Memories…..

I have always been interested in British culture. TV shows, bands (Oasis, Take That, 5ive, etc), etc. My first boyfriend was from Manchester. I have always wanted to visit London. I finally got the chance to do that in October of 2008. October was the cheapest time to fly. And since it was a last minute trip, that was the only time we could go. It was so cold we could barely walk anywhere. Note to self: Don’t travel to the UK past September.

I was so excited when the pilot announced that we were landing at Gatwick. I was happy because I could finally get off the plane after sitting for 8 hours and that I could go to the hotel and sleep a little before our Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour (which I wasn’t up for booking the same day that we arrived. I can blame that on the travel agent and my friend, CC). CC and I grabbed our bags and made our way to the Gatwick express. We had no idea what we were supposed to do with our tickets. Do we get them stamped? There was a lady sitting at a closed window and we just thought we would sneak over and ask. We got the dirtiest look ever. Sorry. After a transfer flight from Edmonton to Calgary and then 8 hour flight from Calgary to London, I wasn’t about to stand in the line just to ask a question when you are sitting there doing nothing. Whatever. We were exhausted at this point, as both of us had been up at 4am Saturday morning, flew all day, and it was now about 730-8am Sunday London time (1130pm-12am our time). We just wanted to get to our hotel.

We arrived at our hotel exhausted, after taking the Gatwick express, and then taking the tube from Victoria station to Bayswater (taking the long way around, thanks in part to my lousy navigational skills. Luckily, our travel agent had lived in London, so was able to give us directions from Bayswater tube station to our hotel.). When we arrived, our room wasn’t ready. They put a rush on it. 2-3 hours later, it was finally ready. CC and I were both cranky due to being tired, and due to the ridiculous service at the hotel. We got to our room and found out that we got a double bed instead of the two twin beds that the travel agent had arranged for us. Eventually, they arranged for us to get one of those rooms the next day. CC and I had planned to sleep before the bus tour, but it didn’t happen. We went to buy a cheap mobile phone, so that we could contact our families, because neither of our phones worked in London. CC and I had a quick lunch at Mc Donald’s. Mc Donald’s food is not the same every where you go. And having a sickly stomach already (chronic acid reflux), I was nervous about eating. I thought I was safe ordering Chicken McNuggets. I asked for sauce (for my nuggets). They gave me ketchup. “Not ketchup, I want sauce. You know. For the nuggets.” She hands the ketchup back to me. “No. To dip my nuggets in”. Ding ding ding. The light goes on. I get my sweet and sour sauce. We finished eating our tiny meals (bigger and tastier here), and headed over to the phone place.

CC and I arrived at the phone place, shortly after stopping at a internet cafe and emailing our families and letting them know we made it safely. We grabbed the cheapest phone and the guy showed us how to put the SIM cards in (we had never seen SIM cards before). Then he continued talking to his co-worker while ringing our purchases in. They were discussing a TV show and the co-worker asked if we had seen it. I mentioned that we have that show in Canada. INSTANT ATTENTION. And instant niceness. Okay…..so you like Canadians? I should have tattooed a maple leaf on my forehead. Then he proceeded to tell CC and I that we can use the phone we just bought in Canada. Um no thanks. We both have BlackBerries.

Finally we get out of the store and laugh at the fact that we got different treatment once we mentioned that we were from Canada. We phoned our families and made our way to our tour bus. I still had my Mc Donald’s pop in my hand and looked all over for a garbage can in the tube station. Nada. I looked frantically on the street for one. Nada. I walked blocks and finally found one. I found out later, from a co-worker that used to live in London, that the lack of garbage cans was due to the IRA and bombs. CC and I went on our tour and it was fantastic! All the beautiful buildings with all the great history. This is why I came here. However, CC and I had been awake for about 30 hours at this point, and fell asleep a few times on the tour. I felt guilty and horrible because the guide was fantastic. We ended up doing the tour again a few days before we were to go home, and that is where the majority of our pics came from because it was too cold to walk around. And I ended up getting a bad cold, not helped by the drafty hotel windows. It was interesting trying to get cold medicine from the drug store. Didn’t know what half the brands were, and most of the stuff was behind the counter. Strange.

We had a couple more mishaps with the hotel and hotel staff. When we arrived, the little blonde boy at the counter forgot to give us all of our continental breakfast tickets. The night staff were fantastic. They gave us upgraded ones. Our toilet in the first room decided to run continuously when I flushed it right before bed. I called down to get it fixed. “We’ll send maintenance up to fix it”. Half hour later, we wanted to sleep, and the toilet was not fixed. We called down again, and they came up. Our shower also sprayed all over the place. In our new room, CC blew a fuse with her hair straightener. We told the staff at the desk on our way out. When we came back HOURS later, it still wasn’t fixed. Apparently the guy at the desk had wrote down the wrong hotel number. Tired of fast food, CC and I went one night to Tesco to get some sandwiches and fruit. We decided to chill in the hotel room and watch TV. Well the TV didn’t work. So we called the desk. “We will send up housekeeping”. An hour later, she shows up, flicks a switch, tells us we have to press certain buttons when turning on the TV, and then leaves. Okay then. I was so glad to check out of that hotel, and I am sure they were happy to get rid of us.

Not all memories of London were bad. The good ones included the museums we visited (Natural History, Science, and Sherlock Holmes), Madame Tussauds, Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, the Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour, Oxford Street, The London Eye, The Rainforest Cafe (which I had been to in Las Vegas and loved!). We had another…”Oh your Canadian” encounter at The Rainforest Cafe. CC and I were so excited that there was Iced Tea on the menu so we told the waitress that is what we wanted. “Are you guys American?” she asks us. “No, we are Canadian” I said in my hastiest tone. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Instant niceness. Well if this is what it took for better customer service, I would have told everyone that I was Canadian! Haha. In all fairness, I was warned by a few people to wear Canadian flags, or pins, or tshirts, because “people in London will think you are American, and they don’t like Americans.” Note to self, next time I am in London, I will wear a nice big Canadian sweater! I love London, and want to go back. I will not be detracted by the lousy customer service I have had.

I am Sarcastically Bitter. Yes I am.

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Tagged as: Buckingham Palace, canada, Las Vegas Nevada, London, London Eye, Oxford Street, Sherlock Holmes, Television program