I used to be a bit fearful about flying into London, England. I’ve by no means been to the town earlier than (or the nation for that matter) and I knew that I used to be going to be greeted by a sheer mass of individuals – one thing I usually attempt to keep away from.
I used to be shocked, nonetheless, to seek out my exit on the Heathrow Worldwide airport considerably stress-free. The officers on the airport had no drawback with me assembling my bicycle proper outdoors the arrivals door and I used to be in a position to soar on a motorcycle path virtually instantly after exiting the airport. The troublesome half, in fact, was biking on the left-hand facet of the highway and remembering to look the right method earlier than crossing the road. I practically obtained run over by just a few buses, and some speedy drivers had been fast to blow their horns at me.
“Sorry,” I assumed to myself, “that is my first time ever using on the left-hand facet of the highway.”
I landed in London proper round midday and had made plans to spend the evening with a BicycleTouringPro.com reader who had contacted me only a couple weeks earlier than, so I had loads of time to make my method to her residence in Farnham Widespread. She hadn’t given me the tackle of the house, however as an alternative, simply the identify of the home itself (every home within the metropolis has a unique identify). So I needed to search your entire space, home by home, till I by accident stumbled upon the right residence on the north-east facet of the town.
As soon as I had arrived, I used to be greeted by my host and rapidly welcomed into the home the place I took a bathe and was launched to her roommates. Later that evening all of us went out for Indian meals at a close-by restaurant (my first time ever consuming at an Indian restaurant) the place the waiter hovered over me, watched me chew my meals, and waited anxiously for one thing to do. Once I dropped my serviette on the ground, he swooped in and picked it up for me.
If being in England, biking on the opposite facet of the highway, and spending the evening with a home stuffed with strangers wasn’t unusual sufficient, my Indian meals restaurant expertise definitely put my first day in London excessive.
After dinner I frolicked with the roommates in ther lounge the place we watched a zombie film earlier than I retired to my tent, which I had pitched within the yard of their residence. The following morning, I wakened, disassembled my tent, and waved goodbye. I used to be in London, England… and now I used to be utterly by myself.
