London

My first posting is going to be a little mundane, as I am not yet restoring castles or milking cows. Despite all the horror stories I've heard about British airlines and Heathrow airport this summer, my travel to London went extremely smoothly. Flight left on time. Seat was empty next to me!!! Arrived 40 minutes early. Since I didn't check bags it was super easy getting out of Heathrow. There was no line at customs, maybe I beat the people picking up bags, but I did get the third degree from the customs agent (Why are you travelling? What do you do in the US? Why and how are you taking a year off work?... apparently it's normal).
The only wrinkle was when I found the British Library, where I was to meet Naomi and Jake, and waiting for them reached half an hour. After planning for months for this trip, I suddenly found myself drastically under-prepared! I was in the middle of a strange city with 35 pounds of backpack and had no map or information on London, no way to reach them, and only the name of their small hotel--no phone number or address. If we had missed each other I was going to need internet access, phone access, and a place to pee, all conveniently located and preferably free. Of course they came, surprised at how quickly I had made it to our meeting point, not knowing of my early flight and that I had carried not checked any bags.
For lunch we walked through those kinds of neighborhoods where you want to take a picture at every corner. I'll spare you the gruesome results of Becca + new digital camera. I will try to upload a couple photos soon though. Time for a nap. I know I shouldn't do it, but I can't resist sweet sleep anymore...