Edinburgh!

Maria and I are here! We're actually sitting in the lounge right now on her laptop. We're going to go see OotP tomorrow in theaters with Kate and also another Leaky person, Marie. We need to find a theater and time.

Anywho, I'm still having troubles adjusting to the time difference. I fell asleep last night around 10:30pm, which was good because I needed to be up around 5 am this morning so Trevor could take me to the train station (2-3 minutes away from their house) on his way to work at 6am. Well, I woke up at 2 am! One reason because I had to use the restroom (I didn't give in to it - LoL) the other because I had slept 4 hours - a normal nap time for me. I was starting back to sleep and about a half hour-45 minutes later my cell phone goes off. I kind of ignore it and check after it stoped and it said "Borders." I was thinking that work knows I'm in the UK so they shouldn't be calling me then I thought of all this stuff that maybe was wrong. I decided to ignore it anyway and get it when I was more awake. Well an hour later (almost asleep again!), the phone rings AGAIN and it says "Borders" so I decided to pick it up since they called twice. Well...I get this recording from Jim Dale reminding me to pick up my book tomorrow and to press 1 for how to pick up my book. I was NOT thrilled. I ordered the special edition and the regular edition so they called me twice. I almost thought they'd call me again because I ordered the audiobook too, but they didn't. Anyway, I fell back to sleep for a bit, but ended up waking up on my own close to 5am again and just decided to get up then.

I got to the train station and waited about a half hour. I was glad there were other people getting on because I don't think I'd have known how to get on. LoL First off, Heckington's station is so small they don't have a real crossing gate. A guy comes and moves these "fences" into place to block the road off and moves them back to clear the road. Anyway, the train came (2 cars) and it looks like BART, but it's much nicer inside (more like an Amtrek type). The thing is, you have to push a button to open the door. They don't open automatically. I didn't know that. It's the same for when you get off too. I paid for the fare on the train and had issues with my lovely GBP. I couldn't find a 50p, so I gave him £1, but accidentally put one back and it was just one of those "dumb foreigner" moments. :P At Grantham (30 minute ride) I got my tickets from there to Edinburgh Waverley. They never checked tickets the entire time I was on it. The train was nice (much bigger) and it took you along the country (absolutely amazing, when I could see it (lots of trees along the track)) and even along the coastline when you got closer to Edinburgh. The coastline reminds me a lot of Monterey, except it's not as rocky. I didn't sleep on the train at all, so I'm a bit knackered at the moment, but fairing well. The ride ws pleasant and that's the important thing.

I got to Edinburgh around 11:15 am and saw signs for Waverley Bridge and Princes Street. I had put directions on my cell phone and thought I could use them from Princes Street since that's where we're getting our book from and all that. Turns out, I couldn't. Lucky enough there's the tourist information booth close to where I came out and I found another map along the way and figured it out. I got to the hostel without getting lost or having to turn around. I was amazed! Turns out, now knowing where I was supposed to go, I skipped over the Waverley Bridge and went to the next road (further away) to Mound. It meant I went a lot farther, but oh well. After checking my stuff into the hostel, I walked back to the train station since Maria was coming in soon. I walked around, went into Waterstones, went into the tourist place again, into a few shops, saw the Balmoral hotel (where Jo finished writing the books), and walked along North Bridge. I eventually made it my goal to find Waverley Bridge and when I did, I noticed the bus from the airport stopped there and after 5 minutes of waiting, Maria showed up! It was perfect timing. We walked back to the hostel (all up hill, did I mention that?). We dropped off her stuff and met Moriah and Marie (Leaky people) so we could meet up with some more Leaky people for lunch. We went to the At World End tavern. There was 8 of us in this small pub. It was kind of funny. The food was pretty good.

After lunch, we walked back to Castlerock so we could check in. We switched from a 4 bed to a 3 bed room, which saves us money and the lady said the room was much nicer anyway. Well...we like our little (it's little!) room! It's on the top floor (3rd floor) and it has a VERY nice view of the castle and a sky window that opens up and we can actually see over and out across the way from the hostel. It's nice. It's the "Matrix" room. I must admit, it's a wee bit scary walking up the stairs and hallway to the room. The floorboards aren't the straightest and creak and (I'm sure) one felt like it gave or shifted underneath my foot, but it's still a nice room and excellent location.

Well, I should go. We need to look up movie times, walk around, and then meet up for dinner at 8:30 with the Leaky peeps again. Most of them are taking an overnight train tonight for London.

Oh, I almost forgot, last night Kate's family and I went out for dinner at the Tally Ho pub. It's in the country (the countryside in the UK is AMAZING!) and it was fun. Nancy, Kate's oldest, drew me a picture of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. :) Ellie was a bit cranky, but Kate has two cute girls.

