THE GREAT TRIP

THE GREAT TRIP

Here is the journal that I kept while on holiday if there is anyone who would be pleased to read it.

Thursday, September 1o

Well, the adventures have begun! We got to the airport in good time. My Mom and Dad took us, which was very nice of them.
First thing, my second carry-on bag did not pass through security. The officials had to take me and my bag aside and search my bag by hand, with plastic gloves on, of course. They couldn’t find anything at first and then the culprit was found, my little pink pocketknife! I thought I had left it in my purse at home! Oh no! Well, anyway it cost me $5.40 to mail it back to myself.
We were some of the last passengers to get on our flight and when we got up to board they wouldn’t let us pass! Our boarding passes wouldn’t work, so we got pulled out of line and had to get our passports verified. They did get verified and after that all was well. Then when we boarded our plane, someone was sitting in my seat! Another problem! We soon discovered that he was on the wrong plane, poor guy! Then my suitcase wouldn’t fit in the overhead, but I took my umbrella out and then it fit. So we only backed up things on the plane briefly.
We made it safely to Atlanta and had to ride the train to get to our concourse. I was first getting on the train and the door shut on me! I was in the train and my luggage was outside the train along with Chrissy and Jaremy! Oh no! Chrissy and Jaremy looking a bit alarmed were trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand them. We couldn’t hear each other and I have never been very good at reading lips, unfortunately. There was this older guy standing on the train next to me and I asked him, “What do you think they are saying?” but he just stared at me and didn’t answer. I didn’t know that the train door would shut so determinedly. I thought it would be like getting on an elevator. You know, if you stick your arm in, it would open again. Not so with these. Luckily I dropped my luggage and kept my arm. Anyway an announcement was soon heard that the train was experiencing an obstruction, (me, I think) and so it wouldn’t go. In just a few minutes the doors opened and Jaremy, Chrissy and I and our luggage were soon on our way. People were not giving me very congenial looks.
Now we are waiting to board our flight to London!



Friday, September 11

We made it to Heathrow airport! It wasn’t very comfortable sleeping on the plane but I did finally go to sleep. So did Jaremy and Chrissy. The flight attendants served dinner about 90 minutes into the flight, chicken or pasta. It was about midnight! Chrissy and I declined but Jaremy enjoyed it. The flight took about 8 hours and 15 minutes.
We are now on the tube going to Paddington Station and it is very bumpy so that’s why my writing looks like this. We don’t know quite what we are doing so I hope we make it to our hotel.

Later

Well, it’s a good thing we couldn’t check into our hotel until 2:00 P.M. It took us at least that long to get here. First the information lady at the airport told us to get off at Paddington Station, but she was wrong! We got off figuring our GPS would help us find the way, but it wouldn’t work. We were standing out on the street looking at a map and this nice, little, older gentleman asked if he could help. He was so nice, but we ended up having to go back to the tube and take a different stop. After that we were closer to our hotel but not close enough so we took a taxi and FINALLY MADE IT! It was so fun riding the tube. Most of it was underground, but some of it was above ground and we went past all these townhouses and sort of villages and I loved it!

MIND THE GAP!
They say that a lot here, meaning watch out for the space between the train and the platform. One thing, the trains here are like the one in Atlanta. You have to get off and on very quickly! Once the doors shut they don’t open again until the train gets to the next stop. At the Earl’s Court stop we got off and the doors shut and Jaremy had left his small bag on the train. Oh no! His bag had all our money, his passport and other important stuff in it. But here is a miracle. We were standing there panicking and the doors opened! Jaremy ran in, got his bag and ran out and the doors closed and the train was off! Chrissy said it was a good thing Grammie had put our names in the temple. She also said she didn’t know if she would ever go traveling with us again.
We were on the Piccadilly Line. I have never ridden a train like that before and I thought it was great! Also today I got the first stamp ever in my passport! Yay!!

Saturday, September 12

Happy Birthday to Jaremy! It was a pretty good night. About 2:00 in the morning we heard all this ruckus out on the street and I looked out and saw a bunch of guys standing around yelling and pushing each other. I think some of them were drunk. The main rowdy had a pink Mohawk. It soon quieted down though. This morning we started off by going to Westminster Abbey. First thing off the tube we saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and then we walked to Westminster Abbey. We did the audio-guided tour, which works really well. It was so great to be there! It is an amazing place. There is so much stone and dead people buried all over the place. There are so many monuments and it is dark and very ornate. I can’t believe I actually got to see it.
Then we walked through Saint James Park and saw Buckingham Palace. Then we went to the War Rooms and Churchill Museum. Next we saw Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. We also saw #10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives. It is made of black bricks. Chrissy commented that it must be The Black House as opposed to our White House.
Then we were off on a boat cruise of the Thames River and afterwards walked across the Tower Bridge, (I always thought it was the London Bridge), and went to the Thames River Festival, (held this week-end). That was really fun. There were all sorts of different people and different shops set up.
At last it was time to go home. We had to change trains on the tube a few times but we finally made it back to the hotel.
It was a gorgeous day, blue sky and lots of sun with a bit of wind. A perfect day! We got gifts for people and tomorrow we will go to church. I hope we can find it ok. It is the Hyde Park ward, pretty close.

Oh yeah, there was a preacher at Trafalgar Square preaching, (ranting actually) over a microphone and guess what? He was against Mormons! Oh no! They had this table set up piled with anti-Mormon and other cults, (can you believe they called us a cult?) literature. I didn’t think that was very nice so I went up to the guy behind the table and said, “Hey, guess what? I’m a Mormon and I don’t think it’s very nice of you to hand out these pamphlets when they aren’t true!” Well, that started a bit of a problem and then Jaremy came over and said all their pamphlets were a bunch of crap, (I thought that wasn’t too respectful) and then it got a little more heated and I dragged Jaremy away. The guy said he was just trying to save us from going to hell and I said I’d like going to hell and he said, “You’d like to burn?” and I said, “Sure” and that’s when I dragged Jaremy away, (he was still calling their pamphlets a “bunch of crap”).
So that was today pretty much. Chrissy stayed out of the “crap” problem. She just stood wisely, (as she said) off to the side remaining calm.
One more thing, we went to dinner at this place and as I was going out I missed the step down and fell and I thought “Oh mind the step!”, you know, just joking to myself, and then I looked up and on the wall there was a sign that said, “Mind the Step”. I thought it was funny. Speaking of signs there was also a sign on the back of an ice cream van that said, “Mind the child”. And they have signs on low ceilings that say, “Mind your head”.