London calling...

MEMORABLOG: 18.11.1998

Its was a cold November morning. My alarm started ringing at 4:30 am with the song »L'ombelico del mondo« - the belly of the world - loudly. Anyway, it was a short night, as packing was done into long night hours. So, i picked up Adi some 30 minutes later, just as he was just getting his hair cut (at 5am in the morning hehe)... actually, he didn't even go to sleep, funny (straight from work, but hey, he was seriously tired afterwards in the day)... My dad then drove us to the airport, and i got seriously annoyed by his slow driving... But OK, better safe than sorry, as our trip was just starting ;)

So, our first stop was London, an overnight stop and British Airways arranged us a nice, but overpriced hotel (arguably, it was payed by BA, so i didn't care - but the breakfast was really miserable - so, i really would recommend Russel Square hotel). Actually, we were quite surprised, how London is expensive... i had some 30 pounds, and Adi had some pounds less... so we had to survive 3 full days (2 going there, and 1 back) in London with that... impossible... We were actually typical tourists, just without any aid. No maps, no money, nothing. But we managed to get a right in a double decker, we saw Trafalgar Square, Buckingham palace, Big Ben and eventually we got lost in Soho... Food was miserable... all that we could afford was fast-food... When traveling from the airport Adi had a misfortune and his backpack got torn THE FIRST DAY of our trip, so... But I liked London. I liked the buzz around London, and surely i will come back some other day...

Some adrenaline rush was made by our visit to Victoria Coach Station, as we almost missed the bus... Well, not almost missed, but we were some 15 minutes early... and the bus was just leaving... damn, isn't that a bit early? Not really, that bus is 1,5 hours late, so the next bus, due to go in 15 minutes, will be canceled... that would also mean missing the plane... but OK... it was the cheapest and apparently also the slowest transport to Gatwick...