The joys of travel

Egads and gadzooks! I am in London. How did that happen?
I arrived at my lovely hotel around 3 p.m. yesterday via Kings Cross Station and no, I did not see Harry Potter nor his luggage cart. I walked and walked and walked the neighborhood to stay awake for London time. By 8 pm, I needed this bed.

I had the whole next day free and wanted to see the sights. Alas, the first sights I saw were not the ones I had hoped to see.

Stopped to get some pounds and my ATM card would not work - in several places. Hmmm, well, that could be inconvenient. I had a few scary hours while I waited for Los Angeles to wake up. Finally decided to place an international call to the Credit Union and indeed they had blocked it. Problem solved and thank the lord.

I bought a voltage converter in the US. I brought the UK one with me. But there was no USB end to stick in the magnetic slot. Figured I had left it at home, so off to Apple at Oxford Circle for a replacement. Wandered the wrong way, asked directions and couldn't understand them, finally found it and a lovely young man who listened to me v.e.r.y...h.a.r.d. and looked exceptionally confused. This dumb and jetlagged American woman had completely confused him because it turns out that I had exactly what I needed all along but didn't know it! Problem happily solved; hours sadly wasted. Next stop...

The Apple converter only works for the computer, so I had to find one for my curling iron. Last trip over, mine sorta sparked and melted, so something may have been wrong? Decided to get one here to be safe. I have not tried it yet, but I will let you know :0} Had to search through three Boots before I found one; fortunately they are all over.

At last! Time for fun. Wandered through Covent Garden and found 2 bead stores and some lovely people. Had fish and chips for lunch in this cool/funny place and watched the world go by. The London Bobbies set up a metal screening station right across from me and were stopping passersby to walk through it. That made life interesting. I think they were training and using pedestrians as guinea pigs. I walked in the other direction.

I'll tell more later, but for now, I leave you in Covent Garden and a special treat for my daughters and a certain niece of mine. I did not, repeat, did NOT go into this store.

Comments

You make me long to travel again to Europe and the UK. In my past, I traveled all the time and my solution to converters that sparked and conked out on me was to buy the small appliance I needed as soon as I arrived in that country. Not much more money than the converter. If I was sure I would not return, I left it in the hotel room and hopefully it was put to good use for someone else.
Glad you had a good time. Walking around is a joy in new surroundings too.

Posted by: ginnycartersmallenburg | October 25, 2009 at 06:13 AM