Mind.Of.Melanie: London, Day 1: The Journey Across the Pond, Into the Great Beyond

London, Baby!
[Let me preface this by telling you that I went to London recently and since I booked my flight I said "London, baby!" just about every day!]

It all started with an idea...an idea and a girl named Gwen. The story goes a little something like this:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Gwen. Gwen was a fun, blond, bubbly, twerking-loving, girl living in Dallas. There was also a girl named Melanie (that's me if you didn't catch). Melanie and Gwen lived two streets apart, were both in Junior League of Dallas, and had millions of things in common but hadn't met yet. If this was a romance story then they'd end up getting married, but, it's not. So, Melanie started working at GE in Irving, Texas and met Gwen. Within a week or so they were carpooling and had become besties. About two months after their meeting, Willis (that's "Will," Melanie's hubby) decides he hates Dallas so much and wants to move to Seattle. So, being the AMAZING wife that Melanie is, she agrees, and they move within a month. Fortunately, Gwen and Melanie's bond had become secure and over the past few years they kept in touch and visited each other multiple times. Most recently, Melanie went to London to do just that.

Now that you have the history, we'll jump right into my trip to LONDON, BABY! Gwen and her husband, Cyrus, are living in London for a few months while he's doing a fancy-pants surgeon "study abroad," or at least that's what I'm calling it. And, actually, while the program is very fancy-pants and impressive, Cyrus is about the most down-to-earth, unassuming, nicest guy you'll meet; just for the record. Gwen is actually from London and lucky for her, and all her friends from the US, her parents have an extra flat in London that they loaned to her while she's living there. Right after Christmas, I got the fabulous idea to jump on a plane and go visit her across the pond! I started planting seeds in Will's head by leaving the iPad out with flights to London on the screen ;) He really likes Gwen and he was planning a boy's trip to Canada so it didn't take much convincing that I needed to go. I'm going to break up my trip into several posts, as we did so much, so bear with me because it will take a few weeks for me to post everything. I can assure you, dear reader, that each and every day was fabulous, packed with action, and unforgettable. Thank you, Gwen for a wonderful, wonderful trip... I mean, Wah-ah-wah!

Day 1, Saturday, February 8th: The Airport Pickup and Ballet at The Royal Opera House: Rhapsody, Tetractys the Art of Fugue, and Gloria
Daily Fitbit Stats: {coming soon!}
*This will be a recurring metric -- each day Gwen wore her fitbit to track the miles walked and number of stairs we did.
Daily Commonality: We both forget everything, fact.
*This will be a recurring stat -- each day we found out more and more we had in common.

I hopped on a giant double-decker plane at Seatac Airport on a Friday night, popped a few herbal sleeping pills, and slept about eight hours while the pilot sailed across the polar ice cap and landed in London. Gwen and Cyrus were coming to get me at the airport so I walked though customs and was bit surprised not to see them. We had a pre-determined spot to meet and I wandered through the crowds with my giant blue suitcase looking for them. As I scanned the crowds, I finally saw a 5'1" girl (for the record, I am taller, though marginally) with long blond hair waiting at the gate, watching the weary travelers pass by. I snuck up behind her and said "Who are we looking for?" She jumped up and down and hugged my neck and asked where I had come from. Cyrus, who was manning the other end of the crowd, was supposed to have seen me but he was busy playing video games and had missed me when I walked by.

All aboard! I was in British Airway's "World Traveller"
class, which is a polite description for "coach."

We got in a tiny car, and Cyrus navigated us through the streets of London, on the wrong side of the road, I might add, to their precious flat. Upon my arrival, Gwen had prepared a welcome package for me, wrapped in a London-themed bag, full of goodies for my visit: an Oyster Card (tube card, which I called my "pearl card"), tube map, A to Zed guidebook, British flag Whole Foods gc, British flag Starbucks gc, and more! I visited for a few hours, said hello to the girls, Duchess and Georgia, who wore pink bows with diamond hearts on them. Duchess loved wearing the bow, Georgia was not so amused! Then I napped for a few hours.

Cyrus, focusing on driving us home, on the left side.

George and Duchess so pretty wearing their bows!

Gwen, outside her flat.

Gwen & Cy's flat complex.

Once I woke up, I felt refreshed and ready to go. We primped and pampered and then rode the tube to the Royal Opera House for the ballet. The tube station we were getting off, Covent Garden, was supposed to drop us off right in front of the ballet, however, we wandered for a good 10 minutes asking people for directions because we didn't see it and were running late. Finally, we saw it and started running, literally, to make sure we didn't miss getting in our seats on time. We made it, and boy is it a stunning building! Right before the ballet started, someone came on stage and let us know that a few of the ballerinas from the matinee that day had gotten hurt and they had to cancel Teatractys, the Art of Fugue, one of the performances for that night. This was a shame, but really ok with us because I was a little travel weary and we still got to see two wonderful performances -- Rhapsody and Gloria. We enjoyed every minute of the ballet and best of all, got ice creams (yes, I know that sounds plural, but that is what the English call it) during intermission. I got a ginger ice creams and Gwen got a strawberry. The evening was perfect and a fab-u-lous start to my trip.

Gwen, on the tube, reading her A-to-Zed.
[It's actually "A to Z" but the Brits say "Zed"]. One thing
that does cross all oceans is that you do NOT talk while on
the bus/train/tube --- Will and Gwen taught me this!