hard travelin'

Greetings from across the pond... We made it into Heathrow around 11:00 pm local time today, but our adventure began when our feet were still firmly planted on midwestern ground. It all started late last night when we learned that our previously 'wide open' flight to London was now overbooked. We were flying non-revenue which is great because it's basically free, but bad becuase paying passengers come first. In order to be sure that we would be on top of the stand by list we woke up at 3:00 am and started our journey about 1/2 hour later.

We picked up the #66 (chicago) bus shortly before 4 am . The plan was to take the #66 to Milluakee to pick up the blue line, but apparently I zoned out for a bit becuase all of a sudden we were at the California stop (about 1 mile past where we intended to disembark). So we got off of the #66 and were planning to catch the next bus going in the opposite direction to retrace our steps, but were quickly set straight by a kindly man with waist length grey dreadlocks and more than a few missing teeth. He informed us that we could catch the #52 (california) bus to the blue line so that we could at least be heading in the right direction. We took his advice and waited on the desolate street corner at West Chicago and California for about 10 minutes until the bus arrived. From there it was a short ride to the blue line and we were back on track. We arrived at O'hare about an hour later, and after a brief delay when Joey's nipple rings set off the metal detectors, we made our way through security and to the gate.

After three hours of waiting and a few tense moments when the standby names were announced - we got on the plane. We arrived in London after an uneventful 7 hour flight, and upon our arrival we caught a ride with someone that we're 75% sure was a cabbie from heathrow to the Generator Hostel where we will spend the night.

The hostel is quite interesting... really hard to explain - picture a college dorm in the basement of an old warehouse with an industrial techno bar on site. After we arrived we thrrew our bags in the 6 bed room which based on the shoes and undergarments on the other beds, we will be sharing with at least two women, and headed to the bar where Joey made his first ever 'legal' alcoholic beverage purchase (see below).


...And that pretty much brings us up to the present. This computer doesn't have a USB connection so I can't add pictures now, but i'll throw some in as soon as I am able.

A few pictures from our journey:

Next stop: paris.