We started our day (Friday) at 3am getting up and making sure that we were all ready for our trip! The driver picked us at up 3:30am in front of our place. It was the same driver that picked us up from the airport when we had first arrived, so we knew him and felt safe, which was nice. We were able to sleep a little bit on the long 3 hour drive all the way to Bucharest. We were flying out of the smaller airport this time because we found such cheap flights! However, we quickly learned why it was so inexpensive. The airport is TINY. You walk in and there is a room with about 5 check-in desks. We found the one that said London Lutton. We handed them our passports and they checked us in and handed us each back a tiny little ticket that said BlueAir (our airline), our name, our flight number OB131, and our seat # 24A. Next we walked 10 feet and we were at the security check-in area. We made it through security quickly and expected to find what you normally would expect next: a big tv screen with all of the different flights, times, and gate information. Instead we walked into a room no bigger than my parents living room filled with about 200 people sitting on the floor, leaning against the walls, and just a few sitting in chairs. We looked around confused, were we already at OUR terminal? There were no TVs that told us what gate to go to, and the section on our ticket that said gate was blank. We looked around and there was a giant glass window with 4 doors. Each were numbered Gate 1-4. We didn't know what to do or where to go so we decided to look for some signs, but of course there were none. So we went back over towards the security area to ask someone from there. We had heard an announcement (not in English) and all that we could catch out of it was "London" & "7 and 8". So we assumed that we were supposed to be at gates 7 or 8, but the numbers only went to 4. We went to a security man and asked him where gates 7 and 8 were. He laughed and said, "haha no 7 & 8 only 1, 2, 3, and 4." Jenna and I looked at each other confused, and then back at him. We tried explaining that they just made an announcement and we heard the numbers 7 & 8. Again, he laughed and slowly counted 1, 2, 3, & 4 on his fingers. My immediate thought was "Yes, thank you, I know how to count to four I'm not stupid." He didn't understand what we were asking so he led us over to a lady. We told her that we were looking for which gate to go to for our flight to London, and that we heard the announcement that said 7 & 8. She too just laughed and counted to four in our faces. She then told us that they would "make an announce" soon. Now incredibly frustrated we turned away and just stood there with blank faces. This man must have over heard what was going on because he came our way and nicely explained what the other two wouldn't. He told us that they only have 4 gates, and that the announcement that we had initially heard was for those who hadn't checked in yet, to go to the check-in desks 7 & 8. He said that they would make another announcement in a little bit that would tell us which gate to go to. FINALLY!! Someone nice!!
After some time had passed it was getting closer to our flight time so we were nervous that we hadn't yet heard which gate. We were packed like sardines into this little room and outside the doors of the "gates" were buses. So we were scared that we were going to miss the bus that would then take us to the right terminal. We walked around looking for someone who looked like they were going to London or who spoke English. Finally we saw this blonde women, with 3 little blonde girls following her through the crowd. We listened to her talk for a minute and heard her accent. YES!! She must be going to London!
Once she had settled with the girls we went up and asked her if she was going to London. She said yes and that we could follow her if we wanted. She explained how she had been to this airport before and it is SO confusing and impossible to understand and figure out. But she assured us that between the 3 of us we should be able to piece together enough of what was being said over the intercom. We felt a rush of relief fill us. Her daughters were really sweet. They were about 9, 6, and 3. Hearing them talk in their little accents was adorable!!
We finally heard our flight being called and went out the door and all filed onto the bus. Apparently there are no other terminals!! The bus drives you through the snow, on the runway, over directly to the plane. We all got off and the people pushed and shoved their way up the tiny staircase onto the little plane. (Not sure why they were in such a hurry to get on because there were assigned seats!!!). Jenna and I got into our seats and bucked up and fell asleep!
Once we landed and got off the plane we had to go through customs. We then headed to the bathrooms and freshened up, taking our time. We stopped and exchanged some money into Pounds. We got out and were planning on just sitting at the little coffee shop and relaxing for a moment and eating before embarking on our next task: mastering the buses and train routes in order to make it all the way to meeting up with Laura in town. We were a little bit stressed knowing we had to do all that, so we wanted to relax a bit first. Then the BEST surprise ever happened!!! We walked through the doors and Laura came running our way!!! YAYY!!! We don't have to take the buses and trains!!! It was such a calming feeling knowing that we were safe and ready to go!!
She showed us all around town and it was so exciting!! We were SO tired but it was fun to get to see most of the sights and it was a nice and sunny day outside! Later that night we met up with Jack (Laura's bf), Mark (who we are staying with), and some of their friends: Joe & Rob. It was a lot of fun and we went to this little Pub where I was able to order CHICKEN TENDERS!!! YAYY!! I was so happy hahah!!!
When we got back to Mark's his mom had come over and left a few little surprises for us! She put a little map of London, a magazine, and some chocolates on the bed!! And flowers in the room! It was so nice!!! We had a great night's sleep after a long long day.
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We woke up slow, showered, ate some breakfast, and are now getting ready to see some more sights!
I will let you know how today goes!!
I miss you all!!! LOVE YOU!
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