Today we got to sleep in a bit. It was weird going to breakfast during the 9 o’clock hour though instead of the 7 o’clock hour because there were a lot more people there. But we got some food and then we packed up our bags. I didn’t remember when check out time was but figured it would be 11 or something like that and that’s when we were planning on leaving anyway. Well good thing we had a good start on our packing because a little after 10 there was a guy calling up to the room to tell us that checkout time was at 10. Oops. So got all of our stuff together and headed downstairs. We got to the bus station like an hour earlier than we had planned or just about but there was a bus to the airport leaving within a few minutes so we decided we might as well go.
Well, we got to the airport more than 3 hours before our flight so when we got to the check in desk we were told we had to wait until 3 hours before and could not check in sooner than that. So we waited around some more, but finally we got checked in. Then since we still had plenty of time we grabbed a quick something to eat. After that it was off to security and on to find our gate. We have the good luck of just about always getting the gate that’s farthest away from anything. To get to this one we had to take some kind of tram thing through the airport. We also had to go through a passport check. But it all worked out, we found the gate, and we still had plenty of time before our flight started boarding.
The flight was good. It was weird to hear everything be in English. Although, sometimes you still can’t understand it because the accents are so thick or they’re just using words that don’t really exist in the English language. Anyway, the flight was fine, finally a flight that actually gave us something to drink. They even gave us a sandwich which was awesome. We got in on time and then it was just a matter of getting to our hotel in the central part of the city. The underground is the cheapest way to do that, although it’s definitely not the fastest or most convenient I don’t think. It’s actually quite difficult to haul around a big suitcase and a heavy duffel bag with a backpack on your back. Add to this a couple of line changes and stations with no escalators or “lifts” and you get quite the experience. It was a challenge, but we did it. Then it was just a matter of finding the hotel.
Per usual, we got to a street where we knew we had to turn one way or the other and of course we turned the wrong way first and then had to backtrack. It was one thing when we did that in somewhere like Portugal when we only had one little bag with us. The extra walking this time was really quite a pain. But anyway…we got to the hotel, checked in and all that. The receptionists weren’t near as friendly as the guy in Italy. But whatever. The hotel was nothing fancy but it was nice enough. The room was pretty small but there were two big pillows on the bed which was really nice because I’ve been missing having two good sized pillows to prop me up at night.
Once we got to the room and settled in a bit we tried to call the company that we booked a tour for the following day with, but they didn’t answer. We didn’t know how important it was that we made this call, my confirmation email said to do it but I knew I had put in all the information about where we needed to be picked up and the time and all that. So we asked the concierge who also tried to call them. He didn’t get an answer either but he looked at the confirmation print out thing that I had and said that should be all I need so we just kind of hoped that everything would work out and that they would actually come and pick us up the next day.
After that we went out to see if there were any little supermarkets where we could pick up some simple and cheap snack things for meals during our stay there or something like that. We found one that was a little odd but the stuff there was pretty cheap so it was fine. We got some chocolate chip muffins to eat for breakfast the next day and a small bottle of the generic cola to try. We also picked out some stuff that we would come back and get another day. Because we were off to the movies. Finally I was going to get to see the hunger games! We found the theater and a show was starting just a few minutes after we got there.
After watching a million british advertisements, which were rather amusing, and a bunch of trailers we finally got to see the movie I have been waiting to see for weeks. And it was really pretty good as far as movies based on books go. It wasn’t exactly like the book, and there were a couple of the characters that I wasn’t crazy about, but the way they told the story was very interesting. Kind of conveying the overall idea of the series rather than just focusing on the events of the first book and then having to backtrack during the next two. It was an interesting way of telling the story and I would say I enjoyed it. It can never compare to my love for the book, but it was entertaining and I liked the way the story was told.
Once I had checked the hunger games off my list it was time to go back to the hotel and get some sleep before our tour of Windsor castle, Stonehenge, and oxford the next day.
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