London Tubes Ashford n Eurostar Day - 1

After last minute BYE BYE’s n tears I entered the international airport to board my flight. My next destination was London with a stop over in Mumbai for 4 hours. Was surprised to meet a long lost friend in Mumbai Airport n was traveling in the same flight to London. But that did not matter to me… in like 8 hours I am going to be out of my country and not gonna come back in for the next 4 years. It was tough to leave everything behind but it was suppressed by the thrill n adventure ahead of me in LONDON.

Heathrow wasn’t that impressive. It just makes everyone walk n walk n walk. Had no problems at the Immigration. But he was surprised to know that I was in London only for 5 days!!! Anyways he let me thro and after a long wait to collect the luggage, I was finally out of Heathrow n straight into the visitors area. I was really skeptical about Boobesh coming to the airport n was mentally getting ready to go directly to Ashford from there with the luggage no matter what!!! But to my surprise the first face I saw in the crowd was Booby n I relaxed a bit. After a 15 min drive we reached the most shabbiest room I have ever seen in my life to drop my bags.

Then it was Arjun vs London Underground. I struggled my way thro the Tube Maze and somehow got thro to Drayton - Paddington - Waterloo from where I had to catch the train to Ashford. Finally after a sleepy 1.5 hrs ride(I missed the lovely English Country Side in this journey)… I reached my bro’s place n finally fell in bed.

After about 2 hours of rest Me n my Bro went for shopping. I was looking to buy a jacket. But I was not set into the Pounds mood completely. Being told that London was world’s costliest city, I was extra cautious about spending for the first time in my life. We reached a place called McArthur Glen - which is the city center for Ashford. The place has got nothing but Designer n Retail Outlets of almost all brands in the world. The shops were lined in a circle with the parking space at the centre. The whole place was so big that u need almost 30 mins to complete one complete round!!! If u think Spencers is big start thinking again!!!

After looking into couple of shops, I found my jacket – in GAP!!! It was bloody 48 pounds!!! I decided against it n went out… checked again in TH, Fred Perry, Benetton, MnS, Petroleum, Polo, Ted Baker, CK, Mountain Warehouse and so many others. But the GAP had my mind fixed on it. So I went back in to buy it after being calmed down by my bro. But to my surprise I got a 50% discount n got the jacket for 24 Pounds finally. My first stroke of luck in England!!!

The next stop was The Blacksmith’s. The place n ambience was cool and the best thing was the location. Right behind the hospital in which my Bro works!!! Less than a min to my room!! We ordered a guiness bitter – along with Fish n Chips for dinner. And that was the strike of my painful bad luck in England. Grrrr!!! I regret for not listening to my bro about the GB. I shud have bought Carlsberg. But I went for the ultimate one. The GB tastes awesome n it chills u down to the spine!!! With the sun slowly setting around 9pm.. it was getting a bit breezy n chilly. And that marked my doomsday!!! After fighting with the dead fish n chips, gave up the idea of completing the dish n had couple of Carlsberg’s n left back for the room to retire.

Then the Goodluck striked again in the form of Manju. Already being let down on the F1 dream, I had already forgot about the whole thing even before I landed in Heathrow. But before getting into my room, I was jus talking to Manju about the F1 n found out that He had couple of extra tickets for Fri n Sat. And I could leave the next day for Silverstone along with him n come back from Birmingham to London n then to Ashford.

I was all excited n I dint have to say YES to the offer. The answer to Manju’s question was already etched hard in my face!!! So I went to bed with dreams of meeting the GOD himself tomo at Silverstone!!!! – That’s the end of my first day in London. More to come…