Backpacking London

The RyanAir flight touched down around 4.30pm in London and it was already dark out.  I walked outside to the bus area to meet with a friend of a friend who i was staying with.  It was the brother of the lady that i stayed with in Ireland.  His name is Declan and he had a really nice family.  I told him about my boarding pass situation coming to London so he let me stop at his business to print off my boarding pass for my flight in two days to Dublin, Ireland.  Then, we went to his home.  I met his wife who was absolutely lovely and his younger son.  Later on i met their oldest son too.  They also had a black german shepard dog that was really nice.  It was so nice to be in an actual home instead of a hostel or on a train or a plane.  We sat around a watched the "X Factor" which is similar to American Idol.  It is hugely popular in England and Ireland.  Later on I took a bath which was so nice.  The younger son gave up his bedroom for me while i was there.  It felt so nice to have a good nights sleep in a comfortable bed. There was a t.v in the room so i watched "Toy Story" as i fell asleep.  It made me feel more at home. The only down part was that i was still feeling ill.

The next morning i got up super early.  I didn't have a clock so i thought that it was much later.  I didn't hear anyone awake so i thought that they left for work already.  I got up and went downstairs.  Everyone was still sleeping, it was actually only like 8am.  I made some tea and watched t.v and hung out with the dog until the others woke up.  After a while i got dressed and the others woke up.  I had to think of what i wanted to do that day.  The younger son wrote down for me how to take the metro tube to the London Bridge and how to get back.  The tube is the main means of transportation in London, it goes everywhere.  Declan and his son took me to the nearest metro station.  The son walked me inside and showed me how to pay for a day pass and showed me where to go.  I went to the London Bridge area and walked around.  It was freezing cold outside.  In England, they also drive on the opposite side of the car and the opposite side of the street.  I walked around for a few hours.  After a while i got too cold and took the metro back to the metro station that i came from.  I waited at a Starbucks across the street for Declan and his wife to pick me up later on.  That night we watched the finale to the "X Factor".    I tried to get to bed pretty early because i had to wake up at 4 in the morning to get to the airport for my 7am flight back to Ireland. Declan was to wake me up at 4am but somehow i woke up at 3.45am and started to get ready.  Throughout my entire trip, i would wake up a bit before the actual time that i had to get up, probably out of fear of over sleeping.  He drove me to the airport, it was still dark out and extremely foggy out.

I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.  I wanted to get there early to give myself enough time to do everything and make sure everything goes smoothly.  I had my boarding pass already and i didnt have to check a bag so i went to the baggage check line and asked some people where i should go if i didnt have to check a bag.  They suggested that i just go to the gate.  So i went upstairs and went through security.  I exchanged the remaining pounds and pence that i had to euros.  I bought a hot chocolate and made my way to the gate.  It takes a while to walk there because you had to go upstairs and downstairs and down many hallways.  Finally when i got to the gate, i stood in line.  A worker came to check my boarding pass and she told me that i had to get a stamp on it from BAGGAGE CHECK! i told her that i wasn't going to have enough time to get alllllllllll the way back downstairs to baggage check and that i had a hurt foot that wasn't feeling good.  I went to the front of the line to the people at the desk and told me my situation and they said that i had 20 minutes and it was all up to me.  There wasn't anything that they were doing to do for me.  I right away threw away my full hot chocolate and ran as fast i could with my backpack with my sore foot to security.  They had a lady walk me passed security and downstairs to get a stamp.  Then she walked me back passed security where i still had to go through it but did not have to wait in line.  Then i had to run as fast as i could back to the gate and hope that i would make it in time.  I did.  Luckily the line was long enough and they were still boarding.  But, my foot was in SOO much pain.    I boarded the plane, limping, and flew back to Dublin, Ireland.