Greetings from Gulu Uganda!
I've been quite tardy on my blog posts but first things first- and that is, the ever charming, always magical, totally worth it 23 HOUR LAYOVER IN LONDON!
I've been quite tardy on my blog posts but first things first- and that is, the ever charming, always magical, totally worth it 23 HOUR LAYOVER IN LONDON!
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| One of my very favorite places in the world |
It was so fun. And I'll tell you why. Well, to start out with our flight to London was good. Lori and I got to sit next to each other which was good for a lot of reasons but especially because it meant that we could try to sleep on each other since the flight was overnight. I think I actually slept a fair amount. We got off the flight and got through customs pretty quickly. The man that inspected my passport at customs was like, “how are you doing, miss?” (or something generic) and I just looked at him and was dumbstruck for a split second. I was just like hot boy...british accent...overstimulated.
We got our luggage and got out onto the tube. It was surreal to be in England- especially for Lori. We took the Picadilly line into town. After a little while this older man got on and he had a guitar slung over his shoulder. Lori asked him if he was going to play something for us. He was like, “see, I was and then I wasn’t and then I was.” We got him going and then it turns out he is a street performer-type person. He just broke out playing and singing John Denver. He was yee-haw-ing and everything! It was so cute. Lori got a video and he got some change from the crowd. Turns out he is from Ireland and is a bit of a traveling troubador. He has a sister that lives in Worcester! So that was kind of a fun Boston connection.
When we got into town we had some tricky staircases but of course a British man just popped out of nowhere to help me carry my suitcase. Lori was freaked out by it at first just like I was awhile ago when it first happened to me, but apparently English men are, generally, quite gentlemanly because men carrying my suitcase has happened to me a lot in London. We got to our hotel without too much trouble and it was... NICE.
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| The view from ground level at night |
Holy cow, I’ve never stayed somewhere that nice before! It was incredible. It was kind of a splurge for us but we got a good deal and we decided it was worth it to have a safe place for all of our stuff and a quick commute within the city since we were there for such a short time. So we stayed at the Double Tree by Hilton next to the Tower of London. We walked up to it and as soon as we came in this handsome boy (a worker) offered to take our bags. We were like, “umm, yeah” totally overwhelmed with the fanciness of the place. We went to check in at the desk and THAT guy was really cute too. As we talked I was getting kind of stressed out with trying to find my passport and then out of nowhere he was like, “And here is a warm cookie for you!” and handed us both cookies. We were like, “….why thank you!” After cleaning up a bit we HIT THE TOWN!
First, we took the tube to Westminster station. We wandered around Big Ben and parliament and Lori basically just delighted in taking a million pictures which was fun--she has never been outside of North America before! After wandering around the area a bit we figured we were already close to Hyde Park so we would just walk to the visitors’ center which was one of our top priorities of what to see when we got to England (Lori’s idea since the Portable Visitors' Center which we both worked on in Boston was largely inspired by Hyde Park's visitor center)
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| Great stalker pic of some Epic London fashion |
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| The bus says "I heart Mormon" advertising the Book of Mormon musical so this was supposed to be me being like, "no way, me too!" |
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| most photogenic phone booth in London |
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| Near Westminster. That building behind me reminds me of Kings College at Cambridge |
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| Outside Buckingham Palace! |
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| Some more great fashion. Almost look like they could be missionaries from behind--it only missionaries dressed that well! |
Well we set out walking annnnddd.... ONE. HOUR. LATER. we finally caught cite of the visitors’ center. We wandered around for forever! We kept asking people for directions which was actually really fun and funny. I think it’s the mission history that makes us not scared of talking to strangers We noticed a peculiar pattern that the men were REALLY nice to us. It was fun but also a little unnerving. Lori summed it up best when she said, “I don’t know if it’s because I’m pretty, American, or because I have a $1,000 camera around my neck.” Haha, so true. We met some seriously CUTE guys. No one had heard of the Hyde Park chapel or visitors’ center, haha. So we wandered a lot and we were getting pretty fatigued.
Finally, we found it. We introduced ourselves to the missionaries at the Visitors' Center and when they heard where we were traveling to they kept getting excited and being like, ‘we have a sister here from Uganda.’ So finally this beautiful African sister comes around the corner and we talk to her and I asked where she was from and she said the North and I was like…"where north?"
