London Layover

June 1, 2009

London, England

For me, a typical layover involves rushing to the departure gate, seeing the flight is delayed by 2 hours, then finding something that resembles food and settling into an uncomfortable vinyl chair to people watch and count down the minutes.  So, when Robbie, Hillary, and Tahra offered to save me from a 12-hour layover on my way home from Dubai by touring me around London, I was ecstatic.  This would be my first glimpse of Europe and, though it would truly be just a glimpse, I was determined to soak it in.

Unfortunate timing and an inability to sleep on planes conspired against me, making me already awake for more than 20 hours when I arrived.  I paused in the bathroom to brush my teeth in an attempt to ditch that fuzzy daze you get when you travel, and then we were off in Robbie’s Mini Cooper.

A pretty London street-- the city was full of beautiful old architecture.

The roads were marked to remind silly American tourist like myself to watch the right direction for traffic.

In those brief hours, we traipsed all across the city in a whirlwind tour that I’m still not really sure how I managed to stay awake for.  Somehow, we hit Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the Tower Bridge, watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace, walked under the London Bridge, snagged fish and chips for lunch, rode the underground, and tried to walk through the King’s Cross barrier to reach Platform 9 ¾.  (You’re never too old for Harry Potter.)

Big Ben

Hillary and Tahra in front of Westminster Abbey

Me in front of Buckingham Palace with my 99 Flake-- a delicious London dessert combining soft serve and Cadbury chocolate

The Tower Bridge (NOT London Bridge)

Shakespeare's Globe Theater, from across the river

Thoroughly exhausted, I finally said goodbye to London and hopped the train back to Heathrow.  I made it just in time to take a ride on the world’s longest escalator, buy a Cadbury chocolate bar with my last pounds, and board the plane back to the States.  By the time I made it back to Madison—again without sleeping on the plane—I calculated that I had been awake for 45 hours straight.  But it was so much better to spend that time seeing everything I could than sitting zoned out in an airport.  As they say, you can sleep when you’re dead.

The world's longest escalator-- picture snapped as I literally ran to catch my plane.