London - Barcelona

AT the moment, we are on our way to Barcelona - SOOOOO exciting!!!

I had a great time catching up with the boys and Katelin in London, but I am more than ready to go off, just Ben and I, and do what we came here to do! But, of course, there were some stressful points that lead us to where we are now...

Because of the, somewhat, overcrowded state of Katelin's room (6 of us all crammed into the room), Ben and I were up early. Although we were really tired, we decided not to waste our half day in London and got up and out by 8 to have some breakfast.

Ben knows London relatively well, as he lived here for 6 months only 2 years ago. It's times like tday where this is helpful - when you just want a coffee and some breakfast in a nice area of town!

We headed into Convent Garden where we ended up wandering around for quite some time trying to find somewhere to eat brekky. I found it really interesting how few places served big, hearty, Australian-like breakfasts. The best we could do was scrambled eggs on toast! Bakery's and coffee stores are certainly a much bigger thing in London as opposed to Australia. I think this is because a lot of people travel to work and leave early, so just want something quick to eat, not a sit down meal.

After breakfast I was craving a chai latte, so we found a 'Caffe Nero' (very big in London) and had one. This seems like an irrelevant point, but wait for what happened next...

It was about 10.30, so we decided to head back to Katelin's in the hope that everyone would be up and ready to go and do some stuff before we headed to Barcelona. Of course, on the tube ride home, I was looking for my Iphone.. looking... looking.. looking... NO IPHONE!!

I felt my stomach drop and immediately thought the worst! We were halfway home, but I think Ben saw the look in my eye and we decided it was worth going back to see if it was there - but not believing it would be!

We jumped of one tube and onto another then sprinted to Caffe Nero. When we arrived there was no phone, we asked the waitress - no phone, the waitress asked the barista... SUCCESS! Thank Goodness!!!! I doubt my phone will be far from me now!

Finally, we arrived back at Arnos Grove where everyone had just gotten up and seemed to just be plodding along - something we had no time for with only a few hours until we had to be back at Katelin's and out to the airport.

We caught the tube to London Bridge. This took quite some time and really only left Ben and I with one hour to play with in town. Unfortunately this meant we had no time to do anything. The boys and Katelin got a bite to eat and then we had to say our goodbyes as time was EXTREMELY tight!

Luckily we had packed our bags before we headed out for the day because we were literally running to get them. We had to be at the airport by 4.20pm and by this stage it was 3.15pm, and for someone who hasn't travelled before - I was trying to be on time and not risk missing any transfers.

Unfortunately, you can't rush the tube and before we knew it, it was 4.20pm and I was assuming the worst. The tube was packed, hot and sweaty.. struggle street was near!

We finally arrived at the airport at 4.50pm and I was sure we would have missed check-in, but Ben was positive we would be fine, so we sprinted (let me tell you - it is a longggg way from the stops to the terminals) to our desk to check-in, where we were told we only needed to be there 45minutes prior for EU trips - I will remember that for next time!!!

We are on our flight now and I am extremely excited to arrive in Barcelona. I have heard great things, and most of all, I just want to bake on the beach and relax after a few stressful days.

Some close calls today, but I am praying this means the stress has been left behind us!