Leaving Miami was a hard thing to do, all that sunshine, sand and ocean to be replaced by coldness, puddles and clouds.
The flight over was restless to say the least. I cant seem to get any sleep on busses or planes or if I do its very brief. While waiting in the terminal lounge I started watching Cast Away, Ive never seen it before so didnt realise it started off with a plane crash! Not that it bothered me though.
Arriving at Heathrow airport around 10am after maybe an hour sleep I was 4 hours ahead of Miami time and ready for bed! Check-in was a breeze. I walked through the EU line flaunting my Right of Abode visa thingo, the lady at passport control said 'Welcome Home'. I navigated my way to the airport train line lugging my heavy suitcase, laptop and skateboard. I got off at the first stop and walked to terminal 3 where I got some tourist brochures and changed the last of my Aussie dollars to Pounds. 750 - 300. Then headed to the central bus station and jumped onto the National Express coach to Victoria Station.
It was a bit of a pain lugging all my gear about but I knew it was only for an hour or so, so plugged into my iPod and just tried to relax. At victoria station I grabbed a whopper meal from Burger King, some woman cut infront of me in the line which really got on my nerves! I was starting to get very grumpy, the lack of sleep taking its toll. To make things worse I had to carry my gear up 3 flights of stairs at the hostel!
Walking into the room I was greeted with the smell of dirty socks and BO. The dimly lit room was filled with seven three story bunk beds that almost reach the top of the high ceilings, quite a sight. I assesed my options and went with a middle bunk up against the far wall. Making the bed and sorting out my luggage I checked out the hostel which is small, then crashed out for a few hours.
That night I hung out in the combined kitchen lounge and laptop area watching movies and surfing the net. The room has a few hundred video tapes lining the walls so I had a look for something decent. I was suprised at how many new release movies were in the collection, I thought they'd stopped producing VCR tapes? The VCR itself is obviously a relic and requires a certain technique to eject tapes. You have to smack the sides in the right way to get it to work.
I got to bed around 4am but didnt get much sleep at all. Two people in the room were snoring and both in close proximity to my bunk. It sounded like I was snoring at first because the culprit was behind me and one level down, weird! I plugged in the ear plugs but they didnt help that much, I need a new pair! Then the person sleeping above me decided to start moving about constantly, every movement making the entire bunk bed shake and sway. Come 6am Id had enough and went downstairs to start the job search.
I havent had much luck with the job hunting as yet but my efforts have been a bit slack. Ive got my resume in order now though and even have a UK number, so ill give it a better crack this week.
Im in London, it's been a week and im starting to like it.
