Starting out slow...

After a whirlwind September, I was ready to start my trip with some downtime... We DJed in San Francisco Saturday night, and hit a street fair in Berkeley Sunday afternoon, then raced to Sam's house where I packed quickly and headed to the airport. Easy check-in, surprised and lucky to have been bumped to Economy Plus! A few movies (lame) and some sleeping (great) later, I was landing an hour early in London.

My quick landing and exit, plus some miscommunication in London meant I ended up at Mal's house a few hours before her husband Chris expected me. I called him from down the street and made plans to meet at the Southwark Cathedral by the London Bridge tube. Laid down in the park outside their house, did a crossword, then stole internet from the "RossyFamily"'s network to catch up on email, send texts, etc etc.

Walked up to the meeting point, which was quick and easy and it's quite a nice little church and garden. Met up with Chris and little 2-year-old Aldous and walked back as they biked. Got into the house and relaxed a bit. Mal came home and worked on a meal/disaster that did not work out as planned, but was still pretty damn yummy. Took a quick stroll to Tesco, but otherwise slipped in and out of sleep from exhaustion until a knock on the door at midnight when Sach arrived!

He hadn't seen Mal in 13 years, so it was an interesting reunion, and his arrival re-energized me so soon we had finished the wine and were having vodka cocktails and discussing everything from geography to politics to music and more. Suddenly it was 4a and we had to sleeeeeeep! Called home quickly since I've got this California phone number worldwide (925-LOREN-6Q will reach me) and then passed out... for 12 hours!

We woke up at 4p, so our grand bike ride plans were about shot, but the sleep energized me and was well worth it! We'll meet Drew in half an hour for dinner and drinks and catch up, which will be nice. It's great to be in a massive amazing foreign city, but know it well enough to not have to see all the sites, to just be able to hang around and relax!

More updates soon hopefully! On to Athens in 2 days!