Last thing. The buildings in Edinburgh are really cool. You just don't see buildings like these in the States and it's a got a city feeling too. So it's just different. I'll probably end up taking loads of pictures and (yes, Kristi) I did take pictures of our little hostel room and the view from it! I should have taken pictures of Nancy's room (it's also cute). Maybe I'll do that Sunday when I go back to Kate's.

All for now.

Lincoln

My 2nd day here and I woke up at 6 am! That would be 10 pm in the US, which is probably why I woke up then. I just suddenly woke up after 6 hours of sleep. I'm a bit tired today and my bum still hurts, but I'm fairing pretty well.

Today Kate and I went to Lincoln to meet Trevor's mum, Margaret, there. Margaret is Kate's key to Harry Potter as she introduced her to the books and all. It's a cute town (or city since it has a cathedral, as Kate told me). I loved the buildings and the mix of architecture there since it's been around for so long. I took pictures of random places and buildings, but those won't get up till I get home. I forgot my cable to my camera.

We walked past Lincoln Cathedral and walked down "Steep Hill," which certainly lived up to its name when we walked back UP it. San Fran has some doozy of hills and such, but boy this hill was STEEP. We walked down and went into White Hart Hotel, where some of the cast and crew for the filming of Da Vinci Code stayed (i.e. Tom Hanks). We had tea/coffee there and biscuits. It was nice. The room Margaret informed he is the standard English looking room. After that we looked in a few shops and such as we walked down. We had lunch at this little cafe type place. Then when we walked back up we went through Lincoln Cathedral. It's really pretty. The sculpting is just amazing. I can't believe people made things like that before we had our modern day equipment and such. I picked up a postcard so I can send it to work in the hope it'll arrive before I get home (doubt it). I have to write on it and all that sometime today and get it mailed tomorrow.

I used/paid with my first BGP today too. I'm very thankful for the money Lindsay/Liz gave me and also making sure I had coins in every amount so I could familiarize myself with them a bit. I'm not too slow. :P

Tonight we're going out to dinner. Kate's stomach isn't happy with her today, so hopefully nothing too spicey or strong for her.

I bought my train tickets yesterday for Edinburgh and back. I almost wanted to kill the computer over it, but we got it worked out. It cost a bloomin' lot too. Well, more than I thought at least. I still have to get my ticket sorted for going to London on Monday. I should do that tonight so I can pick it up at Grantham since that's where I'm getting my ticket to/from Edinburgh. I know I'm also going to need to use the Underground to get from the train station to Piccadilly when I'm in London too. I also looked at the underground for which line I need to take to get to Heathrow. Lucky for me the line I need, Piccadilly, is near where I'm staying! So I'm thinking I'll check out of the hostel on Friday (at 11 or 10, I think it is) and just jump onto the underground at Piccadilly Circus and head to Heathrow. A travel book said it takes about 45 minutes to get to central London from Heathrow. I'll arrive really early, but it'll be fine. I have no clue where I'm going and I don't know about security, so I might as well pad it.

Anyway, with that I'm going to leave a link for the few pictures that Kate took and head off. Kate's pictures

ETA: I forgot! Tomorrow I leave for Edinburgh (EARLY - 6:30am train to Grantham from Heckington (practically walking distance from Kate's house). I arrive around 11:15am (stop/change in Grantham). Maria shows up about 30-45 minutes after I do, so it should be fun!

ETA2: We went into Waterstones today at Lincoln. They have a book I want! It's not out in the US yet (end of this month, I think). I like the cover and all that better than the US one (they also have ones signed by the author), but I can't pay full price for a book. LoL So I may hunt down the Borders in London and see if they have it. I brought a pay stub so I can get my 33% discount here. If they have it, I may buy it. I'm still trying to work out weight limitations as bringing home 3 Harry Potter books (mine, Laurie's, and my special edition) will weigh a LOT.

My butt will never recover

I MADE IT! 10 hours on an airplane (bit more than that) and I survived! My butt hurts really badly, my back and neck are cramped and sore, but I'm sitting in Kate's cute English house and have already gone through a thunderstorm, went to the post office, and picked her kid's up from school.

I'm severely sleeped deprived, so forgive me for any spelling and grammar mistakes (big ones). I have been up now for 24 hours and have had about 3 hours of sleep total between various short snoozes. I think my longest snooze was a bit more than hour on the plane.

Wait, I should start in order.

