Stansted, UK

The trip started off on Saturday morning. Erin drove us to the airport, and we were off…to Atlanta. We were stuck in Atlanta for a few hours, long enough to find a dank little airport bar and get accosted by drunk travelers who alternated between friendly and oddly threatening.

We were relieved to get on the flight to Shannon, Ireland, and get settled in. We each took one backpack, no more, no less. We started the trip in a high state of excitement, and arrived in Shannon without incident. It was on from there to Stansted, UK, where we caught a train to our hotel outside of London. We got off the train and were confronted by a long line of taxis. At this point we had been up for over 24 hours, and I was on the verge of delirium. “Taxis!” I said with enthusiasm. But Jeff insisted instead that we walk to the hotel. “It’s right around the corner from here, I’m sure. Walking is part of the adventure, you know.” I growled. Jeff stared. We walked.

And we walked, and we walked, and we walked. Through a depressing English suburb that, aside from the cars driving on a different side of the road, could have been Anywhere, USA, with electronics stores, fast food restaurants, and strip malls everywhere. It was hot out, too, probably in the 90s, and we kept trudging forward.

About three miles later we arrived at our hotel. At this point, I was ready to collapse. After some truly horrible service, we were checked into our room where we both took showers and then contemplated our next step. Obviously, food had to come into play sooner or later, so we headed back out to find something to eat. We stopped at the Chinese buffet in our hotel, but at 11 pounds a plate, it was just a little too rich for us. We ended up at a carvery a mile and a half back from the way that we had come, eating salty ham and hasty puddings and trying not to gag on all the super rich food.

On our way home we stopped at a grocery store and bought two bottles of wine. We went back to the hotel, set up shop outside our room, and promptly got very, very drunk. We kept the wine in the toilet basin to keep it cool, which we thought was very clever. Did I mention that we were very, very drunk? And had been up for close to 40 hours? I think the pictures prove my point. It was quite the beginning to our European adventure.