Change of plans #1

Okay, so we named this post "Change of plans #1" because it's the first but we're pretty positive it's not the last. Rachael took a turn for the worse last night so we decided it might be a good idea to stay in London another night instead of travelling on a plane and risk being sick the whole time. We asked if we could stay in the hostel another night, but they only had one bed available so, oh darn, we had to book a hotel room. When we woke up this morning, Rachael was feeling loads better. We decided she had the "Welcome to London diet!" 24 hours to the brand new you! We got our things packed up this morning and checked out of the hostel at 10am. We couldn't check into our hotel until 2pm so we left our gigantic backpacks in the hostel's luggage room and wandered around the neighborhood for awhile. We had what we called a very London-y day. We went to a couple of local shops and a lucky chosen few will be receiving postcards from us in the next couple of days. We saw blue skies for the first time since leaving Georgia but it was super windy and COLD! After that, we made our way by bus to Notting Hill, where our hotel is located. We both had nice warm showers and left our junk lying around instead of locked up in tiny lockers and loved it. We took the opportunity to do a little laundry. Hopefully our things will be dry by the time we leave tomorrow....

After that, we wandered around in search of some internet so that we could book another flight to Dublin since we missed ours this morning. The airline we're using, Ryanair, is super-cheap but super-weird. You can only check one bag under 15 kilos (around 30 lbs.) and carry on one bag under 10 kilos. You can check in online and print out your boarding pass anywhere from 15 days to 4 hours ahead of time. We went ahead and checked into all of our flights (London-Dublin, Dublin-Edinburgh, and Edinburgh-Brussels) because we could print for free at the hostel. We learned the hard way that once you check in to a flight, you can't change it or anything. SO, we lost our money for the flight this morning. Oh well, it wasn't that much and it's a lot more important that we stay well so we can keep these entertaining posts comin'!

So, after we did laundry, we both put on a clean set of clothes for the first time since leaving Georgia. (notice we're wearing the same thing in all of the photos you've seen so far). Since we were able to spread out a little, we took the opportunity to do a little inventory of all the JUNK we brought and decide what we really needed because those bags are HEAVY. So, Mom and Dad, the boxes are coming! We went to get some dinner at a really neat Thai restaurant called Tawana Thai. Our servers were really nice and told us they expect to see us the next time we come to London. We did a little research and found out that if we don't check in online ahead of time and print our boarding passes, we will be charged 40 pounds for them to print one off for us. That's reason #37 that Ryanair is freaking weird. But cheap! So, we're writing this from an internet cafe where we have made frenemies with the guy running the place. (says Katie, why's he lookin at me so weird?!) We probably won't have anything to report from Dublin since we arrive there at 1:30 on Saturday and leave at 7:30am Sunday for Edinburgh. We love you all!

XOXO K&R

Our favorite quotes so far:

Katie: Hey, do you know where they get the fur for the king's robe and crown?
Rach: (without hesitation) Dalmations. And babies.

A little background for this one:
Joy, in her wonderfulness, had a European hairdryer for Katie to take along so that she wouldn't have to worry about converters and all that biz. Unfortunately, Katie didn't know that that type of plug didn't work in the UK but only in the rest of Europe, so she had to go without blowdrying the luscious locks for a day (which turned into three because you don't have to shower every day with curls!). So, the curls were good, but they wouldn't stay out of her face. Rach kept having to hear about how badly Katie needed a bobby pin for the Renegade Curl. The setting: sidewalk in front of the British Museum. The weather: cold, and pouring rain.

Katie: Look! There's a bobby pin in that puddle!
Rach: It's not worth it!!!

Follow up: After perusing the British Museum for awhile, Katie couldn't get the thought of that poor lonely bobby pin out of her mind, so she set off to track it down! Found it, sanitized it, wore it. And wore it. And is still wearing it. Score!!