Sisterhood of the Traveling Powells: London, England (Round 2)

To refresh your memory, our flight from Prague to Amsterdam was cancelled so we were en route back to London to make sure we would make our flight on May 1st. We landed at London Stansted Airport shortly after midnight, which really shouldn't even be considered a London airport seeing as it's 40 miles outside of London proper. At this point all public transport into London had stopped running and the first train was scheduled to depart at 5:30 AM. We were exhausted, starving, and freezing. We addressed the middle problem first. Burger King was the only open restaurant in the facility so we begrudgingly got in line. Jordan's nuggets appeared as though they had been sitting in a warmer since 8 AM and my burger was doused in mayonnaise to the point of in-edibility. We managed a few bites before focusing on our next problem: exhaustion. 

Since Stansted was so far outside of London we weren't able to get a hostel and resigned ourselves to an airport slumber party for 2. We were surprised to find that we weren't the only ones who had the same problem. Wall space was minimal as nearly everyone was trying to catch a few winks. We found a slot near the sliding glass doors and set up camp. Our next problem was the bitter cold. London was approximately 30 degrees colder than Prague had been and the constant opening of the sliding doors only exacerbated our discomfort. I pulled several layers out of my backpack and wrapped a scarf and my towel around me as a blanket. Despite being awake for 20 hours and our efforts to get comfortable, sleep evaded us and by the time we were getting drowsy we were rousted from our wall space by security. We still had an hour and a half before the train would start running, so we found a new spot to sit in the hallway outside the bathroom where at least the wind wasn't biting at our exposed ankles. 

Our flight to the States was scheduled to leave the following day out of Gatwick airport at 9:30 AM so we had an entire day to kill. For distance reference, Stansted Airport is an hour north of London and Gatwick is approximately an hour south. It made more sense for us to find a hostel near Gatwick airport, rather than fighting public transport to get to the airport on time. Therefore, we had last minute booked a bed and breakfast in Horley, a town right outside Gatwick. 


We weren't able to check into our room into 2 PM, so we steeled ourselves for several more hours of wakefulness. We bought out tickets for the train and basked in the warmth of the rail car. We changed at Tottenham Hale and topped up our Underground cards to take the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus. Our destination was The Breakfast Club, which opened at 7:30. When we surfaced at Oxford Circus it was only 6:45 AM. It was also still incredibly chilly and raining to boot. We ducked into a McDonald's for warmth, Wifi, and a cup of caffeine to kill time. We were only a few blocks from The Breakfast Club and we made a break for it as 7:30 AM approached. Reviews on the establishment had cautioned patrons against the long lines, but we were the third party in line when they unlocked the door and were easily seated. 

We were determined to spin this meal out as long as we could. I ordered eggs on toast with bacon and Jordan decided on the veggie breakfast burrito. I decided to keep my caffeine buzz going with a latte that I promptly spilled all over the table when I tried to take a cute picture with it. Sadly, all warm and dry things must come to an end, and we faced an utter downpour when we left. We hoofed it back to the McDonald's in search of an outlet to charge our phones, we hadn't found an outlet since Prague and knew we'd need directions to find the right train line to get to Horley in the afternoon. 

We got back on the Underground, bound for Victoria Station where our train would leave from later. That station was freezing as well, but we stayed warm by loitering in several shops. We found another Hema and bought face masks for the evening ahead. We would have tried to do some more London exploring, but we were absolutely not prepared for the cold and downpour. Plus, we were operating on 30 hours with no sleep at this point. We shivered in the station before finally boarding our train to Horley. My map showed that the Horley station was only a short 11 minute walk to our guest house. However, the rain had intensified and with dodging puddles our journey felt like eons. We finally stumbled up the steps and pounded on the door, dripping all over their front porch. We were greeted by the owner who thankfully didn't care that we were 20 minutes early for 2 PM check in. We received our room key and peeled off our soaking wet clothes before jumping in the showers. We decided to "rest" before making any dinner plans, which turned into a 2 hour nap. When we awoke, the rain had let up and we decided to venture out for a bite to eat. Thankfully, the guesthouse next door served dinner...slowly. 2 hours later we were back in our room, finishing up our packing and donning our face masks from Hema. 

the view of the garden from our room at the guesthouse

Included with our stay at Masslink was a cab ride to the airport in the morning. Our driver
was on-time and we were delivered to Gatwick in just 7 minutes. We checked in and devoured breakfast at Nando's while we waited for our boarding gate to show up on the screen. Because we are the unluckiest pair of travelers, our flight was delayed. Only about half an hour, but every minute feels like an eternity when you are ready to be home! We didn't get quite as lucky with the seat assignments on our flight home so I took the middle seat for the team and Jordan got the aisle. Those 10 hours en route to Denver were felt interminable. Jordan watched four movies (Aloha, Creed, Wonder, and Eat, Pray, Love) and I only made it through about one and a half. We were trying our best not to fall asleep since we were going to land in OKC at 7:30 PM and wanted to beat jet lag, but I succumbed for about an hour. We finally landed in Denver and unfolded ourselves from our cramped seats. We went back through check in for our Southwest flight to OKC and got in line for security for the second time that day. My backpack was searched since apparently a bar of soap from Nice also looks like a bomb. I repacked my backpack (the bars of soap were at the bottom...) and we beelined for Chickfila. After inhaling nuggets, we found our gate for our OKC flight and wished away the hours. Unsurprisingly, that flight was also delayed 25 minutes. We finally landed in OKC at 8 PM and our men picked us up from the airport. 

Though we were both glad to be home, we've experienced some withdrawal since entering the real world. We spent 13 days straight together so for me it was strange to wake up and not have Jordan in the bunk below me. I miss the adrenaline of the unknown and making spontaneous decisions. We both have been reluctant to put away our souvenirs and even writing this final blog post about our adventure makes me melancholy as it feels like the trip is ending all over again. We feel privileged to have had this opportunity and are ready to plan for our next destination!