TURNS OUT SHE IS FROM GULU! She joined the church like 5 years ago and now she’s on a mission. It’s incredible! When I heard that she was from Gulu I just stepped forward and gave her a big hug. She was so cute. I offered to take any letters or anything to her family for her and she was excited. She and her companion showed us around the visitors’ center which was fun to see since it served as such an inspiration for the PVC. They left while we watched a long movie and it was really cheesy but it also really moved me. So that was a fun little spiritual boost to start the trip. We were there up until closing time and we got a set of scriptures and a note from Sister Apiyo to take to her family. I’m really glad that we get to do that for her because she has only been out 3 months which is kind of a hard point on the mission like…am I seriously going to do this for 15 more months?!
After that it was late and we still had hardly eaten anything all day. But we hadn’t really been that tired or that consciously thirsty or hungry and we hadn’t had to seek out any public bathrooms. It was kind of weird actually. I told Lori that I felt immortal. It was like I had been cleansed of my human bodily needs! Well, we decided to go to Picadilly Circus at that point because it was something cool to see that would be ‘open’ late. So we took the tube there and that was fun to get a look of that at night. We really needed to find somewhere to eat and after some searching ended up at an Italian place. We were really quiet at that point cause we were so hungry so I think we looked kind of weird to the staff. At the end, this adorable blond English bloke came up for us to pay and then he sat down to talk to us which was unnerving because Lori had just told me that I had pesto in my teeth. The cute English guy was like, “so, are you girls going out tonight?” Me and Lori were so awkward. I said something about having a flight the next day. Afterwards Lori and I were laughing about what we were really thinking. She was like, “um…we…are out?” Haha, that’s about as “out” as it gets for us.
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| Passed some footballers in Hyde Park |
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| A random waiter let us use his smartphone to look up the address |
Finally, we found it. We introduced ourselves to the missionaries at the Visitors' Center and when they heard where we were traveling to they kept getting excited and being like, ‘we have a sister here from Uganda.’ So finally this beautiful African sister comes around the corner and we talk to her and I asked where she was from and she said the North and I was like…"where north?"
TURNS OUT SHE IS FROM GULU! She joined the church like 5 years ago and now she’s on a mission. It’s incredible! When I heard that she was from Gulu I just stepped forward and gave her a big hug. She was so cute. I offered to take any letters or anything to her family for her and she was excited. She and her companion showed us around the visitors’ center which was fun to see since it served as such an inspiration for the PVC. They left while we watched a long movie and it was really cheesy but it also really moved me. So that was a fun little spiritual boost to start the trip. We were there up until closing time and we got a set of scriptures and a note from Sister Apiyo to take to her family. I’m really glad that we get to do that for her because she has only been out 3 months which is kind of a hard point on the mission like…am I seriously going to do this for 15 more months?!
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| we seriously walked SO LONG before we found it! |
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| I'm so glad to be on this adventure with Lori. We are trying to really make this a spiritual undertaking. We want to help the people of Uganda to have better lives through jobs and access to light. That seems like the Lord's work to us. |
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| Sister Apiyo is right next to me. Isn't she beautiful? Her companion was so cute too! Great missionaries. |
After that it was late and we still had hardly eaten anything all day. But we hadn’t really been that tired or that consciously thirsty or hungry and we hadn’t had to seek out any public bathrooms. It was kind of weird actually. I told Lori that I felt immortal. It was like I had been cleansed of my human bodily needs! Well, we decided to go to Picadilly Circus at that point because it was something cool to see that would be ‘open’ late. So we took the tube there and that was fun to get a look of that at night. We really needed to find somewhere to eat and after some searching ended up at an Italian place. We were really quiet at that point cause we were so hungry so I think we looked kind of weird to the staff. At the end, this adorable blond English bloke came up for us to pay and then he sat down to talk to us which was unnerving because Lori had just told me that I had pesto in my teeth. The cute English guy was like, “so, are you girls going out tonight?” Me and Lori were so awkward. I said something about having a flight the next day. Afterwards Lori and I were laughing about what we were really thinking. She was like, “um…we…are out?” Haha, that’s about as “out” as it gets for us.
