Off the beaten track

Highlights of the travels to London and my first couple of days

• The travels to get to London was interesting.  I did not book the travels, but will in the future so it will not be as many changes.  Left from Bolivar, MO at 11 am on the 1st to fly out of Springfield, MO.  Left Springfield at 1:30 to Chicago. Short layover in Chicago and was on the way to NY LaGuardia after arriving in LaGuardia I had to get a taxi to JFK to catch the flight to London (first ever NYC Taxi Ride), I had a 4 hour layover in JFK before flight to London.  Was on a Virgin Atlantic flight in Premium class from JFK to London, first time ever not being in economy on a flight and it spoiled me a little. I had my own TV with a selection of 100+ movies and tv shows, the seats were very comfortable and almost laid all the way back.  So I slept watched a couple movies and before I knew it arrived in London.  I was suppose to have a taxi man holding my name with a sign on it waiting for me... but he wasn't there, I called and he was on his way and showed up about an hour after I landed.  The taxi ride from the Airport to my Apartment was a little over an hour, the apartment was really nice, in a not that wonderful of an area, but only 3 blocks from a nice sized transit station.  After it was all said and done from leaving place in Bolivar to arriving at apartment in London it was just over 24 hours.
• On my first working day here the Public Transit people here were on strike so many of the undergrounds/tubes were closed, so my directions that I had did not work and instead of one change of a tube and a train ride it was a lot of walking and 4 different station changes. So the commute took over 2 times as long as it normally would.  It was a gorgeous day and because of not going the route that I had mapped out I was able to talk to a bunch of people (asking for directions and routes), learn quite a bit about the public transit in London, and walk across the Waterloo Bridge right next to Buckingham Palace.
• Things that I have learned so far:
• I understand the girls way more than the men with their British accents
• The rumor about all English girls have bad teeth and are not cute.. so not true
• I really enjoy not having to drive. just reading or striking up conversations with random people while I travel makes the commute very easy
• Tea Time = 5pm-ish
• Slap Head = Bald Guy
• Proper is used in place of real
• Mind the Gap = Watch your step