Hey All,
Welcome back! Just as I am settling into being back in London I am off again. I leave for Amsterdam and Paris this Friday and will be back just in time for the Royal Wedding next week. Yes, it pretty exciting that not only did I move to London when a wedding was set to occur, but I will also be here for the Olympics next year (just ordered those tickets too). Well, this blog is written by my friend Mike who just came up for the weekend from Chicago to visit. Enjoy!
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Stuck in the UK Vol. 1 - by Michael Run
On my first trip to Europe I visited my friend Belton in London. We had the most amazing time! I really gained a lot of perspective from the trip.
When I fist got to London I had the pleasure of waiting in an hour and a half immigration line with an American girl from Missouri who had never been outside of the state in her life. Obviously we made a deep connection and I’ll never forget her, whoever she was. Then on the tube the line shut down and I had to transfer from train to train on the same line. Finally I made it to Central London where Belton met me and I was immediately treated to a mini tour of the most popular areas to see, including Leicester Square, Chinatown, Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. After that we grabbed lunch at a local spot, Pizza Express. From there I went and saw Westminster Abby and a few other popular landmarks, headed to BT’s place and crashed out for a couple hours.
Wanting to see some other friends, who were also in London, I left to do my own thing and went to Clapham and joined a few of the old boys for a regular smashingly good time. We hung out at a place called The Goat for a bit and carried on from there to another place or two. I can’t remember where I went but that’s only because it was such a great time. Took some photo ops and kept calm while partying on! After a great night out with friends and some good partying I remembered I had prior arrangements and I headed back to BT’s flat. Long story short it was a long day from the flight to walking around London and meeting a group of friends. Shattered…
So where was I, Oh yeah. So prior to coming to London I agreed to play paintball with a large group of Belton's friends, people I didn’t know. I call those opportunities. BT woke me up at 6:15am even though he told me we didn’t have to leave until 6:45. I told him I’d be ready to rock, I was ready to sleep. We proceeded to ride the tube to our stop and met up with a few of his friends who were joining us for paintball. From there we took the train out to the country side to some remote destination, Delta Force. Given the experience of the night before let’s just say it was a struggle for me. From the train we walked for a bit, finally reached the paintball grounds and found out we didn’t need to be there until 10. Sweet! Upon arrival they handed us a bunch of gear. Face masks, body armour, jumpsuits, paintball containers, etc. As it was my first paintball experience I geared up and got right. I felt like I looked really good in my gear because it accentuated all of my daring yet bold features. A lot of BT’s friends joined us and rightfully so it was a good bunch of peeps just looking to have a good time. On to the paintball…
It started out rough.
I was severally dehydrated and tired from the flight. I figured just get on with it and enjoy yourself. I was told it was 3.5 quid for a full days worth of paintball, what they didn’t tell you is that you need to buy a ton of paintballs to actually have a good time and shoot shoot shoot!!! Our group of 20 something was split up and we were to face each other. Interestingly enough I think the first few rounds were my best as I was shooting everyone in sight, didn’t get hit once and my team destroyed the non-competitive opposition (Go Orange!) Yeah you know who you are!
Anyways after the first few games I was in pain(literally); not only was I exhausted and craving water but I didn’t realise how much running around was involved. Upon our first break I immediately went and purchased a couple bottles of water. Crushed them, and that’s when I realised there was free water a few steps away. I was sweating so much and felt disgusting. My mask kept fogging up and I literally couldn’t see. I got rid of the useless body armour as it only made me sweat more, or was it my sweater? Got rid of that too. Everyone was wearing the same thing. All black jumpers goggles and guns. I couldn’t tell anyone apart from each other. No wait, ….I knew who BT was, not because of his distinguishing features but because the group had told the place that it was his birthday! They gave him a large pink target to wear. It was even better because Belton was so embarrassed. :)
As the next few games went on, I was able to feel a bit better and talk with a few new friends I had just met. Everyone was nice and receptive of this rookie Yankee in their midst. I started getting really tired right around lunch, which was included in admission. We received these personal pizzas which were 5 quid each and worth about 2. They tasted great to me because I was famished and relished a break. At lunch I met a few more people that I hadn’t even noticed were there before. But when you’re introduced with masks on it’s a little had. Again great people. Even though I was already introduced I was like who are you? Oh great to meet you!
After lunch I was about through with paintball and was wondering when we were going to hit the pub. It was about then I started to realize the other random group we were paired with was taking things a bit too seriously. I guess some of them were warned and asked to leave from being ultra-competitive and really too much. Rule breakers! I won’t stand for it! I only know this from what others said as I was just looking to have a good time and wanted to enjoy my first UK experience. The last few games were fun but I was terrible, seriously like 2-3 matches in a row I was shot as soon as they started. Maybe 30 seconds in. But I guess I was lucky as everyone else had bruises and welts afterwards, the worst that happened to me is I got hit in the jugular a couple times and on a joint in my pinky. If you’ve ever been shot in the hand with a paintball then you know how fun that is. Not too bad though, no bruises or welts. Wait, was everyone else cooler than me with battle scars and hideous bruises? Yea, that was the case. I was definitely the prettiest of the group, at least that’s what the ladies said once I put my mask on. They told me to keep it on because it was a good look for me. Well someone said it, I’m just not sure who they were. Well good enough for me.
