Day 1: London: First impressions

My plane landed at Heathrow about six hours ago. It was a good flight in (thanks to the good folks at Air Canada for that!). I wanted to fly a European airline over here because I've heard the service is exponentially better than it is on U.S. airlines, so I wasn't sure where Air Canada would fit on that spectrum. I think they're probably somewhere in the middle. They served two meals on the flight... and I am happy to report they met my most basic need: free booze. So I had a glass of red wine with dinner. I was expecting to have a few more than that, but I fell asleep instead. On the tube into London, I realized that I'm glad I didn't get shitty. Day one in a new town... going through customs... already smelling bad from wearing the same clothes for more than a day... drinking heavily would not be a good idea To get through customs and to navigate my way through the airport, let alone the city, I had to be on. Being drunk would have been stupid. That was not the time or the palce to not be in total control. This revelation also leads me to think that I might not drink as much as I orignially thought I would. We'll see......

Three countries and five time zones in two days can to a lot to a person's body. They make two days flow seamlessly into one another the way two days are not meant to do. The night kind of gets lost in there and I am feeling the effects of that right now. Walking around London, it has felt like my body was moving but I was not in control of it. Very oddly surreal. If this entry has no mistakes, it will be a miracle.

The tube is cool. Reminds me a lot of NYC's Subway more than Washington's Metro. The trains seem very 1950s futuristic looking. I got off at the Charing Cross station which put me right in Trafalgar Square. It was then that I realized I didn't have a clue where I was going and worse yet, Londoners apparently don't feel like spending money on adequate street signs is a good investment. So I wandered around a bit before I got my bearings, found my hotel, and Stacey met me (THANK YOU!).

So far, so good here. One last thought: I know they say you should stay up all day the first day someone flies to Europe so that the sleep schedules are correct, but I don't think I'll make it. It's already 5:00 here and I'm fading fast.