January 9th I arrived into the Heathrow England Airport. I had 5 hours to kill before Paul, a friend from California would fly in.
Unfortunately, I had not slept as much as I usually do on over sea flights. There were too many distractions; too many movies to watch, too many thoughts going through my head and the girl with the beverage cart kept strolling down my aisle. To make matters worse the night before the flight I had been suckered into "going out big" with the excuse of
it being my last night in America for God knows how long. I had traded in staying out, socializing, and dancing for the hours I had planned to be sleeping.
So there I was Jan 9th, 6:30 am, pushing possibly 6 to 7 hours sleep within the last 48 hours. I found a nice Airport bench and got a few Zzz's in!
But when my friend Paul arrived I was at the gate to greet him. He had an extraordinary amount of energy with this being his first trip over seas. I tried to play along. We then found our transport and took the short trip into the heart of London, "Piccadilly Circus" to meet 2 other friends (Angie and her boyfriend Ryan) who would join our little "backpacking group" for the next week or so.
Before taking my flight out of JFK airport, I rang an old friend Ross, I had worked with at a pub called the Wine Bar during my days living in England about three years ago. Ross had arranged a place for us to stay with a mutual friend of ours, named Charlie. Who lived just South of the river. So the 4 Americans made their way towards Charlie's Metro/tube stop. We dropped our gear and headed out for some dinner. I had a spectacular time seeing my old "mates" Charlie and Ross. We reminisced over my months of living in England when I was just 18. So innocent and inexperienced.
When it came time for bed sleeping, arrangements were a bit tight. Most flats in London are quite small and Charlie's flat was no exception. We managed with a few of us on the floor. And I was able to score the short sofa or other wise called "love seat", being the shortest member in our group. Before I lucked out, I had suggested sleeping in
the bath tub in my sleeping bag to conserve space (sadly it wouldn't be the first time..........or most likely the last). but I guess this time we were not pushed to that level.
Most of us had an all right nights sleep. That following morning
after joining the boys for a Full English Breakfast (Beans on toast
and fried tomatoes) we were back at the airport to catch a flight to
Ireland.
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