Another thing that we noticed (again and again) was the impeccable fashion that many London men had. Ugh, just incredible. We got some nice stalker pics of course. After food and a little souvenir shopping we took the tube home and went straight up to the sky lounge where there is this fantastic view of Tower Bridge. Well, when we stepped off the elevator and got on the floor and saw a couple walk past us looking nice and heard the club music I turned to Lori and was like, “are we cool enough to be here?” I had to gather my courage to go in to the bar area and it was super crowded (it was Friday night) and the balcony had apparently closed at midnight so we couldn’t go out. We took a look and left. Then we went back to the room, unwinded, said our ‘companionship’ prayer (we are calling this companionship 2.0) and went to bed.
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| HE WASNT EVEN POSING FOR US |
The next morning was it's own adventure. We went up to the sky room in the morning to get some pictures with tower bridge in the background and then we packed up and left. Lori had originally thought we were leaving early when I suggested the time on Friday night but it’s a really good thing that we left early. The entrance to the tube station just down the road from out hotel was closed! We were like, no problem, must just be this entrance so we went around to the other side. Nope. We really didn’t know what to do and we had these HUGE bags with us. We finally got on a bus and the driver was kind enough to let me get on for free since my cards weren’t working and I didn’t have an oyster card. We got off at the nearest tube stop where he had told us to stop—that one was closed too. Luckily the next closest one was down the street. It was pretty painstaking getting everything up and down stairs at the metro. And all of our prince chartings from the day before seemed to be hung over because we were not getting much help.
Lori had a panic attack at one point thinking we were going the wrong way on the train so we got off but it turned out we were going the right way. So we had to wait to get back on. Then we didn’t know which terminal we were at. We got off at the stop for 1,2,3 but it turns out we were at 5 so we had to take the airport tram there (we turned a corner and saw that we were about to miss a train so I was like “hurry!” and not only did Lori and I start running but everyone around us too) and then we hurried to check our bags (which Lori had some trouble with) and then go through security. Our stuff had to be personally checked because I forgot to take some liquids out and Lori didn’t take any liquids out. Turns out that was a bad idea because they are really anal about liquids at Heathrow! Lori's experience was SO LONG because it turns out she had hidden applesauce packets ALL OVER HER BAGS. So she had to pull like all her stuff out and she was getting a proper que behind her who were not happy. It was fine though. We got through security, and found our gate on the basement level. When we went down the escalator we popped out to see that there were like an a,b,c,d gate all under the same number. The Entebbe flight said “now closing” as its status so I started running and Lori followed me. We made it! We promptly got ushered into a airport bus because our plane was far away. We got on the plane. I sat next to a nice Congolese priest who lives in London. Lori was stuck further back in a middle seat.
We made it into Uganda safe and sound. Some other BYU students were nice enough to let us crash at their place for a few days--we got in at like 2 in the morning! My body celebrated by developing a nasty jet-lag-cold that lasted for days. But that's a story for another time! For now I will just say that I absolutely love London. It was good to be back.
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| View From the top of the hotel! |
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| admittedly zoomed in a bit but this is the view from our hotel! That's the Tower of London right in front of tower bridge! |
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| Here's the beautiful Lori for reference point as to how far we were |
Lori had a panic attack at one point thinking we were going the wrong way on the train so we got off but it turned out we were going the right way. So we had to wait to get back on. Then we didn’t know which terminal we were at. We got off at the stop for 1,2,3 but it turns out we were at 5 so we had to take the airport tram there (we turned a corner and saw that we were about to miss a train so I was like “hurry!” and not only did Lori and I start running but everyone around us too) and then we hurried to check our bags (which Lori had some trouble with) and then go through security. Our stuff had to be personally checked because I forgot to take some liquids out and Lori didn’t take any liquids out. Turns out that was a bad idea because they are really anal about liquids at Heathrow! Lori's experience was SO LONG because it turns out she had hidden applesauce packets ALL OVER HER BAGS. So she had to pull like all her stuff out and she was getting a proper que behind her who were not happy. It was fine though. We got through security, and found our gate on the basement level. When we went down the escalator we popped out to see that there were like an a,b,c,d gate all under the same number. The Entebbe flight said “now closing” as its status so I started running and Lori followed me. We made it! We promptly got ushered into a airport bus because our plane was far away. We got on the plane. I sat next to a nice Congolese priest who lives in London. Lori was stuck further back in a middle seat.
We made it into Uganda safe and sound. Some other BYU students were nice enough to let us crash at their place for a few days--we got in at like 2 in the morning! My body celebrated by developing a nasty jet-lag-cold that lasted for days. But that's a story for another time! For now I will just say that I absolutely love London. It was good to be back.
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| and that's a wrap! |
