We’re sitting here in the Inverness airport, waiting for our delayed flight. It’s going to be departing about an hour after it’s supposed to, so we’ve got a lot of time to kill. It’s a tiny airport, smaller than Manchester, and we’ve already entered the terminal. So not a whole lot is going on right now. So, here’s an update about London and Inverness, our first two stops. It’ll probably be broken up into two separate entries. So here’s London:

We arrived Friday night, after taking the train from Winchester up into the city. It was really easy to find our way around by Underground, or The Tube, and that’s how we got to the hostel. It was in a perfect location! Nothing major was near us, but the underground station was directly across the street from us, so there were no issues getting anywhere in the city.

I have to say, I was a little nervous checking in. The hostel was upstairs from a popular, cheap bar, and the bar is where we had to check in for our room. I elbowed my way through a noisy, crowded bar to the counter, and yelled over the music to a guy with a thick Australian accent. We got everything straightened out, and headed up to our room. I was really relieved to find out that the noise from the bar was virtually gone once we got up to the hostel area, and it really wasn’t bad. Our room had four other people in it, all crammed into a tiny space with bunk beds. The showers were quite an experience. To save on water, and give you a free shower, you pressed a button, and the water sprayed out for literally five seconds. We counted. Then it turned off. And you hit it again. Another five seconds of water. And so on, until you were clean, or gave up. It was pretty tricky to wash hair that way…

Our journey into London began that night. We had paid for a train ticket that included full use of The Tube for the rest of the day, so we took advantage of it and went out to see Big Ben and Parliament at night. It was incredible! We walked up the stairs from the Tube stop, and directly above us was Big Ben! It was beautiful, especially all lit up at night. We walked around the block, looking at Parliament and Westminster Abbey, then headed back to the hostel.

On Saturday we woke up early and went to catch our double decker bus tour. It was freezing out, around 30 degrees. When we got on the bus we sat up top, wanting to be able to see everything, even thought it was so cold out. We plugged in the horribly uncomfortable free headphones, and listened to the tour. It was awful. The bus, because of traffic, was always behind the recording. And the tape kept making jokes, but in a monotone, prerecorded voice. Not funny. We hopped on and off a couple of times, taking pictures and trying to enjoy ourselves. But between the weather, the poor tape, and the confusion of the stops, it really wasn’t worth it.

We did get off at London’s Chinatown, and enjoyed a buffet lunch there. Chinese food here is totally different from the stuff at home. None of the same things are served. The food was good, but it will be nice to get home and have some crab Rangoon and Peking raviolis! Bill even tried a Chinese beer. Apparently, it’s just as gross as American beer, but with a foreign label.

Sunday was a much better day. We just bought a day pass for the Tube, and ventured out on our own, armed with three different maps. We found our way around easily, and had a much better time. We started off at the London Eye, the giant ferris wheel that gives you views of the whole city. That was really nice to look at, but a little expensive. After that we headed next door to the aquarium, and spent an hour or two walking around and exploring. Emily, our friend Anthony’s wife, had told us to check it out. Her family is from England, so she’s visited a lot.

After the aquarium we got back on the Tube, and commenced our pilgrimage to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. There was no way an English and a Theatre major in London could miss out on that! It was really incredible to see how the theater was set up in Shakespeare’s time, being able to see the stage and different levels of seats. It really makes the plays come alive, once you see where they were meant to be performed. We took a tour of the place, and had a great tour guide who really knew her stuff! She told us all about the theater, including the workings of the stage, and about the thatched roof. We even got to see some Masters degree students working on scenes from a bunch of different plays. Very cool.

Time again for us to hop back on the Tube, this time heading to Trafalgar Square. We had seen it on our bus tour the day before, and wanted a chance to check it out up close. We took some pictures of the lion statues and the fountains, then grabbed a bite to eat at McDonald’s. It’s funny, those things are everywhere!

After Trafalgar Square it was off to our last stop of the day, Buckingham Palace. We hadn’t even seen this on our bus tour, having not really understood the different routes and where they went and how to take them. So, again, our trusty Tube led us right there, and we got to take some beautiful pictures. To get from the Tube stop to the Palace we strolled through St. James Park, a really beautiful place. It must be even nicer when everything is really in bloom!

That was it for us in London, and we went back to the hostel to pack up our things and get ready for our flight in the morning. We tried to book a shuttle straight from the hostel to the airport, but it was full, and we couldn’t take it. They gave us an alternative bus, that would leave from Victoria Station, an easy place to get to by Tube.

The next morning we got up, packed up, grabbed breakfast, and headed out with all our stuff. The underground is not nearly as nice when you’re carrying two bags and a giant suitcase. But we managed. We got to Victoria Station, and tried desperately to find our bus. According to the signs, the terminal where we had to buy our tickets was in one direction, and the stops were in the opposite direction. We tried to get to the terminal, but couldn’t find it anywhere, and missed the last bus that would have gotten us to the airport on time. It was pretty depressing. We went back into Victoria Station, determined to get to Inverness by train. They told us we had to go to Paddington Station, and catch the train from there. So off we went.

At Paddington Station we saw a display of Paddington bears. And we were told we had to go to King’s Cross Station, not Paddington, for a train to Scotland. So, back onto the Tube we went, this time going to King’s Cross. We made it there, and waited in line to buy our tickets. 112 pounds each later, we were ready to go. We had to wait for about an hour in the train station, so to kill time I went to Platform 9 ¾. Hogwarts seems like a pretty cool place to visit. ;)

When the train arrived we found out that since we had bought our tickets so late, we didn’t have reserved seats. We got on carriage after carriage, looking for empty seats. Finally we found some, and parked ourselves down, glad to relax after such a hectic morning. And we definitely had time to relax. The train was scheduled to take 8 hours, but after a delay with one of the engines, it took 9 to get all the way to Inverness. The scenery was beautiful, all through the entire country of England and then all the way through Scotland, but it was a really long ride.