The Eagles Have Landed

Here we are! After learning that London airports don't have actual "gates" where you can wait for other people at, we finally found each other at my baggage claim, where Hallie was spinning around on a baggage carousel for five consecutive hours.

After a slight verbal quarrel with the driver about some "rubbish" about me being late (my flight was delayed) and other UK mumbly jumbly we couldn't understand, we were safely on our way out of LHR. 

Once we popped in the car, Hallie was a little shocked at the placement of the driver. On our 45 minute drive to the hotel, we were pleased by a personalized message from Buckingham Palace, from the Queen herself on this fine Christmas Day! Once she came on, the driver shushed us and blasted her sweet voice over the car speakers. Hallie snickered at the thought, which was sneered at by our occasionally pleasant driver. 

Driving through the entire city, everything had a distinctly British feel. Telephone booths galore as you would imagine. Plenty of steep roofs to jammed backed buildings and roads far too narrow for any normal person to drive on. Once we pulled through several shady alley ways and the driver pointing out a place not too far from where we were staying where he was stabbed in the neck, we were finally home! 

As it was 7:00 am and 9:00 am for our bodies, we figured it was time for a little nap as we got about three hours combined sleep for the day. That 1.5 hour nap turned into a 4 hour nap.

After waking up in a daze and realizing that neither of us had eaten in about 24 hours, we figured it was time to explore a little bit although we were warned nothing would be open on Christmas Day. Getting ready involved basically getting out of bed with the clothes we have had on for about 36 hours now and having a little eye opener. 

So as we stumbled out we realized we had no hope. That was until we found some of our Pakistani comrades who don't celebrate Christmas that were willing to take us in as their own. It was the only restaurant open within 3 km of streets we walked!

As much as we enjoyed our interesting Pakistani Christmas dinner, nothing else was open and we were both extremely jet lagged, so back to the hotel we went. 

Plans for tomorrow include renting bicycles that are right outside our hotel and traveling down to the more touristy areas and getting around as much as possible. Apparently tomorrow, which is Boxing Day, is like Black Friday and Super Bowl Sunday combined. There will be ice skating around a giant Christmas Tree, going shopping at some famous department store neither of us can afford, and hitting up local pubs for brews and fish and chips.

Hope everyone has had a great Christmas!