My first stamp!

Although exhausted beyond belief, here I am at Palmer's Lodge in London!

Friday was a bit nerve racking, as I prepared myself to leave. I panicked when I realized I had left my money for the metro at home, but my boss graciously gave me money when she heard I was in need. She was so kind about it, giving me more than necessary, and I was able to make it to the airport on time with a few moments to spare.

Once I stepped off the plane in Chicago, I stepped right onto the plane bound for London. A jumbo jet, I sat on the aisle of a row of 9! It was the largest plane I've ever been in, and oddly, the best flight I've ever taken. I watched two movies, Confessions of a Shopaholic (cute, but wait to watch the TV edited version) and Monsters vs. Aliens (absolutely awesome!) I made small talk with the guy sitting next to me, a senior Lit major at Duke, and tried my best to sleep. As the Duke man said, "They try to trick you into thinking you've slept. They feed you dinner, turn off the lights, and then an hour and a half later they turn on the lights and feed you breakfast." That's exactly how it went.

The eight hour flight really didn't seem that long, and when we arrived at 10am, I went straight for the bathrooms and cleaned up, then headed out to customs, where I received my very first stamp! Yippee!!

The tube systems are being worked on, so I had to take some detours (glad I had studied the little tube map or I would have been completely lost) and then walked the rest of the way to my hostel, Palmer's Lodge.

Today I will try to head down to Kensington, to go to the Orangery for tea (thanks for the suggestion, Stacey), then to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and then to Harrod's (thanks, Sharon1) for the summer sale! (I probably won't buy anything, but I hear it's an experience.) We'll see what I can accomplish.

The Duke man, who's been to London five times, gave me some suggestions as to what I should see, and when I showed him my itinerary, he said, "wow, good luck getting all that in." I laughed. I figure it's better to be prepared!

love you, miss you!