London Days begin...

I said goodbye to Murcia this morning..again. I really have such great friends there. Brittany and Nuria met me for breakfast at 8am in cathedral square. 8am for Spanish folk is darn early, and I was flattered that they joined me! We went to cafe y te, which is a little cafe that I used to go to quite often for English lessons with Bartolo and Juan. We watched the sun rise up behind the cathedral, enjoyed the coolness of the morning and had a nice time. 

After breakfast, Nuria drove me to the bus station for my 10:00 bus. She is too sweet. She offered to drive me to the airport (about an hour drive) but I already had my bus ticket purchased. 

I arrived at Alicante international airport about an hour and a half before my flight. It was plenty of time, but I must remember for next time the long lines. Apparently alicante is known for their long lines at the airport. My flight went well. The people next to me didn't speak English and the English accents all around me sounded so foreign to me that I almost felt like I was still in Spain.  I'm getting used to the accent now that it's all around me, but I've never heard so many British accents all at the same time! Anyway, border control at Luton... I don't think they noticed my previously expired visa, but they asked so many questions that I was really nervous. But, they let me in and I got a new stamp in my passport! 

Getting to London from Luton airport was a bit of a trick, but I had some luck and everyone here speaks English so I had no trouble asking for directions and understanding how to follow them. I don't know how I'd travel if I actually made plans post landing. Heck, somehow I thought I was landing at Heathrow. Had that been the case, it would have been a short tube ride to Ana's place. But, surprise to me, I landed at Luton, had to catch a bus to the train station, then a train to the tube station, a tube to covent gardens, at which point I was a 2 minute walk from Ana's but without a map or functioning cell phone. The best part was the bicycle carriage ride I caught with the Moroccan boy from Spain. He didnt understand my English so I had to talk to him in Spanish! In London! Apparently he was new to the job and we kinda drove in circles for a bit. Then he dropped me off and said "this is it!" I didn't think so....luckily he had a cell phone and let me borrow it to call Ana. Right street, wrong door, but after 2 hours of just barely knowing what I was doing, I arrived at Ana's place around 5! Whew...that was a story. 

Anyway, I have lots of pics (most of which I'll have to upload later) from my evening in London with Ana. We just walked around the city for like 5 hours. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, a pretty park, picadilly square, and so much more. We had so much catching up to do and never had a dull moment! We split a big dbl decker bacon chz burger from Byron's and I had an ice cream later. (No dieting on this trip!)

After traveling and walking all day AND little sleep from my long night out with Miguel and Chantell, we were home and in bed by 1 and ready to have a full day tomorrow! 

My first glance of Big Ben: 

Street selfie...Buckingham palace is way in the background:

Rose garden by Buckingham: 

Big Ben:

Dark, poor quality pic of me with Ben: 

No faces, but proof we saw the London eye too. Too cheap to pay the 20£ to go up though! 

Finished the night off amidst a crowd of ppl in picadilly square...it was like the Times Square of New York but different!