It was quite an ordeal trying to find our train in time. We had to ask for directions repeatedly, some sources better than others. We went through UK customs and then we were probably the last ones to board the train by the time we finally found it and found a group of seats that were near each other. The train made one stop before taking us to London and apparently people had assigned seats because one of our guys got displaced. However, some of our group went with him to another train car. No one else was displaced. The train moved so swiftly through tunnels that my ears kept popping.
Once we arrived at the train station in London, we had to figure out how to get to our hotel. It turned out that the hotel was 30 km out from the center of the city, which would create for some rather expensive train passes to take us back and forth everyday. We did a little bit of searching for hostels and went to a hotel office in the train station and eventually came up with a rather nice solution. We cancelled our reservation at the distant hotel, which was about 120 GBP/person for the 3 nights. We had to pay a cancellation fee, but split between us, it ended up being 33 Eu/person. The hotel office arranged for us to stay at a 5-star hotel a block away from the Tower of London for 90 GBP/person for the 3 nights. We stayed at the Grange City Hotel with a gorgeous lobby with chandeliers, a doorman, several restaurants and bars, a gym, pool, hot tub, and 3 sauna rooms. The 11 of us split between two rooms; 6 guys and 5 girls, 2 full size beds each with mountains of useless pillows.
After we checked in, we walked around the outside of the Tower of London, had fish and chips, and met up with one girl's cousins at a really nice pub. As we went in, some of us got carded, but I didn't recognize that there was a line on the staircase so I just slipped past. Most of us were tired so we headed back to the hotel early. A few gained a second wind and went out on the town again for a little while.
Once we arrived at the train station in London, we had to figure out how to get to our hotel. It turned out that the hotel was 30 km out from the center of the city, which would create for some rather expensive train passes to take us back and forth everyday. We did a little bit of searching for hostels and went to a hotel office in the train station and eventually came up with a rather nice solution. We cancelled our reservation at the distant hotel, which was about 120 GBP/person for the 3 nights. We had to pay a cancellation fee, but split between us, it ended up being 33 Eu/person. The hotel office arranged for us to stay at a 5-star hotel a block away from the Tower of London for 90 GBP/person for the 3 nights. We stayed at the Grange City Hotel with a gorgeous lobby with chandeliers, a doorman, several restaurants and bars, a gym, pool, hot tub, and 3 sauna rooms. The 11 of us split between two rooms; 6 guys and 5 girls, 2 full size beds each with mountains of useless pillows.
After we checked in, we walked around the outside of the Tower of London, had fish and chips, and met up with one girl's cousins at a really nice pub. As we went in, some of us got carded, but I didn't recognize that there was a line on the staircase so I just slipped past. Most of us were tired so we headed back to the hotel early. A few gained a second wind and went out on the town again for a little while.
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