From My Europe Journals:

2004-09-14 | London, United Kingdom

So far my trip is going well. When I first got in to London I met a guy named Esani. We exchanged information as we were walking back and forth in customs.

Right after I got out of there I met a guy named chad. I said to him "So, the adventure has begun" and this kicked off a load of excitement and conversation. Chad was from California and i have a random pic of him giving me the hang ten on the tube.

We ended up figuring out how to get to our destinations and went up to the booth. Come to find out they only accepted pounds. I was a total dumbass, but I didn't want to get screwed on my exchange rate in the airport. Oh well. Luckily Kurt gave me 10 euros and it worked out great. We got on the train and had small talk and exchanged information.

Once I got out of the tube my heart just dropped being in the city. Black cabbies cruising by, all the cute accents, the beautiful architecture. History staring me right in the face. It was cool and I was excited.

For fun I paid 20P (nearly 40 cents) just to go to the bathroom. I was fascinated with paying to pee. (you gotta do it at least once)

Once I found the hostel, I was too early to check in. I paid a pound to drop my burden (backpack) off and then I went across the street. Immediately this random guy (who looked american) walked past me, I asked him if he is staying at the hostel. Come to find out he had just gotten in and also we are rooming together. We walked all about the city in amazement. Tim is from NYC and was pretty cool.

I called my mom and once I checked in I passed out for a little.

Once I woke up I walked with Tim for about 3 hours to the Soho district, The Queens stable (seeing the changing of the guards randomly) and Trafalgar square. We got lost a little and I was still pretty tired. Once I got back, I went to bed again.

Once I was up and about again from another power nap I spoke with my roommate Sharman. He was from shri-lanka. Somehow he brought up the US history and I ended up telling him the history of the US from pilgrims-to today. It was pretty interesting I might get it published. He seemed fascinated with it. I found it hilarious.

After that I went to the bar and met some other random people. I met ginger and Alex. Ginger is almost finished with her solo backpacking tour and has really inspired me and answered all my questions. Alex is from Canada and it sounds like he wants to tag along with me a bunch on my travels.

As if my day hadn't ended, I went to the bathroom and I left my key in my room. I couldn't get in without the key card, so I woke up one of my roommates. He yelled some spanish gibberish which was kind of funny. It was just dark and I put my key somewhere different. Oh well, it was an interesting first day.