Saturday Morning.

I am in London!

My morning went a little like this…
.
Alarm went off around 6:15am and I found myself craving a day of sleeping in, but I couldn’t argue with myself since I knew London was only a few hours away.
Was too tired to take the train from Amsterdam into Schipol so I jumped into a cab from the hotel. Or maybe it was my booze-induced headache; whatever. I didn’t feel like schlepping my luggage over in up down and around the station.
I get to the airport way too early, but I guess better too early than too late.
Killed some time in the shops and bought some of my favorite Milka chocolate… the kind with the huge hazelnuts engulfed in a sea of milk chocolate. I was never a chocolate person, but this stuff may make me convert.
Ate chocolate hazelnut deliciousness for breakfast.
Why? Because I felt like it. Haha..
Planned my London arrival in my head.
Find ATM. Get pounds.
Buy 1-way Gatwick Express ticket. Get on Gatwick Express. Double make sure it’s the right train. Keep track of belongings.
Don’t lose passport.
Went to the terminal way ahead of time. Waited for the gate to be announced.
Waited.
Waited.
Waited.
There is no seating area. Just a huge crowd of people staring up at this one monitor waiting for the gate to post.
Waited some more.
Finally it posted 25 min. before the flight was due to leave.
Everyone flying to Gatwick took off to the gate like a herd of cattle.
Waited in boarding area like a herd of cattle (no assigned seats since it’s one of those discount airlines).
Finally boarded and said good-bye to Amsterdam. Very short flight, under an hour in the air.
Oh and I was able to buy my Gatwick Express ticket on the plane via credit card. 16 pounds. What a deal.
Got into Gatwick. Walked about a mile or more to customs.
Got my passport stamped!
Picked up luggage. Went to South terminal to catch the train. Now here is where I can see that it’s easy to get on the wrong train. Yes, there are signs everywhere saying which train is going where, but when all you’re thinking about is getting to the city to
Eat
Drink Pimms & Lemonade
Shop
See a play
Visit a museum
Get lost in the city
It’s easy for the mind to wander and just step on the wrong train in over-excitement.
Luckily this didn’t happen to me. I asked to be sure and then asked again. I was headed to nonstop Victoria station.
And here I am.
On the Gatwick Express.
Weather is cold. As in -7 degrees Celsius. Whatever that converts to? Very cloudy and foggy. Feels a tad warmer than Amsterdam though.
I’ll try to find some Wi-Fi somewhere around my hotel to post this.
More to come!
Xo
L