Oh, the glories of packing and traveling!

If you haven’t figured out… FIRST POST IN LONDON!!!!

Before I talk about my travels, I need to start with every study abroad students’ struggle: packing. I had to figure out how to fit all of my belongings normally overflowing out of my crossover SUV into 2 checked bags each under 50 pounds and my carry-on. From my packing experience I can divide it into 4 stages:

Stage 1: Go through all of your closet and all drawers and decide what you will need

Stage 2: Realize there is no way in hell this can be within the weight limits let alone fit

Stage 3: Go through the pile and eliminate some more, it helps to fold as well

Stage 4: Squeeze everything that was once folded into your bags and pray to God that they are under 50 pounds

Story of my life.

And with 3 hours left until I had to leave for my 6:15 am flight to Newark, IT FIT and each bag was less than 50 lbs (23 and 45 pounds each to be exact).

The side effect of having a $360 flight to London? A 13 ½ hour layover. To help pass the time, I decided to visit my cousins in Bernardsville. To save them from the drive, I decided to go on a pre-London adventure and get there by means of public transportation. Since their train line does not go to the airport, I had to get a bus to the station and then take the train from there. It did not take long for me to struggle to find the correct bus stop. For my terminal, there are 2 locations to take buses. You guessed it, I went to the wrong one at first and found 1 single sign for the correct stop. Once I got there, my bus started pulling away before I could catch it… epic fail. After I waited around and caught the bus, I did not have too much trouble catching the train, just another 30 minute wait.

My return to Newark marked a very slow 5 hour wait for departure. However, I had a few spurts of excitement when a little boy started chasing a pigeon until it flew away… then he started crying (who knows how that got in there) and some pomegranate fro yo with strawberries.  The 7 hour flight was pretty bad too. Maybe 1 hour of sleep max.

Now I am so happy to be in London! Thankfully, I am already good friends will my roommate Morrisa so I do not even have to worry about that and the building I am living in is cool and so close to Kings Cross St. Pancras. Now, I am ready to pass out, but I am definitely excited to see what is in store!