dishes, rices, flat breads, and sides. The food was amazing. I even tried some flat bread dipped in "the hottest Indian curry". It was funny b/c one of the guys had been talking about how hot it was all night, but then one of the guys showed him up and ate a whole spoonful plain and said it tasted like spicy tomato soup. It was a bet, but he didn't seem to think it was that hot. After that we all tried a bit. My bit was very tiny, but it wasn't bad at all. It reminded me of my Dad's enchiladas in Park City, or when Kevin M ate a bunch of wasabi or something at Jackie's b-day last year. Now that was funny. So yeah, the food was great and everyone was really nice and funny. The guys were all still in suits and stuff having come straight from work, but its cool because in London work and home/outside life isn't so separated like in the States. People go out and drink and eat with the people they work with, so everyone is friends with everyone and they an just relax and don't have to put up some facade at work. In fact, 3 of the 8 people were actually married, but you wouldn't know it because they weren't with their spouses and they were just having fun and being silly. After the food, we went down the street to one of the many pubs. It was packed. There were people everywhere, even outside and across the street. Apparently you can have open alcohol on the streets in London. Only 4 of us had gone to the pub, and we were there for maybe 1.5 hours. Then at like 2am the 4 of us shared a cab home. It was a very fun first night( :
Today I slept till 3pm!! I do not know how that happened, haha. Other than that I took a shower and have been catching up with stuff on the internet, mainly writing this. I think we are going out again tonight. Rob should be home from work soon. He's pretty cool and nice, and he's from Georgia so he has a "southern" accent and apparently I have a "west coast" one. hehe.