For most of the day I was strong, alpha, but towards the end I was ready to move on. After paintball we headed to the pub. Finally! We had a few pints and I got to know the crew I was with a bit more. Luckily for me it was a bunch of Yanks who were super cool and wanted to get to know me a bit. It was at an awesome country pub just as you might picture one in London. Good ol’ Black Swan, I’ll never forget you Swany. We shared some stories, and while everyone else had to catch the train back, somehow BT talked a really cool girlfriend of his into giving us a ride back to the city. She was a regular honey badger of a sausage. We went back did our thing and got ready to go out for the night. Grabbed some dinner with some of BT’s friends from Australia, Ollie and Andrew, and proceeded to go out for the night. We ended up going to Shoreditch which apparently is a place to go for a great night out. My friends recommended it the night before. We met up with some more of BT’s friends at place called the Queen of Hoxton. The venue was cool, and the patrons seemed cool, there was only one problem. Too many people stuffed into an alcove. They shut down the upstairs where the rooftop deck was and told everyone to stand next to me. Perfect! After friends left we bounced straight away to another spot and took the tube back to the flat. I was knackered.
The following morning BT made me a full breakfast with a feta, mushroom and bacom omelette, blueberries, OJ and buttered toast. I was like umm what is this? Thank you so much man! I was impressed, I tried to offer to help cook and clean but being a gent he refused and carried on. Good lad! Later I learned his maid does his dishes, oh well excuse me sir! We can’t all be Swish’er sweet! Onwards and upwards…
We went for a walk to the London Eye and Big Ben during the London Marathon. I thought about jumping in for a few K but BT talked me out of it. It was really cool to see people cheering on the runners and we actually got to watch the end of the race right in front of Buckingham Palace, about 30,000 of them in all were participating in the worlds oldest marathon. After walking around a bit we caught the tube to go see London Tower. Which by the way isn’t one tower but twenty. Our tour guide Dave was hilarious and actually lives in the castle with his family. After seeing a couple other tour guides who were all facts and no fun I really appreciated him. We learned a whole lot of Londonite facts and wish I could tell you about a ton of beheadings but I won’t. I don’t want to cheapen the tour, you’ll have to go for yourself. Or pay me $35. It’s totally worth it, …once!
We saw the royal jewels and the largest cut diamond in the world. It was 326 karats and almost as large as my fist. All I know is that I’ll have one just like it. No, … Bigger... Craving some English treat we grabbed Fish n’ Chips of course and chowed down. So after that we met up with some friends went to a few pubs grabbed some dinner saw the canals and went out to again to a Jazz spot. Needless to say my adventure didn’t end there.
On my last day I walked around London. I went through Hyde Park and took some time to reflect on my latest adventure. I thought about all the cool people I met and the good times I had. It was a beautiful day. The Sun was out, the birds were chirping, squirrels were eating peanuts out of people’s hands. Oh London town, the mystery and awe. I walked down Oxford Street and hit up the British store of prominence Primark, where all the posh go to get their things. I joined in the festivities and splurged on the freshest gear one could find. When I was done pushing through the masses I managed to escape with enough time to get to another shop or two. Everyone was eyeing my bag, I knew they were jealous of my devilish good tastes. It was nearing time to go so I headed down to Belton’s work to meet him for lunch and one last hoorah. We had a delicious English Mexican fiesta with a couple of his co-workers and I was off. We did our goodbyes and I headed to the airport. It was a fast ride, much faster than on the way in. I made it with a few hours to spare. Good thing too because I found out my flight was cancelled.
Apparently the last flight from Chicago never came in and I was therefore out of a ride back to the States. I was crushed, another night in London! Nooo The worst! Quickly rang Belton but he must have been in a meeting or something and couldn’t get a hold of him. I had to ask him if I could spend one more night in his glorious flat. About 45 to an hour later I finally got a hold of him and he said no problem. I felt even worse when I found out I was entitled to 600 pounds compensation. I didn’t want to take advantage of the system but laws are laws. The only thing was he had plans for the evening so I had to figure out something to do for the night. Luckily enough for me one of his friends took pity was down to chill. Had some food and drinks and it turned out not to be a good thing to be stuck in London for another night. If you’re into that kinda thing.
The activities that occurred the next day, my real last day, remain a secret to you all. I dare not shed those stories upon anyone’s ears. They are the kind of thing that makes women swoon and men cry.
One thing that sticks out is a lot of people kept asking me why I went to London. I really only had one answer, because I wanted to. I only sleep to rest, wake up to live my dreams. You know? America!
I had a blast! Learned so much! All about joined up writing (aka. Cursive writing) to fancy dress (aka. A costume) and of course swimming costume (aka. A Swimsuit)! In fact I’m pretty sure I’ll be back in a few weeks hoping to hang out with a few new friends I met and rock London. One more time, we’re going to celebrate!
