I arrived in London at 7:10 am on the 11th of June, 2013. I lined up at Immigration and turned on my phone. Gtalk prompted a message... from Mr.G... saying Welcome to England. I was smiling.
The line was a little bit long that morning. There was a surge of tourists, students and businessmen. I was still feeling sleepy after the flight so I just lazily dragged myself to move along until it was my turn. There were no questions asked at all, so that was sweet.
I found my bag and had to figure out money and the tube. To be perfectly honest, the Tube intimidated me. I knew Heathrow was going to be crazily busy and when I got out, it was the same as how I remembered it to be. Instant mayhem of rushing people around.
I got to a teller and bought myself a 1-way ticket to Elephant & Castle Station (crazily 6+GBP!!!). I was to get the Piccadilly Line and transfer to the brown line till I got to my destination. Not bad, just 2 transfers...with 3 bags and a guitar. Good thing carts were allowed until you reach the platform. That helped me rest my shoulders a bit.
Getting on the train, I decided not to take a seat as I found it too much of a hassle to organize my stuff. So I just stood at the corner and leaned by the window. London was looking gray, the usual view... but at least it wasn't that cold.
I got on the brown line and found myself at Elephant & Castle STation. Now, the thing is, the exit gates were too small for someone who had 3 bags and a guitar. So what happened? I got stuck and the alarm went off. Embarassing. 2 guys were staring straight at me. But neither budged nor gave me a hand. At that point I was already agitated and fuming. I threw one bag on the ground and hassled my way through. The businessman moved away and tried to avoid me. At that instant I was thinking, "Man, if this happened in New Zealand, someone would have helped me already". It took me a few seconds before I got back to my senses and reminded myself where I was.
Ahhh yes, I just arrived in London (pronounced Landan).
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