2014 began for me while I was sleeping on an airplane. Well actually, I didn't really get a New Years. I was traveling in a direction where I completely missed it. Nonetheless, I had a wonderful sleep on the plane. It was a 9.5 hour flight from San Francisco to London and I am quite sure I slept a good 8 of those hours.
Arriving in London was a wonderful feeling. I absolutely love London so I was thrilled to be there. I had previously made arrangements to meet up with my friend Louis so I set off on my adventure to figure out how to get to our meeting point. I talked to a very nice man who pointed me in the right direction which was a great help. Exchanging money was annoying. I about keeled over dead when I handed the gentleman $100 and received £52 in return. I just acceptd it and moved forward.
I purchased my Heathrow Express, round trip ticked, and headed down to the platform to board the train or whatever it is. I proceeded to board early and was told to get off. I laughed at myself instead of getting embarrassed. When I eventually boarded, at the correct time, I sat next to a nice man and woman. The man is from LA and the woman from England. We all chatted the entire ride to Paddington Station.
We finally arrived at Paddington Station, and the we each parted ways. My first mission was to find a McDonalds to get myself some free wifi. I needed to contact Louis to let him know I was there. So I walked out into cold, rainy London weather and luckily found a McDonalds just one block down. I snuck inside and connected to their wifi. I heard nothing back from Louis so I went and walked around in the rain, before trying McDonalds wifi again. I finally got ahold of that boy and he said he would be there in 30 minutes. During my wait I stood in a drug store under their heater, read a guitar magazine, and paid to use the restroom. I am still annoyed that I had to pay to pee. Seriously?! And figuring out which coins to use was a task in itself.
I then walked back to McDonalds to see where Louis was and he informed me that he had just arrived. I walked back to Paddington Station and looked around for him. Of course I didn't find him until he was standing right next to me. And finally at last I got that Wolfpack hug I had been missing for so long.
Louis and I went to a little cafe called Costa. He treated me to a moca and we shared a sandwich over a good four and a half hour chat. I went and paid to use the restroom one again, bought a water, and we then went and sat on someone couches we found and waited for my train-thing back to the airport to arrive. And unfortunately it eventually did. We said are farewells, gave a hug and parted ways.
I made my way back to terminal 4 where I would find the hotel I would be staying in for the night. Unfortunately when I went to check-in I found there was a misunderstanding and my room had never been booked and the hotel was full for the night. I decided to just go find a place to sit and rest. I called Louis to let him know I'd made it back to the he airport and discussed with him the situation and let him know I'd call in the morning.
I then quickly realized this was a blessing in disguise. After shedding some tears in bathroom stall and changing my clothes, I found a spot where I could charge my phone and played my guitar for a bit. I then found some some paper shoved in my guitar case and began to write a letter. That person will know who they are when I figure out how to mail letters from Uganda and send it to them. I then realized I had to pee super bad, and fortunately was able to do so without having to pay this time. After, I decided to walk around and find a place to sleep.
As I rounded a corner, I saw a white, baby grand piano sitting in the lobby. On it was written, "play me." So...I kind of had to. As I set my guitar and backpack down a woman approached me asking if we were really allowed to play it. I said that I thought so and there we began a two hour piano, guitar, and chit-chat sesh with this woman. She taught me some jingles on the piano, I played her a song on the guitar, and we told each other about ourselves. I shared some snacks with her since she said she was hungry and all shops were closed at this 4am hour.
We eventually parted ways, and here I am at 4:45am, sitting on the floor of Heathrow Airport writing this, while I wait for the shuttle to begin running so I can ride on over to terminal 5. And I can say that I am so happy with how today turned out. My New Year's Day was excellent. I spent it with someone who has changed my life for the better. Someone I consider one of my closest friends. And I met a woman who made me smile and reminded me that when life gives you lemons, you might as well make some lemonade.
I sure wish life would give me so root so I could make someone rootbeer, because that sounds good right now.
Everyone has been beyond kind here in London and I kind of want to move here even more than I ever have. But hey, God wants me in Uganda right now. And even if everyone else finds it crazy that I would want to be there, that's exactly where I desire to be above all else.
2014 has been fantastic already! I can't wait to see what is yet to come.
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