Day (sort of) One
September 4
Tuesday was pretty busy. Rather than go up to the studio, I stayed at home and made phone calls and ran errands from there. First we found out that I couldn’t use the Online Check-In on Virgin, so I had to call them (twice) to figure out what was going on. Since my peanut allergy forms wouldn’t fax through, I had to get them cleared at LAX, and I couldn’t check-in until I was cleared.
After that we drove into downtown so my dad could take care of some business at work, while my mom and I went to Terminal Annex to mail peach_arrow and emcyclopedia’s packages and a set of scantrons to TPR. Then my mom dropped me off at Bank of America to deposit nearly all of my paychecks from the summer-just over $1000. It felt very nice :D Then we dropped by Mitsuwa so I could pick up my last bento-oyakodonburi and a Calpico.
Some minor chaos and packing and stress later, we went to visit my grandma and then to the airport. No one knew what to do with my customs form (I was supposed to take it to the International Terminal, where Customs is, but Virgin flies out of Terminal 2), so I just went through the line with my mom to check-in. There was some confusion over what to do with me, but eventually I got cleared and got my (slightly overweight) baggage checked without problems.
A stint with the TSA, leaving my book in the bathroom, 50 pages, and a couple hours later I was safely on the plane and ready to go. Those seats are tiny, so I was dropping things all over the place. Eventually I got my bag to fit under the seat in front of me (of all the stupid things, I was sitting behind one of those seats with the bar in the middle, while everyone else around me had a clear seat in front of them) along with my purse and jacket.
The flight itself was uneventful. I watched an episode each of CSI and Dexter, then I started to feel airsick, so I skipped on dinner and fell asleep for five hours instead. Upon waking up, I started watching Ocean’s Thirteen, filled out my landing card, took a really unsatisfying breakfast (though the coffee was good, and I stole the little utensil packet), and ate my oyakodonburi. I didn’t get the finish the movie ):
And then I was in London! Sort of. I had to wait in this terribly long passport line, and then the woman at the end gave me all sorts of grief about my stay. “When are you leaving?” “December.” “December?” “Yes, December.” “Why are you staying so long?” This is after I’ve handed her my letters from the Master of Univ and Rhoda. “I’m a student, and I’m studying at University College at Oxford for a term.” Pause while she finally looks at the paperwork. “Just study?” “Yes, just study.” “And are you working?” “No, I’m not working.” “An internship?” “No, no internship.” “Because you know you need a visa if you do.” “Yes, I’m aware of the rules regarding students and visas.” “Even voluntary work.” “I’m not planning on doing anything but study.”
And finally she let me through, only I didn’t understand what she said, so she snapped at me.
That done with, I went through to get my luggage. Customs confused me a lot, because I expected to be inspected and everything. There’re just three doorways: EU visitors, Declarations and Queries, and Nothing to Declare. The latter two lead to the same room-the third just has a desk before you get to the room where they… ask you questions? I really don’t know, since there was no one standing at the desk. There were people around the edges of the room at tables checking people’s baggage, but no one stopped me, so I just kept going since I didn’t have anything to declare. I felt vaguely illegal.
Just as everyone said, I followed the signs straight out to the Tube station, bought a ticket to Earl’s Court, and got there just fine. The strike had been suspended while I was en-route to London, which was fortunate for me, since the trip to Earl’s Court would have been massively inconvenient and more expensive without the Tube. As it was I got lost looking for the lifts in Earl’s Court and ended up having to haul my suitcase up the stairs.
I found the B&B just fine, and ended up being upgraded to a room with a bathroom because someone had extended their stay, so they didn’t have a room for me. Which was great for me :D I spent the rest of the night in, watching the last two episodes of Blood+, reading, and finally figuring out how to use the phone to call my dad.