But as one might expect, it didn't go as smooth as planned. Of course we knew where we would stay, and that we were going by bus, but not everything was thorougly thought out...
It's just that we didn't exactly think about how we were going to get at our residence, nor did we know what travelling agency we were actually travel with. As you can see we did arrive safe in the end without getting (too...) lost. So what did today actually look like for me?
With my birthday yesterday, it was quite a burden on my energy level. My alarm went off at 6.45 in the morning, not that different from school days. It's just that my birthday was the day before, and today wasnt exactly a school day. It was a bloody SUNDAY.
Anyway when we (A classmate and I) finally arrived in Rotterdam at the place of arrival, and we met up with the others, the bus... Was late. Not too late, but late. We had to be there 15 minutes before departure (which was planned at 10), and it wasn't there until 10 itself. But I didn't know that when I called the travelling agency (once we figured that one out) and "complained" about our bus not showing up.
Then, finally settled, we we departed! The bus was quite crowded, but not too full. I sat next to someone I still have no clue of who it was, and we finally started on this long awaited journey. I read something (thanks to Boris!), listened to music, enjoyed the snoring of my neighbour... And just waited. We had a few stops of which one was in Antwerp, and one in Lille (and some others but I forgot those), but never got really off the bus.
No, that happened when crossing the french border. We had to get out of the bus, grab our passports, get out our luggage and get through a whole screening. Nothing wrong with safety and all, but it wasn't exactly planned since it was unexpected for the most of us. Anyway we got a chance to stretch our legs a little, and I switched places. I was no longer stuck with my snoring neighbour who literally didn't even say a word to me, since I sat next to another classmate.
We watched some Disney movies, and then arrived at the tunnel. For anyone who doesn't know how that works (don't worry, I didn't know how it worked until it was actually happening), your bus literally drives into an empty carriage. Once there are enough vehicles on board, it gets closed and then the train starts driving.
When I arrived, I felt it was so weird that traffic was the opposite of what we're used to in the Netherlands! Anyway, finally at our destination (Victoria Station), we hit the next obstacle in our course. Or actually, it started out as one, but it eventually got worse and worse.
We had some trouble finding the underground, and when we found it we were stuck on which lines and how to get a card. A talk with the service people later we got an Oyster card (pretty much the same as an OV-chipkaart in the Netherlands) for everyone of us, and I finally found out which lines we had to use to get to our residence. No problems there. When I got the keys, we looked for our apartment. Well that was an adventure in itself. Once again it is proven that you must not, under any circumstances, read a map as this that can only end in trouble.
I guess we were looking for our apartment, literally 5 minutes away from the place I picked up the keys, for a 30 whole minutes. We had the wrong street twice. Not once, but twice. Anyway, when we finally got in, we were really surprised! It was so clean, spacious, and relatively cheap! I'm sleeping on the couch by the way (my own free will, don't get the wrong idea). Here are a few pictures of the residence:
As you can see it was already getting pretty dark outside, and we still had to eat dinner. We ended up eating dinner at 21:30 (22:30 in The Netherlands), at an Italian restaurant down the street. Also, pounds are helluva expensive currency. We all had something different, but the food was generally good. Then the bill came, and I noticed something I think is rather strange: Did you know that in the UK, they already include a tip at the end of the bill? We had to pay 12.5% extra as a service fee. Like... Yeah.
Anyway it is now 23:30 (00:30 in the Netherlands), and I am really tired from all of this. So, that's it for today! I'll post a new update tomorrow, and we're going to Westminster square! In the meantime.. Have this creepy selfie of me hangin' on the couch/my bed :)
Good night,
Sleep tight
And don't
Let the bedbugs
Bite!
Awesome schaapie :)!
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