The Canadian Geese have Finally Landed!

Walking through Gatwick London airport with absolutely everything you currently own is not daunting at all....  This was the starting of our England journey, so let me fill you in on the experience.

With bright eyes and bushy tails Ryan and I ran through the airport terminal mimicking what other passengers seem to be doing.  Everyone was rushing like they were on an episode of “The Great American Race”.  We rushed along right with them, until the mob of people came to a screeching halt.  As we lined up (or ‘queued’ as the British say) I began to realize that we seemed to have far more luggage than everyone else that was around us.  Also, our fellow travellers all seemed to have a maroon passport, not a royal blue one like Ryan and I.  We twisted around the corner to see a huge pillar that read, ‘EUROS’.  Sweet deal! We are in the wrong mess of people.

A lady that we had been sitting with in the plane spotted us and said to us, “I think you belong over there,” and pointed to another pillar that said ‘NON-EURO’.  Mmmmm yes, yes indeed we belong over there.  Well, we took our sorry behinds over to the larger queue, the queue that had restless travellers who held royal blue passports and lots of luggage.   It was quite funny to see that we were the only Canadians that had followed the Euros into the customs area.

Queued at Gatwick Customs

Well.... we waited for some time, but Ryan and I both were far too excited to notice how long!  Once we were stamped finger printed and approved, we rushed on into the Bustling city of London!

We ran around lost for about 30 minutes looking for the train.  Talked to some British people and gathered enough information that got us to the metro line.  It was at the London Metro where we learned our favourite English saying, “Mind the Gap”. 

Remember to always 'Mind the Gap!'

There is a dangerous ‘gap’ between the actual rails of the metro and the platform.  The trains and metros go so fast in London that you must ‘mind the gap’.  The gap that you need to ‘mind’ is the gap between where you are standing and the actual metro.  There are yellow paint and words that actually say ‘mind the gap’ on the platforms.  If this ‘minding’ is not obeyed the metro driver reminds you by saying, ‘mind the gap’.  On this particular day the metro driver must have been having a terrible day, because he not only reminded people to ‘mind the gap,’ he reminded them to ‘mind the bloody f@#%king Gap’.  Since then for a good laugh we sometimes remind one another to ‘Mind the Bloody Gap!’

After making our way to Kings Crossings, a train station in London, which has some connection with the Harry Potter Movie ( I wouldn’t know because I am not a Harry Potter person) we jumped on a train to make our 3 hour hike North. 

It was very exciting to have the first glimpse of the Tyne River.  After looking at so many pictures of it on-line and finally being able to cross that bridge made everything a reality!  We are finally here!  Not sooo fast.  The train car in front of us had some silly business going on that had to deal with the police (British slang: Bobby).  After about a twenty minute wait we crept into the central station Newcastle upon Tyne!

We made our way to the entrance to try and hail a taxi, which was easy enough.  I gave the taxi driver the hotel address that we had previously booked, and he giggled.  “What is so funny?”  I asked him, “Your hotel is right across the street from Central Station”.  Well didn’t I feel stupid!!!  I had not a clue that I had booked such a great hotel in such an accommodating area! Geezzzz......

Our First Piture Tother in Europe!