Hanging at Heathrow U.K. Trip Day 1b

We knew there weren't any attractions or sites to see in the area nearby so we just hung around the airport, killing time until it was time to check-in at our hotel. We talked to people in their little tourist booths, got some of our American dollars changed into pounds, figured out how we were going to get to our hotel from the airport, had a snack and just took a load off in those comfortable airport chairs! During one of my little reconnoitering strolls around the airport, I spoke to a tourism employee (with a wonderful accent...that I had a little trouble understanding) He attempted to explain to me that the cheapest way to get around in London was a wonderful invention called the Oyster Pass. You paid a deposit, loaded it with however much money you thought you might need for transportation and then you were good to go. You were charged up to a certain amount of money per day and then once you met that amount all the rest of the day your travel was free. The Oyster Pass was good for all the buses and subways in zones 1-6, which was basically most of London--all the interesting parts, anyway  And, if you didn't use up your money by the time you left London, you got that money back along with your deposit. Definitely a most user-friendly, budget-minded option for travel in the city! But, remember the part about me not exactly understanding the friendly tourism ambassador? Yeah. I didn't totally understand the Oyster Pass at this point.

We decided to take a Hotel Hoppa bus to our hotel. And stepped out to the bus stop. It was drizzling, of course. Just as one might expect. But that was ok, we were jazzed to be getting the whole real London experience and rain was totally part of it! As I recall, the Hotel Hoppa  cost about 4 pounds and took a long time to go the mere mile or two to our hotel. This might be because we stopped at every hotel between the airport and our hotel. You can just imagine how many hotels there are near Heathrow Airport in London, England.

So we wrangled our luggage off the bus and checked into our hotel. We conscientiously avoided lying down or even sitting down!! We decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and get into the London frame of mind...It was a little chilly, kind of cloudy and you could tell it had rained a lot earlier in the day. We just stepped around the puddles and shamelessly gawked at the little houses with flower beds and roses still in full bloom in those tiny yards.

We wondered who lived in those little houses and exclaimed at the name of the street--Cherry Lane. I loved the lace curtains that were in virtually every window and decided, then and there, that England and I were a good fit because I love lace curtains! There were flowers in every little postage stamp sized garden. And every house had its little garden. We enjoyed watching the double decker buses go by and laughed at the cars on the wrong side of the road. We (make that ME) almost got run over because of not looking to the right when we crossed the street in the middle of the block. Poor Rachel. It was just a forerunner of the many times she would save my life on this trip.

After saving my life and earning my everlasting gratitude, Rachel and I went back to our hotel, cranked up the heat, had some hot tea (the first of many cups of hot tea) slipped into our bathing suits and went down to check out the swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room. The pool area was wonderful and the hot tub was heavenly after our chilly walk. We decided to try to the sauna room in an effort to dry off and save our towels. (plus it seemed a very European thing to do)  We didn't last very long in there. Finally decided we could go to bed, little realizing there was a storm brewing. And I don't mean a tempest in a teapot. I mean, a real, hurricane-strength wind storm named St. Jude.


Because I am feeling particularly media savvy today, I will post links to some BBC news reports about St. Jude. If you are also feeling particularly media savvy (or just insatiably curious) you can click the links below to see pictures and read all about the storm that we slept through.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-24701419
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/2013-octwind
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2013_United_Kingdom_storm

Of course, if you don't feel media savvy, or you couldn't care less, or you have already heard about the storm named St. Jude, don't click the links. And I will never know the difference.