We arrived in London yesterday!
The plane trip was kind of interesting. We taxied onto the runway, only to move back to the terminal, because an individual was sick. This delayed our flight by about an hour on the ground, but they made up for it in the air. Kind of. While in transit, another person got sick, and required an ambulance team to get them off the plane early, leaving the rest of us in our seats. We got off the plane around 11:30 AM.
Getting to the hostel was simple. Once off the plane, we followed the signs to the Underground. Tickets to zone 1 were £4 each. The ride took about .5 hours to get to Bayswater. Our hostel was right down the street.
Our hostel, Hyde Park Inn, is alright. We are in a room with 6 other people so far, though there are beds for 10. The bathrooms are "crazy and make no sense" (Radey, 18/07/09). They are rather small and cramped, and one stall's light goes out every 10 seconds unless you move around, and even then, the sensor is not very sensitive. With a ten pound deposit each, three nights will run us £95 (or 75, once we get our deposit back). They serve breakfast from 7:30-9:30, and have no curfew.
Our roommates seem pretty cool. One girl is from Hong Kong, who's moved here, and is working at a restaurant near Hyde Park. One couple is from Poland, on a weekend vacation. Another guy is from Australia, though he just flew in from LA. He's flying around the world, headed for Thailand next. The last pair got in laaaaate last night, and we haven't had a chance to chat.
Anyhow, after we got in, paid, and everything, we went for a walk. Kensington Gardens is huge. There were a lot of swans swimming around a in pond-like structure, and some baby ducks sleeping with their mommy. There were also a lot of off-leash dogs, being walked by some people from "Happy Dog." We had a light lunch at a waffleshop. I had a smoothie, and Radey had a carmel cheesecake. This ran us about £8 (yikes). We were pretty tired (a screaming baby on the plane kept sleep far far away) and retired to our room, napping for five hours or so.
I awoke famished, and we set off around 8 for some food. Rick Steves recommends a place called The Churchill Arms, which we'd walked by earlier. It was rather crowded outside, so we skipped it. We ended up at an organic bakery on Notting Hill Gate. I had a delicious chicken and mushroom pie, and Radey had a Thai carrot and lentil soup. Radey also ordered a Fuller's Honey Dew beer. She did not like it (as usual). We should have ordered a cider.
After dinner, we went back and slept.
The weather was alright, though there were sporadic bits of rain and wind.
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That's a cool thing about hostels that I never thought about. I feel like it might be hard to meet new people while traveling, but when you throw a bunch of people who are all probably travling together into one big room, I guess it's not that difficult. I hope everyone you meet is pretty friendly. You'll have to mention later how that goes.
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