Tuesday and Wednesday-The Journey Home

On Tuesday Morning Mike and I parted ways for a part of the day. Mike got up and headed into London to visit his companies London office. I slept in a bit and spent the morning with my cousin Chris and her husband Geoff. Chris made me a traditional English breakfast of eggs, cooked tomato and mushrooms, toast and English bacon (a cross between traditional bacon and Canadian bacon), it was delicious and so much better then the toast we had been eating. for the duration of the trip. I helped Chris do some of out laundry and went with Geoff to drop off paperwork at his place of employment, he drives trucks for living or as they call it lorries. About three o'clock in the afternoon we headed into London, Mike and I were meeting up at the hotel we were staying at around five o'clock. All was going well and I was falling asleep in the car, due to being sick, when we had a puncture in one of the tires. So on the side of the road in London Geoff and I changed the tire, I ended up cutting my hand a bit but was able to bandage myself up. For those of you keeping count that was a sprained ankle, upper respiratory infection, and cut hand, typical week in the life of Billy.We made it to the hotel in Paddington London and I said my goodbyes to Chris and Geoff.

So here I am in Paddington which is a very posh area of London checking into a hotel where I am informed we have been upgraded to an apartment at no extra charge...SWEET! I headed up to the room and dropped off our stuff and waited for Mike in the lobby. Mike arrived not too much longer at this and we got settled into the room.

Mike and I decided to head out and enjoy our last night in England. We started by going to Abbey Road where we saw Abbey Road Studios and where both Mike and I walked across Abbey Road barefoot. I was a very cool experience! By the way it is a very busy stretch of road and is difficult to cross the street.

We set out from there to the London eye and took the half hour ride on the giant Ferris-wheel enjoying the sites of London at night. We then enjoyed the "4D" London eye experience, basically a 3D movie that shoots foam at you...it was free.

Mike and I then rode the underground to Piccadilly Circus the time square of London, along the way we stopped at Baker Street station, that's right the street that Sherlock Holmes resides. We stopped at Piccadilly Circus for about twenty minutes to visit and HMV record store and we stumbled upon the London Trocadero, a small slice of home.

We headed back to Paddington where we ate at a place called Garfunkel's but no relation to Art. We headed back to the hotel upset we never saw Paddington Bear and get everything ready for our journey home the next day.

Wednesday morning we woke up had breakfast and set out for Gatwick Airport. We rode the tube to Victoria station and then took the train to Gatwick. We arrived checked in out luggage after an hour wait then went to the terminal. We ate lunch and did a bit of shopping in the duty free stores while we waited for out flight to be announced. Our flight was announced and we ended up walking almost twenty minutes to the terminal. We were waiting to board when we were told our flight was delayed because they were unloading fish from the cargo bay... that is right Icelandic fish. Well we finally board and to our amazing surprise we board a plane named Ed Force One... that is right we flew on Iron Maiden's  tour plane. It was all painted with Eddie and the Iron Maiden logo. Miek and I sang a number of Maiden songs while playing Air Guitar and quoted Bill and Ted lines "Put them in the Iron Maiden," "Excellent!" "Execute them!" "Bogus."

The first leg of our flight went well, Mike and I read and we touched down in Iceland. Mike was selected in Iceland for a "random security screening." Mike was escorted to a room where he was questioned and searched then released. I was unsure if I was ever going to see my friend again...but he came back asking for snacks. We boarded Ed Force One again and headed home to NJ. ON the flight Mike finished his book and sat next to a girl who gets air sick. I on the other hand was sitting next to a student from Iran who was on a rush trip to Nebraska to enroll in his PhD program He had until Friday morning to get there he had been in Sweden that morning when his visa was approved. We chatted about America and what news networks to watch.

We finally touched down in NJ at 9pm Eastern standard time after leaving out hotel at 9am London time. We were tired and hungry. We zipped through customs and were greeted by my mom and sister. We talked about the trip and stopped at a Jersey Dinner for food. Mike was dropped off home and I headed home where we were finally able to sleep in our own beds!

During our trip we had been through four countries, rode on planes, buses, taxis, subways, trains and boats. We had slept in planes, buses, boats, six hostels, couches in an London flat, guest rooms of an English home, and a hotel. We had sampled ales, lagers, ciders, and whiskeys. We poured our own Guinness, mixed with locals, hung out with rock stars, toured historical locations, flew on a rock band's plane and enjoyed ourselves on a once in a life time trip that started off as a Bogus Journey and ended a truly Excellent Adventure!

Sunday, Monday (happy days)

As mentioned in the previous post, we last left our intrepid heroes disembarking from a boat into the lovely country of Wales. And so begins the next leg of the journey...

Yup, another overnight bus drive. Happy happy joy joy. Billy, Jeanette, Michelle and I tried sleeping, but much like on a plane, its damn near impossible to rest in a moving vehicle. We groggily stopped at some roadside mart in England and then continued onto London. Eventually, we pulled into Victoria Station, and after saying our goodbyes to Jeanette, we schlepped out to Earlsfield (on the outskirts of London). Graciously, Michelle let Billy and I crash at her flat. And crash we did.

After sleeping for most of the day, Billy and I figured it'd be a good idea to actually see London. We trained it in and began a whirlwind sightseeing trip of the Tower of London, London Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament. It being Sunday night, most of London was empty. Like really empty. It was downright eerie to see a major city with barely anyone around. We also scoped out Buckingham Palace in hopes of wooing the sisters Middleton, but alas, Pippa and Kate were not around. Billy and I then trekked back to Earlsfield and had a delicious home-cooked meal, courtesy of Michelle (Yorkshire pudding is freakin' amazing). After watching the movie Hall Pass, we then fell asleep.

While our family and friends went to this thing called a 'job' on Monday morning, Billy and I got picked up by his cousin Chris and her husband Geoff. They drove us out to a lovely town in the English countryside called Swindon, where they lived. Also living there were 2 HUGE dogs that were more than happy to have 2 additional folks around. After munching on some biscuits (cookies), their sons came over with their kids and we struck out for the pub. We drank in the pub's backyard where there was a kid's playground, in addition to a bartender supervising kid's games. Definitely not like the States! After 2 drinks, Billy and I were feeling pretty buzzed (mind you, the alcohol percentage of beer is much higher outside the US, so you get drunk quicker). At this point, one of Chris and Geoff's granddaughters (think she was 5) asked me to go on the playground with her. Get your mind out of the gutter, sicko. So yeah, there I was, buzzed, swinging on monkey bars, climbing cargo nets and going down slides. Quite an experience.

Chris and Geoff took our buzzed American hides home for another great home-cooked meal (and more Yorkshire pudding!). Absolutely delicious. After the meal, we watched a bit of the BBC, where they showed Manville, NJ completely flooded (which is like 3 towns over from our hometown). We ended up watching a classic NFL game between the Chiefs and Broncos (Montana and Elway were still playing), trying to explain American football to them, but alas, they stuck to their version of football. After another action packed day, Billy and I hit the sack. More adventures in London awaited us!