JMcS: I see London...I see France...I saw an Irishman's underpants. Two weeks ago Tina and I decided to fly to London for a night since it looked like "just a jump over" on a map. Ireland has consisted of LATE nights (aka early mornings) and waking up early for tourist attractions and such. This means I could probably count the hours of sleep we've had just on both me fingers (and I said that in me Irish accent for effect..which, by the way, has improved significantly). Actually, sometimes Tina and I respond to people in Irish accents without thinking and later hoping no one noticed because it sounds like we are making fun of them. Which we aren't! They just sound so grand!
What makes a good story when starting a new adventure always? Waking up late. Ask the Mc Calister family from Home Alone if you don't believe me. We went to bed at 2am canceling Tina's credit card that was lost at the rugby game and our roomies from Australia came back after a quite drunk night and turned on all the lights til 4am. Tina and I NEEDED to be awake and walk over to the bus stop by 5:45am...we got to the bus stop at 6:15am. Apparently, it wasn't even the right one according to some lady waiting with a eastern European accent. It would take us an hour to get there and we needed to be checked in by the hour. No time for these Shenanigans, Ireland! Tina and I looked at each other in looks of panic and I suddenly see her arm fly up and instantly get a taxi. haha Well done, Tina. Hello, quick ride to airport. Goodbye, savings account.
London was AMAZING. Although Tina and I were sooooo behind on sleep (and still are haha) that we could probably be declared to the same mental state as two drunk sailors. Imagine drunk sailors navigating around a foreign city and trying to find landmarks and understand historical meanings of things. We stopped maybe two times the entire day and the only reason was because we needed food, water, or a toilet. No exceptions. It was what we like to call the "See all of in London 12 hours or Less" tour.
McSchaap and O'Donaldson's Day in London Schedule:
10am: Take bus from airport to London city center.
11am: Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards.
*Mostly made commentary about their outfits and what they are probably thinking while switching...then spent a good 20 minutes taking pictures of us playing in dead leaves on the Buckingham Palace lawn...naturally.
12pm: Visited Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (where Princess Diana and many others had their funerals), Parliament Building, Winston Churchill Statue,and lots of old historical "stuff". haha
*Walked through multiple riots during our time in the UK. Syria, workers relief, protesters on economic crisis. (Tina joined one riot in Galway, Ireland...I couldn't stop her, so I just filmed it and watched for cops).
2pm: Fish & Chips with a cup of tea. I felt as English as Mr. Bean himself.
3pm: Shakespeare's Globe Theater Tour
*Didn't want to do the tour, but they won't let you see it if you don't have someone with you, so Tina and I stayed towards the back and took pictures of ourselves cheering for plays in the stands and tried to keep up with the group.
5pm: London Bridge
*Not much to talk about. It looked very "bridgey".
5:30pm: Tower of London
*Ran across with our backpacks flapping up and down across the Thames River in the dark trying to get to our next tour in time to buy tickets...of course we didn't get them in advance. I am traveling with Jantina Donaldson, not Linda Donaldson. :)
6pm: Jack the Ripper Tour: Walked around and heard about the London mystery about a serial killer in the late 1800s. It was very fun walking through the alleys on a dark night with a man-guide wearing a black jacket, black dress shoes, and a top hat thing talking about murder spots...probably the only time you will hear me say that sentence in my life.
8pm: Bus System back to city center with eastern European boys.
8:30pm: Dinner at a coffee shop
10pm: Abbey Road to see Beatles recording studio
*Pitch black trying to navigate maps down outside roads and signed the Abbey House walls.
10:30pm: Took pictures like Beatles album cover
*Random people jumped in on the photos...not even mad about it. They asked to be friends with us on facebook within 5 minutes of meeting them so I'd like to think we made a good impression. haha
**Shout out to the Donaldson Beatles Fans in front of the recording studio.**
11pm: Walked the streets of London to find the "Tube" subway
*Got a free ticket from some kid to ride it and we tried for 15 minutes to buy a subway ticket, but didn't understand their futuristic machine. I ended up getting through the pelvic gate bar thing (it's the fancy term for it) and Tina was stuck on the other side without a ticket. The train was about to come, so she followed a man once he swiped his card only to find her getting stuck half way through and an alarm going off. HAHA She squeezed through the bar that was trying to close on her and we ran to the train. Farm girls in the big city.
12am: London Eye
*Why does touring have to be done in the day time? We had no place to sleep anyways...
12:30am: Kicked out of a nice warm bar and grill. Tina had to use bathroom and tried to get into a restaurant as they were closing. They eventually let us in only to use the toilet. To stay warm we continued playing on the street doing Star Wars poses with the florescent lights on the sidewalks.
1:00am: Ran into a Rod Stewart look-a-like. Tina went around a corner and ran into a skinny 45+ yr old man surrounded by pretty young Australian women...she thought it was Rod Stewart. I thought it was Mac Jagger. Nonetheless, it wasn't either. He stopped to talk to us and it ended up being a man in tight white Christmas pajama pants, a blazer, purple crushed velvet shoes, and a scarf. He was Scottish and kissed our hands in between taking drags on his cigarette.
1:30am: Kicked out of Hotel.
*Waiting for our bus to airport we got cold. We went to sit in a lobby at a 5 star fancy hotel and when trying to blend in by ordering wine at a table by the bar, they looked at our wind blown hair and backpacks and told us they couldn't serve us. Tina and I went back into the cold.
2am: Ate a hot pocket with drunk Irish man on side of the road to stay warm...again, another sentence I probably won't ever say.
