London - Day 1

The flight into London was actually not that bad. It was a direct flight and I think that helped make it not so bad. The food, of course, was abysmal. For dinner, there was a chicken and rice dish of questionable 'heritage' (was it Indian? was it Asian? was it Italian? couldn't really tell) and the breakfast was just gross. It really was. It was just a tub of yogurt (which was really sour to my taste) and a tiny mini-loaf of banana-scented "bread". The reason bread is in quotes is because I'm not sure how else to refer to it but it wasn't a pastry and it was the size of a deck of cards. I'm so glad I packed my own lunch and was able to eat my own food.
When I got to the ticket counter, they told me I couldn't get a seat assignment and that it would be assigned at the gate. I thought "no problem". It turns out the flight was really oversold and they had quite a few people who they needed to assign seats to. I finally got the seat assigned about 5 minutes before boarding. But it worked out well since I got an isle seat, which is what I wanted.

When I got into Heathrow, I fully expected the tour company representative to meet me there and transfer me to the hotel. After a half hour wait and trying to track down people with the information, it was determined that no such representative is going to show up because I hadn't purchased the transfer and had no voucher for it. In my mind, since I bought the tour, I figured I'd have the transfer too. I completely forgot that I declined that option because of how expensive it is. But it took about an hour and a half to determine that no, I'm not on any secret database for a transfer and no, they won't transfer me without the exorbitant (to me) fee.
That means that on a relatively empty stomach and with virtually no sleep, I had to figure out how to get from the airport to my hotel using the subway (they call it the underground here in England). And that means that I had to lug my luggage. On a train. During morning rush hour.

But eventually I got to my hotel, checked in, and spoke with the tour company representative about my questions. She was very helpful and got me oriented.

So, after a brief visit to the room, I set off on the sightseeing tour that I purchased ahead of time. I decided on the Original Sightseeing Tour for several reasons: one is that it was a good price, two is that I could hop on and off, and three is that I could take any of the tours.
I took the "Yellow" and the "Red" tours in part because they cover some of the same spots and I wanted to see those again and take particular pictures (which will be coming at some later date).

Tomorrow, I have Cotswolds on the agenda. But for now, I am off to sleep since I have to be up in something like 5 hours.