7/13-14 - Wednesday and Thursday

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 4a and closed up my suitcase, ate breakfast, and then then got picked up by Kate and Steven in the taxis. I was feeling surprisingly calm and not sad then. I don't know if it was just because I was so tired, or what. It was sad on the car ride to Entebbe because, ya know, it's the last ride in Uganda until who knows when. I definitely want to return, but since no plane tickets are reserved I have no idea how long it will be until I step foot on beautiful Ugandan soil again.

At the airport we went through security and chilled in a cafe and the boarding area until we finally got on our plane. The plane ride was nice! I was sitting next to Mrs. Gibbons and a guy from Gordon College who had been in Uganda for a month so it was really cool to talk to them. When we got into London we did all the security and fun stuff like that and then took a bus to our hotel. Those buses are not made for 14 people with luggage, let's just say. I'm sure they weren't sad when we got off. =)

Greg in Dave's skinny jeans. this was picture worthy.

After settling in at the hotel we took the bus to Heathrow and then took the tubes to the Piccadilly Circus stop and walked to a local pub. It was so cute, the pubs had so much character! And good food. And famous people! I didn't recognize him, but Andrew Garfield from the Social Network and the new Spiderman was there so Ryan was freaking out. Dinner was about 9p, which was 11p in Uganda. We were hungry. After eating, we walked around the more historical area, I guess (I don't know what to call it!) and saw all the old building with amazing architecture. We also saw Buckingham Palace and from a distance saw the London Eye, Big Ben, and a couple of those huge cathedrals. And I saw red telephone booths which made me super happy. SUPER happy. Also, there was a Uganda House shop thing by the tube station. Love. ♥

We got back on the tubes by midnight (which was 2a Uganda time, and I hadn't slept that much on the plane). It was jam-packed and full in there. No place to sit down so a bunch of us just sat down on the floor in the end of the car and basically fell asleep. Not necessarily sanitary, but we were exhausted. We were able to find some seats when the car cleared out so I fell asleep on the seats them. We got to Heathrow and it was completely empty! It was crazy. It was also 12:30 and we caught a red double decker bus to the hotel. It was really late and I was half asleep so I wasn't able to fully appreciate the amazingess of being on a double decker in London.

When we got to the hotel I crashed and woke up at 7:30. Impressive. I went back to bed and woke up an hour later and showered and packed and then went out to breakfast with some of the team. It was nice to walk around a little bit in the daylight and have a good non-airplane meal. And as good as the food in Uganda was, it was nice to have variety in London. We checked out of the room at noon and headed to the airport.

Nothing much exciting happened there. I went through security per usual and it was no big deal. I did some shopping (bought a London 2012 shirt and mug for 22pounds, kind of expensive, but I felt like buying those and I'm glad I did) and then went to the boarding gate. On the way there we saw yet another famous person. This time Ryan or whoever actually talked to them. It turned out to be Jeremih or something who doesn't necessarily sound like a real great guy but they were excited and got a picture with him because he's famous. And he was on our plane to Chi-town. IDK. Then when I was getting ready to board I was pulled over by security and told that I was nominated for a bag check. They made it sound like I won the lottery or something. So the checked my bag (but didn't do a really good job, I must say. Not that I had anything to hide, but the check wasn't very thorough) and gave me a pat down and let me go. And then we had a plane ride which was fine and not quite as exciting because I'd been on so many recently.

When we got there we went through customs and security. America is a lot harder to get into than Uganda or England, but having a USA passport made it fairly easy to get by. Mr. Bowman took us home in the bus and my family was there to meet me. We stopped at Gina's for italian ice and then went home, looked at souvenirs, told stories, stayed up until midnight and slept until noon, and that was it.

In London and the plane rides and when I was home at first I didn't feel homesick for Uganda at all because I was tired of all the traveling and just wanted to be home. But then when I was home .......