2:30am: Bus to airport
3:30am: Slept on table at airport and Tina looses feeling to her lower extremities for a good 20 minutes
5:00am: Flight Check in to go back to Dublin
Wish you guys could have been there. Back in Dublin and still have a checklist to complete...shout out to Ian Jones and Becca Erks for the list. ;)
What makes a good story when starting a new adventure always? Waking up late. Ask the Mc Calister family from Home Alone if you don't believe me. We went to bed at 2am canceling Tina's credit card that was lost at the rugby game and our roomies from Australia came back after a quite drunk night and turned on all the lights til 4am. Tina and I NEEDED to be awake and walk over to the bus stop by 5:45am...we got to the bus stop at 6:15am. Apparently, it wasn't even the right one according to some lady waiting with a eastern European accent. It would take us an hour to get there and we needed to be checked in by the hour. No time for these Shenanigans, Ireland! Tina and I looked at each other in looks of panic and I suddenly see her arm fly up and instantly get a taxi. haha Well done, Tina. Hello, quick ride to airport. Goodbye, savings account.
London was AMAZING. Although Tina and I were sooooo behind on sleep (and still are haha) that we could probably be declared to the same mental state as two drunk sailors. Imagine drunk sailors navigating around a foreign city and trying to find landmarks and understand historical meanings of things. We stopped maybe two times the entire day and the only reason was because we needed food, water, or a toilet. No exceptions. It was what we like to call the "See all of in London 12 hours or Less" tour.
McSchaap and O'Donaldson's Day in London Schedule:
10am: Take bus from airport to London city center.
11am: Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards.
*Mostly made commentary about their outfits and what they are probably thinking while switching...then spent a good 20 minutes taking pictures of us playing in dead leaves on the Buckingham Palace lawn...naturally.
12pm: Visited Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (where Princess Diana and many others had their funerals), Parliament Building, Winston Churchill Statue,and lots of old historical "stuff". haha
*Walked through multiple riots during our time in the UK. Syria, workers relief, protesters on economic crisis. (Tina joined one riot in Galway, Ireland...I couldn't stop her, so I just filmed it and watched for cops).
2pm: Fish & Chips with a cup of tea. I felt as English as Mr. Bean himself.
3pm: Shakespeare's Globe Theater Tour
*Didn't want to do the tour, but they won't let you see it if you don't have someone with you, so Tina and I stayed towards the back and took pictures of ourselves cheering for plays in the stands and tried to keep up with the group.
5pm: London Bridge
*Not much to talk about. It looked very "bridgey".
5:30pm: Tower of London
*Ran across with our backpacks flapping up and down across the Thames River in the dark trying to get to our next tour in time to buy tickets...of course we didn't get them in advance. I am traveling with Jantina Donaldson, not Linda Donaldson. :)
6pm: Jack the Ripper Tour: Walked around and heard about the London mystery about a serial killer in the late 1800s. It was very fun walking through the alleys on a dark night with a man-guide wearing a black jacket, black dress shoes, and a top hat thing talking about murder spots...probably the only time you will hear me say that sentence in my life.
8pm: Bus System back to city center with eastern European boys.
8:30pm: Dinner at a coffee shop
10pm: Abbey Road to see Beatles recording studio
*Pitch black trying to navigate maps down outside roads and signed the Abbey House walls.
10:30pm: Took pictures like Beatles album cover
*Random people jumped in on the photos...not even mad about it. They asked to be friends with us on facebook within 5 minutes of meeting them so I'd like to think we made a good impression. haha
**Shout out to the Donaldson Beatles Fans in front of the recording studio.**
11pm: Walked the streets of London to find the "Tube" subway
*Got a free ticket from some kid to ride it and we tried for 15 minutes to buy a subway ticket, but didn't understand their futuristic machine. I ended up getting through the pelvic gate bar thing (it's the fancy term for it) and Tina was stuck on the other side without a ticket. The train was about to come, so she followed a man once he swiped his card only to find her getting stuck half way through and an alarm going off. HAHA She squeezed through the bar that was trying to close on her and we ran to the train. Farm girls in the big city.
12am: London Eye
*Why does touring have to be done in the day time? We had no place to sleep anyways...
12:30am: Kicked out of a nice warm bar and grill. Tina had to use bathroom and tried to get into a restaurant as they were closing. They eventually let us in only to use the toilet. To stay warm we continued playing on the street doing Star Wars poses with the florescent lights on the sidewalks.
1:00am: Ran into a Rod Stewart look-a-like. Tina went around a corner and ran into a skinny 45+ yr old man surrounded by pretty young Australian women...she thought it was Rod Stewart. I thought it was Mac Jagger. Nonetheless, it wasn't either. He stopped to talk to us and it ended up being a man in tight white Christmas pajama pants, a blazer, purple crushed velvet shoes, and a scarf. He was Scottish and kissed our hands in between taking drags on his cigarette.
1:30am: Kicked out of Hotel.
*Waiting for our bus to airport we got cold. We went to sit in a lobby at a 5 star fancy hotel and when trying to blend in by ordering wine at a table by the bar, they looked at our wind blown hair and backpacks and told us they couldn't serve us. Tina and I went back into the cold.
2am: Ate a hot pocket with drunk Irish man on side of the road to stay warm...again, another sentence I probably won't ever say.
2:30am: Bus to airport
3:30am: Slept on table at airport and Tina looses feeling to her lower extremities for a good 20 minutes
5:00am: Flight Check in to go back to Dublin
Wish you guys could have been there. Back in Dublin and still have a checklist to complete...shout out to Ian Jones and Becca Erks for the list. ;)
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