I awoke on Saturday morning in Chicago instead of Brussels as was our plan. Oh well. What's another trip through airport security?
The airline gave us food vouchers and we had a good time trying to spend all of their money, down to the penny! We chose to celebrate National Donut Day again and so we got a couple dozen donuts to share!
Thankfully, we were all able to sit near one another on this flight - granted we were in the last 3 rows of the plane, but together nonetheless! And, no airplane ever backed into a mountain, so I figure we were in the safest part of the plane. Some of the team used our time in the terminal the night before to get to know each other a little better and we had time during dinner to talk. But 8 hours of flying solidified that a little more!
Here I am with Lexie (from Texas) and April (from Colorado).
We landed in London and picked up all of our luggage - HOPING to find a way to leave most of our luggage at the airport so we didn't have to sightsee with so much luggage on Sunday in London. Unfortunately, the airline hadn't let London know that there were issues and we needed lodging. So we waited for 30 minutes to get our hotel reservations and got on the shuttle to the hotel.
We arrived at the hotel only to find out that they were not the hotel called by the airline and that they didn't have any available rooms for us. It was a nice, swanky, modern hotel...well, at least a nice lobby that we got to sit in for over an hour while they tried to find us a different hotel and taxis to take 11 of us and our luggage to the other hotel! At least a couple of the team got to use their internet to send emails!
So, our 2 Afghani taxi drivers took us another 15 minutes outside of London to Windsor. We stayed at a hotel directly across the street from Windsor Castle...and the queen was staying there, but we never saw her...because it was 1:30 am before we were checked into our rooms!
We asked for directions to get into London the next morning to get in a full day of sightseeing. Andi, one of the hotel workers, was happy to oblige. In his very tall, large, Scottish manner at least!
He read my t-shirt that says "International Voice of the Orphan" and instantly said, "I'm the international voice of the whiskey bottle which explains why it is empty!"...oh my, what a ride.
I got to have my very own room that night - I love how the 'double' room was just that ... 2 twin beds pushed next to each other under a headboard! It was good to have a nice, hot shower and a soft bed. Unfortunately, even with the time change and travel, I only got a couple hours of sleep once it was all said and done!
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