European Trip April 2015

I arrived at San Diego airport about 5 a.m. Sunday March 29, 2015, for my departure flight to London at 6:45 a.m.

I had about 2 hrs of sleep that morning. I was feeling ok until about 1 hr 30 min. into the flight. I started feeling really sick and had to rush off my seat to the back of the plane. I had encountered an off duty flight attendant and told her in a panicky voice. "I'm not feeling good!" I thought I was going to pass out in front of her. Not knowing what was up with me, she told me to get into the lavatory. I got in and nothing happened. (if you know what I mean) After about 15 min. in the lavatory I came out ok. The flight attendant gave me some orange juice. I was feeling a little better. My sugar was probably low since I only got a few hours of sleep. I'm just glad the plane didn't have to make an unschedule stop in Arizona.

I finally arrived in Houston for my connecting flight to London. I was feeling much better and the excitement was starting to build up again. I finally arrived in London Monday March 30th about 6:15 a.m. I was feeling really good throughout the whole flight from Houston to London. I got through the immigration checkpoint at Heathrow airport with no problems. It took a while though. Heathrow Airport is huge! It's a long walk from the minute you walk off the plane to the exit doors of the immigration checkpoint. I then proceeded to the Underground Metro to take the train to my friends neighborhood where I'm staying for 3 days. He lives in the Wimbledon area and his flat is about a 15 min. walk from the Wimbledon Station. I finally got to my friends flat around noon time. I was so tired (jet lag) that I just relaxed and took a 5 hr. nap. I finally woke up and had dinner. I decided to take a walk around his neighborhood after dinner.

My first night in London the weather had turn bad. It was so windy! They said London hadn't seen that much wind in a long time. It was a very cold wind. I only had a fleece jacket with me.

My second day in London I saw some parts of the city and visited some sites. There's so much to see. I finally got the hang of the metro. It took me about 10-15 min. to figure everything out. That was fun! :-) We don't have underground metros here in San Diego. :-)

My third day in London, my cell phone fell out of my hands as I was taking a picture of Big Ben. My camera was working, but I couldn't get the camera icon to reverse to take a picture. I had to take a selfie of everything. I was so disappointed! I should've brought my old cell phone and digital camera with me. Now I know! A lot of people were ducking as I was taking a picture of a landmark. I had to wait for a few minutes until it was clear so that I can snap away. It was fustrating for a while, but I finally got the hang of it. I got some good shots and I had to delete a lot of the bad ones.

It was still very cold and windy with some rain at times on my last day in London. I finally returned to my friends flat around 9 p.m. that evening to prepare for my departure to Paris, France the next morning. I went to bed around mid-night, but I couldn't sleep. I guess I had to much coffee that day and the excitement for my next journey was on high. I probably slept no more than 2 hrs. I was up at 4:15 a.m so I can leave within 30 mins. for the 15 min. walk to Wimbledon station.

I was able to get the 5:20 a.m train to St. Pancras station for my connecting train to Paris. I got there 1 1/2 hrs. before my train departure at 8:30 a.m. I'm glad I left when I did! It was a very busy place as everyone was there to take the EuroStar to every destination in Europe. The gates for the 8:30 a.m. departure didn't open until 8 a.m. I had to go through two checkpoints. One for French Border Control and the other for luggage security checkpoint. The lack of sleep hadn't bothered me yet. I was still alert to what was going on around me. I didn't want to miss the train to Paris!