Well, I made it. 30 or so hours later, I’m in London!

Passed effortlessly through customs and made my way to the tube station. I didn’t want to turn on my data so I just guessed as to the stop to get out on. BFF was in St. John’s Wood and my hostel was near there, so I picked the stop called St. John’s Wood. I switched from the Piccadilly Line to Cockfoster (hee hee) and got on the Jubilee Line to Stansomethingorother. Got off at the right stop and realized I had no idea where to go. No map, just an address and a vague neighborhood. Adventure!

So I turned on data roaming and found I was 1.2 miles away on foot. Cool. I started walking, checking my email along the way. BFF said to call in an email, so I did that. Turns out she was staying only a block from the tube station I got out at! Made my way back, met her hosts, dropped off my backpack, borrowed a bus pass and a map and got solid directions to the hostel. Adventure with directions!

I found the hostel easy enough. It’s also a pub, but there were only about six people there at 1 in the morning UK time. Got checked in, poked around in the dark room full of dudes sleeping and found a spot to sleep. Sleep being the operative word there. I spent about an hour counting the springs in the mattress. I spent another hour marveling at how the water didn’t turn off all the way and was dripping. Drip, drip, drip, drip… Eventually I got too tired to stay awake.

This morning there’s free cereal and toast! I’m now going to go meet up with BFF and we’re going to go to the English countryside after wandering around the town doing something. After a day or two out there, I’m going to head to Paris next via the train. Yay!