Tags
Budget Travel, Cinderella, Class, Dublin, Dublin Bound, England, Gatwick Airport, Gatwick Express, Ireland, London, London Underground, Ryanair, Student, Study Abroad, Sunset, Travel, Victoria Station, Visiting College Friends, Wellies
Today was a regular Thursday with the exception that right after class I would be catching a flight to Dublin. I hosted Nicole in London for a weekend and now is my turn to visit her and make good on my promise to come see Dublin! I made my way to Victoria station right after class to catch the Gatwick express and barely made it on the train, I was literally the last person that would have fit in that door. I stood next to a nice guy who kindly made room for me to fit as best as he could considering the sardine like fit. The ride was quick, only 30 minutes from Victoria station direct to Gatwick. I arrived easily within the two hour range of being at the airport which was nice considering I had to leave after class not during since I’m already unfortunately missing tomorrow’s Friday class.
After finding a seat at the Airport I wrote a few postcards, I’ve only got about 3 more two write or so which is nice! I was a bit ambitious when I made my list of people to send them to but then again I would have love to write and send a ton more yet but it’s a little expensive mailing them from London. On my way through security I put my rain boots (or wellies as they called em) into the bin since they were big and heavy. Somehow I managed to lose one in the machine so I was Cinderella for the moment until it was retrieved brought some comedic relief to my almaot stressful day rusning to the airport and I went on my way. I somehow managed to forget to get a stamp on my boarding pass i.e. I didn’t check in for them to verify my passport, oops. I made it onto the plane still, it would have been rather unfortunate had I not.. Ryanair has been known to be shall we say less then optimal when it came to customer service in some instances but the woman helping me was rather polite about it fortunately (I also didn’t give her sass which could very well be the reason for their apparently rudeness).
The flight was pleasant enough, I had an aisle seat and a news paper to read which was complimentary as they often are in London area. I finished the paper just before we landed so I wasn’t bored we learned more about some soccer teams than I ever would have otherwise! The sunset after we landed was beautiful, a lovely pink shade so I had to take a moment to snap a picture of it. It just so happened that after I took the picture who would happen to walk by but the man from the Gatwick express! It was a funny coincidence and we chatted a little before heading our own directions which was nice. This time though I wasn’t automatically assumed to be from the states, he asked whether I was Canadian or from the states so perhaps I’m not so “obviously American” as others may think? Sometimes when certain political candidates are brought up I’d rather people thought I was Canadian than from the States 🤔 Or when I’m with a large group of other students and some may or may not be acting rude/ obnoxiously.. Not that that happens often though. My journey to Nicole’s housing was rather pleasant, I too the Aircoach right from the airport. The seats were super comfortable eh oh was nice! And I got to see sot of the surrounding areas while on the bus. We passed a beautiful grey Mazerati on the way which I appreciated! Once I got to the bus stop Nicole was there waiting which was nice and we made our way to get some Pizza for my dinner and then relaxation time and thus my night ended. Until tomorrow!