England

Craig Whitton - April 4th, 2005

There I was, finally on my way. The flight was fun, not terribly eventful. I had undertaken this trip so I could get my life sorted out, think things through and get a fresh perspective. For now, in London, I was too busy thinking about surviving then anything else. I grew up in a town with 5 thousand people, so you can imagine what it felt like to be all on my own in London. And, my lack of preparation for this trip was painfully obvious to me. I had no place to stay booked anywhere, I didn't know my way around the city, I was a blind kid trying to drive a Formula One car. I tell ya, a huge part of me wanted to just sit down and do nothing.

But an even bigger part of my was saying "Pick yourself up! This ain't so bad, and it's what you wanted" So That's exactly what I did. I started looking stuff up, finding out hostels and the like. I figured out how to get in from the airport first--small steps to build confidence. After the subway ride, I wandered around St. Paul's Cathedral looking for the YHA Hostel that claimed to be in the area. Sure enough, I eventually found it, and crashed into a deep sleep as soon as I was booked in. This was working out alright after all!

The next morning I was feeling pretty good, having slept off the Jet lag. From there on, London was a blast. I was finally able to start letting my mind wander into other, non life threatening territories (as in, food and shelter were taken care of). So, Away I went touring London.

I was wandering around London, somewhat lost, when I saw this neat little pond and a really nice house on the other side. I casually wondered what rich person must live there, as I wandered the rest of this green area. Finally, I got to the other side, and saw the house up close:

Buckingham Palace. Now, you can bet I felt like an idiot--another beauty of traveling alone: You can make stupid mistakes like this and no one will ever know!

Now, we are all familiar with the wonders of having a McDonalds in Wal Mart. We can shop till we drop, then replenish ourselves on Big Macs and Fries. This is in Harrods, a British department store--We North Americans have a long way to go from the Golden Arches! 

The HMS Belfast, a wonderful destroyer open to the public for walking tours.

Suits me, Doesn't it?

Tower of London Tour

This young man had just gotten back from serving in Iraq. My hat was off to him.

Here's one for the Joneses, I was there on a Sunday but unfortunately they were closed. However, it was still pretty cool to see the place where Indy got his Lid.

Locke & Co, another famous hatter

The British Museum and the Rosetta Stone.

My journal entry for this day (my last in London) reads "When I die, I want to be reincarnated as a Pigeon in Covent Garden". This holds true--it really is a magnificent place. The entire time I was in London I was thinking about all sorts of stuff, but at Covent Garden I really got a lot sorted (but not figured out yet!). It was so relaxing there--artists playing everything from U2 to the Eagles to Bach or Mozart.

In the market, something very strange happened to me. I was wandering around a bunch of booths, looking at various wares but not really focusing on them. I was busy thinking about that girl that caused this trip to begin with. Then this old guy, who was running a booth with all kinds of different tea towels, thrust one of them towards me. It read "If you love someone, let them go. If they are truly yours they will return, if not they never were". It was a surreal experience, one I won't soon forget. The real meaning of that age old saying didn't really hit me for another 2 weeks.

Finally, last but not least, St. Paul's Cathedral on the night I was supposed to leave. After snapping this photo, I was on my way to the train station to catch the Caledonian Sleeper to Edinburgh. Are you coming?