So I just got home from my accidentally extended weekend in London. And it was kind of a disaster...
Friday Night
I got on my Ryanair flight on Friday after work, quite excited to be going to the Olympics. I was also excited to prove 300lb guy from Galway wrong. Yes, I did, in fact, fit into a Ryanair seat. However, as I was getting off the flight, I couldn't find my passport. Thinking it was buried deeper in my bag, I walked off the flight, and dumped it out in the airport. It wasn't there...so thus began my weekend...
After freaking out and nearly breaking down crying in front of the customs guy, I was let into the UK. I hopped onto the Gatwick Express train, and took to it West Hampstead. After a little bit of walking (Paul refused to actually meet me at the train station), I found him and his friend Naomi, whom I had met before in Boston.
We got back to Paul's house around 10:30 or 11, and him, Naomi, and I watched the rest of the opening ceremony and ate chicken, potatoes and salad for dinner. Well, Naomi and I ate chicken, potatoes, and salad. Paul only ate chicken, because he is weird and doesn't like vegetables. After the crazy cool cauldron was lit, we decided to go to bed, because Paul and I had a really long day ahead of us on Saturday.
Saturday
Paul and I woke up at 5:30 in the morning for the volleyball game at Earls Court. We got our tickets kind of late, and as such, we got the 9:30 set of matches, the Japan vs. Algeria and China vs. Serbia games. Our tickets said be there two hours early for check in and what have you, so we left for the Tube at 6:45 or so. The train in wasn't bad, and when we got there at 7:10ish, the queue wasn't even that long, so we got into the arena, at around 7:30 or 7:45. Hurray, two hours to wait before the games even start.
We bummed around the edges of the arena for a while because we weren't allowed to go in and find our seats until 8:30 or something. So we went to the souvenir stand, and I got Shea and myself black official Olympic Volleyball Venue t-shirts...fancy. I also got a day program, and Paul and I had a nice conversation with the girl working the stand. She was a medical student at Warwick or something, so Paul went on his rant about how awful Warwick is and what have you. After grabbing some fairly-decent priced food (for a sports event, that is), we took our seats and the game started.
The Japan v. Algeria game was a painful one to watch. Japan was good, no doubt, but it seemed like the Algeria team was beating themselves. They let so many serves go into the net, and they hit out of bounds a lot. Because most people there had won tickets or taken them from friends and relatives who couldn't come, they had no idea a lot of the finer points of what was going on (liberos, back-row attacks, etc.), so I got to be the all-knowing one that explained it to them. That was pretty fun. The second match was China v. Serbia and that was slightly better. Serbia dominated China the first round, and that was a great game to watch. However, after that, Serbia just fell apart, and China won the match in four. Also there was some Chinese guy who kept on getting on the screen because he was wearing a panda onesie. Paul sought him out and hugged him after the match. Even though it wasn't team I cared about, it was a great time and super incredible to see Olympic volleyball. 
Afterwards, however, was a little less than great. We made our way down to the police station to file a missing/stolen passport report at my boss's recommendation...and we waited there for two hours just to have them tell me to go to the Embassy. A bit of advice if you lose your passport (especially on a weekend), people will tell give you their best bit of advice and what have you, but really, it's not any help. Instead of going to the police station, just call them, it takes way less time. And e-mail the Embassy as soon as possible. I lost mine on a Friday, so I waited until Sunday to e-mail them. I e-mailed them on Sunday afternoon, and, even though they were closed, they got back to me within two and a half hours. So honestly, just go immediately to the Embassy. It's the only thing that's really worth your time.
