Taking Flight and Missing the Train

It's the time I've been waiting for! My spring break trip to Jolly old England and my first abroad trip alone. The first destination was Manchester. Consequently, I had to take the tube from Heathrow to Euston train station in London and then the train to Manchester Picadilly. I don't think I have to even say that something went wrong...after all it was me traveling, but I'll write about my travels anyway. Also, it really wasn't that bad.

First, a random side note: I think I might be a vampire, or dead because within in the last couple weeks two people have accidentally touched my hand and remarked "Oh. Your hands are so cold". I'm pretty sure I could see the shiver running down their spine. Secondly, some background for my travels: on the Thursday before break it was about 60 degrees, the sun was shining and people were juggling or were passed out drunk (from St. Pat's day) on Mac Field in Grinnell. The next day, it was about 20 degrees, with blustering winds and heavy snow. Saturday morning the highways were pretty treacherous, but Sarah got me and Elyse safely to the Des Moines airport.

My flight to Chicago was relatively eventless. However, my flight out of Chicago was delayed for a little over an hour. First, they had to de-ice the plane, which wasn't too surprising. However, during the de-icing one passenger became gravely ill and had to be removed from the plane. But, that's not all. They also had to find his suitcase in the ginormous plane (a Boeing 777, which is a pretty impressive plane according to Griffin: Ashleigh's friend from Manchester) and take it out before we could take flight. On the bright side, the seats next to me were empty, so I got mucho leg room and didn't have to stand up for anyone to go to the bathroom. My favorite moment of the flight was listening to Cobra Starship's Snakes on a Plane song while flying on a plane. Now, I like snakes, but I must say I'm quite glad my plane ride was snake free.

I should mention that when I was booking my train ticket for London to Manchester it didn't occur to me that my flight might be delayed at all. After all, I had some sort of misguided faith in Iowa that it wouldn't be snowing in the middle of March! So, I ended up getting to Heathrow and through customs a little bit later than I was expecting. I do love the obvious things the customs area tells you though. For example, you're not allowed to bring endangered animals into the country. That rule was really inconvenient because I had to mail my white tiger cub back to the US before I could catch my train. Secondly, they "take extremely seriously any attempt to intimidate our staff either by threats or assault". Well I should hope so.

Moving on. There was also construction on the Tube, so I had to take a supplemental bus between tube stations. Riding on the tube, I knew there was no way I was going to make my scheduled train. It did not help that some big jerk (I'm using milder terms here than I thought in my head at the time) decided to block the tube doors from closing for five minutes with his hand instead of waiting two fricken minutes for the next train. Anyway I made it to London Euston after my originally planned train left the station. However, booking another train only cost 11 more pounds. In the end, I was rewarded for acting calmly and just going with the flow.

With the following posts I will detail my trip in Manchester and London, and in keeping with my blogs usual tradition I will also include noteworthy food. So, you can be jealous and judge me at the same time! Therefore, I should say that I had a-must be from heaven or hell-ham and cheese croissant from Delice de France at Euston train station.

What will I eat next? Did the rain drown me in Manchester? Do I still have my health? Will I get lost in London? Will I ever make it back to the States? Tune in to find out!