I got up around 8 am to call AT&T to activate my international calling plan. It took a bit, but I got it done. Then around 9 my mom and I left for my bank to deposit money and ask about about letting them know I'm going out of the country and not to close my account. Well, after spending about 15 minutes on a dumb phone tree TRYING to figure out how to talk to a real person, I finally did and they put a travel alert on my card so they wouldn't close it while I'm here (my primary source for money!). Mom and I drove to San Fran in seemingly record time and got food at BK and walked around this mall/shopping center. We went to the airport around 1 pm and I checked my luggage in and went to security. Went through security and found my gate fine. I sat on the 2nd floor watching my plane (Virgin Atlantic) arrive at the gate, get stocked, and all that. Then we boarded. I've never been on a 747 before and it was nice. The TV screens on the back of the seat, we had a little remote thingy so we could play games, watch various movies (LOTS of movies to choose from), and even some TV episodes. They also gave us "new" blankets, pillows, headphones, and little travel packs that had an eyemask, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, pen, and something else.

They originally filled Laurie's seat so I was going to be stuck in the middle between two guys, but the row in front (at an emergency exit) had only 1 person there so the guy in the window seat in my row moved to the row in front. So I moved to the window seat and the guy next to me (in the aisle) kept that seat and we used the middle seat as a holding all our junk or whatever seat. It worked out nice. He was very nice too, though we didn't talk much. He was going to London for business and thinks Harry will live!

The meals weren't bad. They started off with a drink and pretzels (replacing the peanuts). About an hour or 1.5 hours later they came around with the dinner meal. It was roast beef, chicken, or a pasta with rice and beans. The food was hot (I burned my tongue a bit), which was nice. I had the chicken with gravy, I think it was, and it was pretty good. They also gave you a small bottle of water, small glass for wine (if you wanted it for free - I turned it down), crackers and cheese, cup for tea or coffee, oreo cheesecake slice for dessert, a roll, a chocolate mint, a very nice paper napkin (it was really thick, which is why I noticed), and a salad with fetta, olives, a tomato (didn't eat that!) with Italian dressing on the side. Overall, the best meal I've had on a plane! I was hungry going on, but was full afterwards. For breakfast it was a hot cheese, egg, croissant thing (I had fallen asleep for a bit over an hour and couldn't bear to eat it, so I gave it to the guy sitting next to me who ate his breakfast in record time) with fresh fruit (really good), OJ, blueberry muffin, and cup for tea or coffee.

Because we had the screens in front of us to watch, I watched (or attempted to) The Prestige (Christian Bale, and some other very good actors), Catch and Release (I think that's what it's called, a romance movie with Jennifer Garner and some guy and the actress who plays Aunt Petunia is in it!), and I started to watch Casino Royale, which I've watched before. I started to watch an episode of CSI: NY, but we were about to land and lost out on that. I also listened to Kelly Clarkson's CD Breakaway about 10 times (to help me try to sleep and ignore all the noise behind me).

Overall, the plane flight was fine. I got up twice, endured two small children behind me, which one would scream/cry every once in a while and the other would kick my chair behind me a few times, and slept a bit. I mostly rested or rested in vain to try and sleep. It was funny because I had worked it out and thought if I could fall asleep at this one point, I could get about 6 hours of sleep. Well, of course, I didn't sleep through most of that (short snoozes). So then I started thinking I was going to fall asleep RIGHT before they serve breakfast and that's what happened. I jerked awake (for some reason) and they were just serving breakfast in my row. I couldn't go back to sleep after that. So it's 4:15pm here and I'm about to drop dead because I'm sleep deprived and my body is saying it's 8:15am back home.

Getting to/out of the airport was interesting. We had "traffic" so we circled for about 10 minutes and finally landed (not the most pleasant landing I've experienced, but not the worst either). Then it took us another 20 minutes to get OFF the plane (after taxi-ing around), then I had to go through customs (no problems there), which had a line, and then go to baggage claim which meant I stood waiting for my backpack to show up for about 25 minutes! It took FOREVER. Kate was there waiting at the end where you exit, though, so that was nice. It was a couple hour drive back to her home from the airport and I slept maybe another 30 minutes in the car.

We arrived at the house in a rain/thunderstorm which was fun for me! Kate didn't enjoy it so much, but she also lives here and I'm weather deprived coming from California and all that. :P The other neat thing about flying into London was I saw the most amazing clouds! They were so white and fluffy. I hadn't seen the likes of it before so it was fun to see.

We went to the girls' school to pick them up and went to the post office, so that was neat to see. She lives in the CUTEST village and there are some REALLY nice, cute houses around here. Driving on the other side of the road didn't bother me (just seemed backwards, but not "weird" (if that makes sense)) until we hit the 2-lane roads and the 2-lane roads with cars parked on either side. That's when it became weird. Though, I did try to get into the car on the wrong side when I first got to her car. LoL I even told myself a few minutes before hand not to do it and I did. I blame it on the lack of sleep! I haven't done it since!

With this long (as Kate puts it) "novel" I am going to go rest, I think. :)