Challenge #1: Immigration and navigating London

Hello Everyone!

Originally I was not going to write in a blog (because that is what everyone was doing), but it was easier than attaching a bunch of pictures to an email that would not send ..... so, here we are.

My flight from Philly to London Heathrow went very smoothly.  Since I couldn't sleep, I watched plenty of shows and movies (one of which was the movie "42," one you should all check out!).  When I finally did fall asleep (~2:30 EDT), it almost counted for nothing because an hour later the cabin lights were turned on .... it was time for breakfast.

Oh man, USAir, that was cruel!

One good thing about this flight was that I didn't have to sit next to any morbidly obese or smelly people.  In fact I shared a row with a British woman from Brighton (on the southern coast of England, about an hour from London), which provided the perfect opportunity to ask questions like "so how much tea do British people actually drink?"

There is a reason why British people hate to fly: Heathrow airport is the most confusing labyrinth I've ever navigated!  When I finally made it to the immigration desk, the immigration officer asked me all of these strange questions, half of which I couldn't even understand in the first place .... talk about lost in translation!

Currency exchange.  I have only one thing to say about British bank notes: monopoly money.

When I finally arrived in South Kensington, I was lost the second I exited the Tube station.  (An aside: British people think the way I say "Tube" is funny).  This is because it took me a healthy 10 minutes to realize that street signs in London are affixed to the sides of buildings rather on metal poles .... LIKE EVERYWHERE ELSE I'VE EVER BEEN TO!  And, to top it all, it would have been helpful to remember (especially with two huge suitcases), that people on the sidewalk pass on the left .... oops.