Friend at Hand, my favorite pub
Perfect fish & chips
Arrived back at St. Pancras late afternoon to a London covered in snow flurries! We hailed a cab to take us to the Marriott at Regent’s Park. After getting situated, we took the Tube down to Russell Square so I could show my parents my favorite, perfectly English pub, Friend at Hand. Though not the loudest & hippest place to go, if you’re looking for authentic cozy pub with football, cricket & rugby constantly on the telly & cheap drinks then Friend, located on a small alleyway is for you!
We ordered fish & chips and I made Mom & Dad get mushy peas. I had several Strongbows and took one last look around the pub before we left. So hard to walk away from that! Tubed it back to Regent’s Park to sleep my last night in England. Not surprisingly, I hardly slept, out of excitement to finally be home after 3 months and out of sadness for leaving a city I have grown to love & an experience that has changed me forever. My parents had an early flight so I checked my bags with the hotel lobby, bid them a “see ya in the States” goodbye on their way to Heathrow as I hopped on the Tube to savor my last hours in London.
I went to my favorite areas: Bedford Place, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus & Westminster. I was such an early bird that none of the shops were open. I walked for an hour, just soaking it all up in a drawn-out goodbye. I went to my fav souvenir shop in Piccadilly, called Cool Britannia. I snagged a bunch of gifts for friends, family & most importantly, myself. Once all the shops were open, I had my gift list in my head so I was zooming up & down Oxford Street swiping my debit card at blinding speed.
As impossible as it was for me to bear, I Tubed it for the final time back to Regent’s Park, collected my bags then hailed a cab to Paddington Station. From there, I caught the Heathrow Express & had to keep myself from crying. I arrived super early as London can’t handle snow in any amount. There is only inches on the ground, but I heard of news reports of trains out of St. Pancras cancelled & some flights grounded. Oddly enough, when throwing my newly purchased souvenirs in my bags, I found a half-full bottle of vodka left over from MadHouse. I threw it in my carry-on so at Heathrow, I grabbed a few Diet Cokes & a Union Jack coffee mug I bought for Emily before security to numb the heartbreak of leaving London. What a way to go out.
In terms of my United flight, they were getting nervous with the weather so they handed out vouchers to all passengers offering them free hotel stays, etc if they skipped their flight & waited another day or two. Spontaneous Rach was this close to taking up the offer but I knew my bank account was far too low to stay in London any longer (I had troubles checking 2 bags for heaven’s sake). So I made the responsible decision to head home on my scheduled flight. Interestingly, Bob & Betty Hoskins, my JMU FMIR was on my flight. It was really nice seeing familiar faces after a week so we chatted before we boarded. I was aisle seat so I sat (with my vodka buzz going strong), ordered a bunch of movies & got minutes of sleep before landing at Dulles.
