LONDON DIARIES: Day 1

 Amma, Papa and I had been planning an international trip for a few months. We considered France and Italy, but settled on UK, because of its rich history. On the 26th of September, I woke up at 11:45pm bathed, dressed and read for half an hour while Amma and Papa got ready. We had two big suitcases, one small one, and me and Papa carried a backpack each- Papa’s with all the important things such as passports and mine with books and a pack of cards (which remained in the bag for the rest of the trip). 

Ready for take-off

We got to the airport with about two hours to spare for take-off. More than one hour of it was spent in security and check-in, and so we boarded my first international flight since 2015 (for me at least). An epic thing about the flight was that it had television screens. I spent the rest of the four-hour flight watching Spiderman and a bit of Ocean’s Eleven. We were served breakfast, of which I had a bit. So, when we landed in Abu Dhabi, after a security check, I convinced Amma to get me a burger from McD’s. 

We boarded the flight after half an hour of excitedly looking for the library that was written on the direction boards (it turned out to be three 20-year-old books in Arabic). I had lunch on board the flight and watched Lord of the Rings, a bit of Black panther and Young Sheldon for five hours. The remaining one hour was spent sleeping, after a lot of convincing from Amma. 

Our first ride on the London Underground

We landed in London at around 4:30 pm British time and spent half an hour going through security check again (I was becoming annoyed). Then I took my first London Underground from Heathrow and got out at around a 15-minute drive to the rented apartment. Instead of taking 15 minutes to reach, we took 45 minutes. First, a security guard at the station said that taxis often stop where we were standing so we waited for a taxi for 15 minutes in the freezing cold. Then, Amma called an Uber. Another fifteen minutes for it to come. However, when it said that the car had arrived for pickup, we couldn’t see any taxi around. We took another 15 minutes to figure out that the Uber couldn’t stop just anywhere, and it had stopped at the nearest taxi stop. When we finally figured it out, I found myself in a Tesla. I have to say, I was impressed. A Tesla as a taxi? Well, we reached, and went to the concierge desk. Another problem. The concierge desk was inside a building that was locked. We rang the bell for 5 minutes, and only then were we let inside, a warm haven. We got the keys and walked to the building where our apartment was. Amma was happy with the size. Papa was happy that there was a sofa that could double as my bed (I ended up not using it for the whole trip since there were no blankets and we could not get them). As for me, I had to use the bathroom. 

We found a Mexican restaurant nearby, where I had a couple of tacos. I don’t think any of us were really impressed but, well, we finished the dinner, and went back to the apartment. We changed, and while Amma and Papa unpacked, I read a book, but fell asleep five minutes later. Thus ended my first day in London.