This portion of the holiday began on October 23rd in London, where I met with my love, Jeffrey, at the London Heathrow airport at noon. Earlier in the day I had repacked my bags for our travels that would go from Dorking to York, then from York to Keswick in the lake district. It was a busy day of plans, packing, and prepping for our travels together. I had pre-booked the first leg of our train tickets - all the while feeling super-excited!
While I was making my way to the airport, I was also taking note of how long this took for my future return flight, since I will have to get myself back to the airport in December. It was a bit long: one train and two connections via the underground. On the subway connection close to Heathrow, I struck up a conversation with another passenger. She was headed to the same terminal and it was a first time just as it was for myself, but she had a luggage with her. We talked about where we were going. She shared with me that she was traveling back home from Canada to Africa (where her husband works for Nestle & they live in different country a couple years at a time & then move to another place). I told her how I was meeting my long-time boyfriend for a week holiday in the UK together & that I was here as a study abroad student teacher. This nice lady gave me insight to other teachers in Canada & how they cannot find employment so some choose to teach internationally. It is times like this that energize me in learning more about other people, places, and cultures. I could see myself teaching in another country for a year of great experience... as long as I wasn't away from all of my loved ones for that long.
Once I made it to the airport, I found the international arrivals & stayed there to await for his arrival... which was scheduled for another 30 minutes. There were two different exit doors on the west and the east sides of this waiting area, so I kept turning my head back and forth like in a tennis match. While I waited, I kept thinking of how much fun we would have together on our adventure. I was daydreaming... and a man in a tan casual sports jacket, black jeans, & white shirt approached me. "Hello. Excuse me, but do you mind telling me who you are waiting for? I'm Ken from the British television show called... yadda-yadda... and we are doing exclusive interviews with families waiting a long time for their loved ones to return to them." So I politely answered in a short version of who I was waiting for... Ken, "Would you be interested in sharing your story on camera?" I thanked him but declined the offer saying, "Oh no, I couldn't do that. I'm already full of nervous butterflies and hummingbirds in my stomach - waiting for him." So, he went on to asking other people in the area - and I was able to see other people reconnect and hug one another as they met. It was a great idea for a story, but I knew I would be embarrassed and Jeffrey might not know how to react after such a long flight.
Soon enough, I was back to daydreaming & he found me before I saw him. What a wonderful feeling it is to meet a loved one in an airport after so long! We kissed and hugged, then headed over to a cafe for snacks and a talk before the Underground trip. It was such a good start to our week - sitting next to each other & sharing stories. I told him about the TV host asking me to be interviewed and recorded. It was a mutual agreement between us that it would not have been our preference... we like it to be a bit more private.
I escorted him back to the London Underground to travel back to the Victoria train station & then onto Dorking, UK. It took about 2 hours to travel there. Then, we walked from the Dorking train station to the hotel, took a walk around the town to show him the area before the sun had set, got dinner, and headed back. When I showed him the gifts I'd made and found for him, he was delighted with every single one. It made my day to share stories and presents. Love was certainly in the air.
The next morning, we went out to breakfast to Cafe Rouge for a delicious classic British Breakfast -a cafe latte, a mushroom and cheese omlete with toast for myself, and he had orange juice, 2 eggs, herb sausage, back bacon, toast, & sauteed mushrooms. It was such a treat, since I normally just have yogurt and fruit with a piece of toast in the mornings before school. Walking around town, I was able to show him the local park I walk through on a regular basis, the shops in the old downtown area, and my place of residence. He took pictures of these places that I showed him, then we started our journey by train to York. We did luck out in the weather with sunshine and a few clouds for the start.
We made our way to Kings Cross and Pancrass train station to get from London to York...
While I was making my way to the airport, I was also taking note of how long this took for my future return flight, since I will have to get myself back to the airport in December. It was a bit long: one train and two connections via the underground. On the subway connection close to Heathrow, I struck up a conversation with another passenger. She was headed to the same terminal and it was a first time just as it was for myself, but she had a luggage with her. We talked about where we were going. She shared with me that she was traveling back home from Canada to Africa (where her husband works for Nestle & they live in different country a couple years at a time & then move to another place). I told her how I was meeting my long-time boyfriend for a week holiday in the UK together & that I was here as a study abroad student teacher. This nice lady gave me insight to other teachers in Canada & how they cannot find employment so some choose to teach internationally. It is times like this that energize me in learning more about other people, places, and cultures. I could see myself teaching in another country for a year of great experience... as long as I wasn't away from all of my loved ones for that long.
