London, November 21st, 2008

I took a train to the airport in Dortmund around 9pm on Thursday (20^th).

Not surprisingly the train was delayed and thereby I missed the last buss to the airport at 11pm! I had a look at miy itinerary and realized that the busdrive would have taken me only six minutes…so, how far can the airport be away! Not too far I decided and started walking! I was right, it only took me about 35 minutes to get there, so walking wasn´t a problem! Problem was the weather…freaking cold and raining! I arrived at the airport at about 11:45pm and wondered why there was literally no human being at all! I kept ignoring everyone who was trying to tell me that the airport might close at night the days before, but now I started worrying a bit! I was looking for a hidden place to settle down, because the plan was to spend as much of the 5 hours left till check in, sleeping in order to be in good shape for the meet up the next day! Unfortunately the airport doesn´t really have places to hide, so I eventually ended up next to a metal box…for 15 minutes, because then a security guard came along and asked me to leave the airport because it was about to close! Great! “So, where can I go?” I asked him “There´s a 24-hours gas station across the street…that´s it!” Once more…great! After walking around for a few minutes and then deciding that walking around in the rain without adequate clothes might not be the best idea, I went into the gas station and spent the next three and a half hours there…drinking two cups of cocoa and reading a whole newspaper…literally the whole! Every single article, no matter how boring it was…even the local news of Unna, the city that never sleeps! ;) At 3:45am I went back to the airport which meanwhile had opened again and settled down, this time on the metal box (they don´t have seats there, can you believe it?) and slept for an hour! Then I checked in and took my flight to London Luton! Took a bus to Baker Street which took about 75 mins and checked the bus stops to figure out where I had to take my bus to Stansted the next day. Eventually found it and took the tube to Picadilly Circus where our hostel is located. I got there around 10am and was told that I couldn´t check in until 1pm! “Another three hours without sleep” came to my mind! Fortunately, I seized the whole flight to London (1 hour) for another sleeping-session. Anyway, I wanted to leave my bag at the hostel and went to the 4^th floor where someone was supposed to take care of it! But I found even more…a common room where already two or three guys were lying around…sleeping! Woot! Here we go, let me join you guys! So, I spen the next five hours lying on a sofa watching TV, falling asleep and waking up every once in a while! Marc who was supposed to arrive around 3 or 4 pm sent me a text message that his flight was delayed, so Steph was the first one who appeared at the hostel after sorting some things at the Philippine embassy out! We checked in, conquered our PODs, I had a shower and we left the hotel to walk around the area a bit! We decided to eat only a bit in order to be able to eat with Marc and Jorrit as soon as they join us, which eventually turned out to be a whole KFC-menu, none of us could finish! Having the last bites of it, Marc called me to tell me he has arrived! We met him close to the hostel and he checked in! Marc was there meant drinking time had finally come! We found a pub that suited our requirements (means they served beer), started drinking and continued chatting! After a while Marc left to pick Jorrit up and lead him to the pub! So, we were four horny weirdos making good progress downing those beers by then. After a while Marc had to leave to settled a deal…or rather down loads of tequilas! and now I might mess up the correct order…I THINK, Steph left to pick Matt and Wayne up to bring them to the pub, meanwhile Ivan, a guy from Norway living in England for 12 years already joined us with his friend, Steph got back along with Wayne, Matt and Austin (a guy from Seattle who stayed in the same room with us �" he needs a TB account, by the way, can anybody please tell him!?) and eventually Marc and company joined us! Sorry, it might have happened in a different order, but that´s the one I consider to be “most likely”! Anyway, we stayed in that pub for quite a while talking to and drinking with each other! It was just great! Finally, we decided to go to a club…I really have no idea, who came up with the idea, when we left, how long we went to the club and what it was? I found the mark “SOS” on my hand the next day…was that the name of the club? And we´ve been calling Sarj, but again I´m not sure if that was while we were going to the club or later when we were going to the hostel!? Anyway, so she somehow attended this meet up as well…for a short visit! The club was…I don´t know! All I do remember is that it has been dark inside, but that might be due to my constitution at that point!? We stayed in the club for I don´t know how long and then walked back to the hostel! Who knew the way back to the hostel, by the way? Austin kinda surprised me when I realized that he was not only wearing kind of a T-Shirt but also flip-flops! How could he survive that? A miracle as far as I´m concerned! The next day when I left the hostel, we accidentally ran into each other in front of the tube station and stunned me again! Not only because I had no idea how it was possible he was already awake (if it wasn´t for the plane, I certainly would have stayed in my POD for another day), but he was wearing the same clothes (incl. “shoes”) again…I have to mention, it wasn´t much warmer than at night when we were walking back to the hostel! This guy must be immortal! Anyway, my alarm clock woke me up at 9am…I was lying in my POD covered with my blanket…then I started being kinda surprised by myself…I lifted the blanket a bit and realized, that I was still wearing last night´s sweater…having a closer look, I found out I haven´t got rid of my jeans as well last night and most surprisingly…I was still wearing my shoes! Lying under the blanket wearing my shoes? It must have been really cold in the dorm last night! ;) Anyway, redressing etc., checking out, driving to the airport, flying back home, that´s it! 

 

I wish I could have spent the Saturday with the European HW-chapter as well! It was a great night with a great bunch of people! Can´t wait to see you next time, HWs! I had a blast and am SO much looking forward to all the upcoming events with you guys, including the highlight in April!