Nothing in London works either! (clearly I'm bad luck)

I finally arrived in Cali last night, in time to have a nice dinner with John before passing out at 9pm. It was a journey…

I made it to Heathrow around 5pm on the 23rd and had to figure out how to get to my hotel which was a few miles from the airport (my flight for the states was scheduled to leave bright and early at 8am on the 24th). I was told by a very terse gentleman at the information desk that the hotel was across the street from Hatton Cross metro station, which I managed to get to by bus. Unfortunately, once I arrived at the metro station it was pouring, there were busy streets on all sides, and I didn’t see any hotels. I decided to wait for the rain to subside a bit. Starving, I went to grab a snack at a little shop near the main entrance. Sadly, the ATM machine could not read my card for some strange reason, so I had no way of obtaining pounds and remained snackless. I asked a woman in the store to point me in the direction of my hotel. She told me which street to cross and that it would be a 7 minute walk. As she ran off, I vaguely heard her say something about being careful in traffic and a footbridge.

Hmm, walking seven minutes in the rain with luggage was clearly not happening, so I hailed a cab. When I told the cabbie my destination he laughed and asked, “Do you have any idea where that hotel is?” I replied that someone told me it was a 7 minute walk. He pointed behind me and said, “No, it’s a 2 minute walk. Its right behind that big parking garage there.” On second thought, maybe that woman had said “several” minute walk. Damn British accent. I crossed the street, but all I could see far ahead was a tall black wall, which enclosed the parking garage. If my hotel was behind it, there was no way to get to it from that side. I had to cross further down the street at the roundabout, where there was no crosswalk and a swarm of cars was constantly zooming by. I only made it 2 ft before I was inundated with blaring horns from all directions. Frazzled and wet I stood by the curb and looked up in exasperation. The footbridge! How had I never noticed it before, looming overhead above the traffic? Once I finally crossed the street, I saw to my dismay that the sidewalk was closed due to construction, which meant I had to walk along the edge of the roundabout to reach the hotel, which I still couldn’t see. I ignored the honking and stubbornly pushed on until finally, the hotel came into view. What a glorious site! I trudged up to the front desk, barely noticing that I was completely drenched.

Once in my room, I was shocked to find that none of the light switches were working! (Apparently the front desk forgot to tell me that I had to insert my key card into this slot on the wall in order to activate the lights). I felt somewhat better, though, when I saw that the TV was equipped with a fancy entertainment system, which included internet, video games, and “on-command” movies for purchase. I excitedly fiddled around with the TV, only to find that my menu option weren’t loading. Fed up, I went down to the bar for a $17 sandwich (the cheapest thing on the menu). I told the gentleman at the front desk my TV wasn’t working. He suggested I turn it off and on again. I said I tried that and a lot of other things. He came up with me to my room and fiddled with it himself. Scratching his head, he admitted that the system must be down, which he had never seen before. He apologized and left. With nothing to do, I went to bed.

The next morning at 6am, I shared a cab to the airport with two men in their early thirties. One was from Scotland and the other from Poland. The Scot told me they were going to Peru to build boat propellers. The only response I could come up with was, “Interesting…”

The rest of the trip home was uneventful and long (much like this post), but I did read some interesting news about Europe, and Turkey in particular. A USA Today article began: “Weather extremes battered Europe on Monday as torrential rains flooded England and record heat roasted central and southeastern Europe.” You’re telling me! Yay, global warming. Also, an independent candidate running in Turkey’s general election was shot dead in Istanbul last week. Turkey just held a second tense election on Sunday. The original April election was stopped by the army, because the Islamist prime minister nominated a president that is seen as a threat to the secular republic.

Me thinks I got a little carried away with this (my last) post. I think Ethan has rubbed off on me...

So I'll add more....Ethan and Andy, I hope you guys had a wonderful last full day in Istanbul! (I'm curious if any of the locals talked to you about the election/politics of the country). Staying with Kate's family summer after frosh years was alot of fun, so I know you will have an amazing time in London, despite bad weather. I miss you! Thanks again for an amazing adventure!