Once I made it to the airport, I found the international arrivals & stayed there to await for his arrival... which was scheduled for another 30 minutes. There were two different exit doors on the west and the east sides of this waiting area, so I kept turning my head back and forth like in a tennis match. While I waited, I kept thinking of how much fun we would have together on our adventure. I was daydreaming... and a man in a tan casual sports jacket, black jeans, & white shirt approached me. "Hello. Excuse me, but do you mind telling me who you are waiting for? I'm Ken from the British television show called... yadda-yadda... and we are doing exclusive interviews with families waiting a long time for their loved ones to return to them." So I politely answered in a short version of who I was waiting for... Ken, "Would you be interested in sharing your story on camera?" I thanked him but declined the offer saying, "Oh no, I couldn't do that. I'm already full of nervous butterflies and hummingbirds in my stomach - waiting for him." So, he went on to asking other people in the area - and I was able to see other people reconnect and hug one another as they met. It was a great idea for a story, but I knew I would be embarrassed and Jeffrey might not know how to react after such a long flight.
Soon enough, I was back to daydreaming & he found me before I saw him. What a wonderful feeling it is to meet a loved one in an airport after so long! We kissed and hugged, then headed over to a cafe for snacks and a talk before the Underground trip. It was such a good start to our week - sitting next to each other & sharing stories. I told him about the TV host asking me to be interviewed and recorded. It was a mutual agreement between us that it would not have been our preference... we like it to be a bit more private.
I escorted him back to the London Underground to travel back to the Victoria train station & then onto Dorking, UK. It took about 2 hours to travel there. Then, we walked from the Dorking train station to the hotel, took a walk around the town to show him the area before the sun had set, got dinner, and headed back. When I showed him the gifts I'd made and found for him, he was delighted with every single one. It made my day to share stories and presents. Love was certainly in the air.
The next morning, we went out to breakfast to Cafe Rouge for a delicious classic British Breakfast -a cafe latte, a mushroom and cheese omlete with toast for myself, and he had orange juice, 2 eggs, herb sausage, back bacon, toast, & sauteed mushrooms. It was such a treat, since I normally just have yogurt and fruit with a piece of toast in the mornings before school. Walking around town, I was able to show him the local park I walk through on a regular basis, the shops in the old downtown area, and my place of residence. He took pictures of these places that I showed him, then we started our journey by train to York. We did luck out in the weather with sunshine and a few clouds for the start.
We made our way to Kings Cross and Pancrass train station to get from London to York...
Little did we know that this station held a tourist attraction: Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4 wall for photos... it was pretty entertaining to watch while we waited for the train. I was more amused by this than he was. This was only about a 2 hour trip to York & we got there with enough time to walk around the cobbled roads, and see the York Minster Abbey, shops, before finding a place for drinks and dinner. We were lucky enough to find a great wait staff at a place off the beaten path, who gave us a round of free cocktails. It was a fun night of walks and sights of old taverns & even saw the town had a ghost tour through out York. It gave us endless amounts of banter to joke about.
The next morning, we decided to go take a look at both the battlement walls, and inside the York Minster Abbey - also it's undercroft. IN the undercroft, you can see the history of the previous Romans & Greeks city foundations that were found in the 1970's when the locals were investigating the reasons for their historic Yorkminster was sinking. During these excavations, they found it was rich with history & relics.
The next morning, we decided to go take a look at both the battlement walls, and inside the York Minster Abbey - also it's undercroft. IN the undercroft, you can see the history of the previous Romans & Greeks city foundations that were found in the 1970's when the locals were investigating the reasons for their historic Yorkminster was sinking. During these excavations, they found it was rich with history & relics.
After our one night and one day of a visit to York, we headed out to our third leg of the trip - only two more trains up to the lake district to Keswick, UK. This will be updated in the following blog. Enjoy!
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