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| yup...this happened |
Anyways, after the great waste of time that was a London police station, we walked around town for a while. Paul tried to show me Dumbledore's Office, which is in the King's College Library, but it was closed on the weekend. Sad face. After that, we went to the four story monstrosity that is M&M World. 4 stories of M&Ms and M&M-themed products. For example, there is a Swarovski crystal leather jacket that costs more than a ticket to the Opening Ceremony, which was roughly £2000 pounds a ticket. After that absurdness, we made our way back to his place, and after chilling for a little bit, we made our way to the supposedly famous Hampstead Creperie. And hot damn, it was delicious. Banana and Nutella crepe. Damn, I am making myself hungry again. Good thing I have a freezer stocked full of chicken goujons at all times.
Sunday
Sunday started with me getting an e-mail from my site director telling me to call the police and see if I could potentially get on my Ryanair flight scheduled for 3PM that day. I headed down to Gatwick (a 3 and a half hour round-trip adventure) all for naught. This is an example of not listenign to other people's advice with losing a passport. Regardless of you having a photocopy of it, they still won't let you on the plane.
Once I got back to Hampstead, Paul and I walked his poodle Tiger, around the very large Hampstead Heath park, which took two or some odd hours. And that was pretty much, the extent of Sunday.
Monday
Monday morning was another early morning. I had an appointment at the American embassy at 7:30AM, and so that required another 5:30 wake-up call. After quite a bit of bitching, Paul took me to Grosvenor Square. It was a painful 3 odd some hours to get my passport, and they didn't let you take in any electronics. So it was me and Mr. Hunter S. Thompson for the duration. However, I finished Fear and Loathing pretty early in, so my wait was not much fun.  |
| om nom nom nom nom |
After finally acquiring an emergency passport, Paul and I walked around London. I hadn't had breakfast, so I twisted his arm until we stopped at a Pret where I grabbed a chicken wrap. Which Paul didn't really approve of for breakfast, but whatever.
We made our way in and out of stores, down Carnaby Street and eventually hit this bakery called Choccywockydoodah. This bakery does incredible cakes and had it's own TV show...so you know it's crazy cool. They also have a cafe upstairs, and so Paul and I got two pieces of chocolate cake, which might give us both diabetes...but they were so damned good.
After that, we made our way to the South Bank of the Thames. We wandered into a huge arcade for a little bit, and eventually made our way past the London Eye. In front of it, however, there were a couple of people in orange polos taking pictures of people. They worked for EDF, an electric energy company in the UK. As a part of their energy campaign, they were taking pictures of people behind this polaroid-looking frame. Then they lured you down to their Mission Control, which was a platform on the Thames in front of the London Eye. There, they showed you your picture on a large TV screen and had another screen dedicated to tweets about the Olympics from around the area. There, they explained that if we came back at 9PM, we could control the lights on the London Eye...so we had our plans for the night.
Then, we walked to the Tube station and went to Camden Town. Which is a series of alternative market places selling the shit that I find pretty cool. I saw my Gameboy iPhone case a bunch, for example. Paul also took me into this store called Cyberdog....I have no words to describe that store. People kept on saying it is like no store you have ever been in and that is most definitely true.
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| Me controlling the lights on the London Eye |
We went back to his, so I could take a nap...it had been a really long day already. And then we went back into down to control the lights on the London Eye. We got down to Mission Control and saw the lights show, which two MIT guys had created. While we were waiting, Paul and I talked with a girl and her mother, who were originally from London and moved to Abu Dhabi. After that, Paul and I and various others got to play with it. There was an XBox Kinect hooked up to the lights, so our arms control it, and it was an incredible feeling, very empowering. We, then, went back to Hampstead and grabbed a very late Italian dinner, which was delicious, and then passed our nearly the second we got back.
Tuesday
This morning was great...I slept in, didn't really have to do anything. It was grand. I ate my left over Choccywockydoodah cake for breakfast, and Paul and I went to his local pub for really yummy fish and chips. The Guinness wasn't as good, though. Seriously, don't get Guinness outside Ireland. It's just not good.
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| Deutschland ist am besten. |
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All in all, despite the stress of having lost my passport, it has been a great weekend. Got to experience a whole slew of different things, and that was pretty neat. Even if London did kick my butt.
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