I felt like crying when the alarm went off at 3am on Monday morning, after a night of tossing and turning - not helped by the fact there were two of us squished into my bed, which isn't quite a single but not a double either. But we both dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready for the coach that was taking us on a mini adventure down to London. At 4:30am.
We arrived at 9:30 and power walked our way to the bustling road i had jotted down, 65 Buckingham Gate. We strutted into what we thought would be the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and announced we had come to apply for our visa.
I hadn't really taken much note of the butler-esque man that stood at the grand spinning doors, the marble floors and walls, or the very majestic looking polished wooden desk, until I saw the bemused expression on the receptionist's face, who announced that we were in the HQ for Rolls Royce - I think that was a sign of things to come.
We crossed the road shame facedly and walked into the embassy - not quite the same, it felt like being back at my old Comprehensive school, low ceilings, everything was brown or beige and there were pigeon holes everywhere. We filled in yet more forms, queued while we watched Koreans bowing to each other - which made me a bit nervous about the Korean etiquette which I haven't even started to try and get my head around, and then we were hit with the news that our visas wouldn't be ready until next Monday. What makes this fact worse is that the school had called to say that our apartment was ready and waiting for us, and the embassy added that we would have to come and collect the visa -another trip to London!
By this time it was 10am and our tiredness had definitely kicked in, only another 8 hours to burn until the return trip. I definitely knew how this guy felt at this point. Santander's card machine decided to eat up Tasha's card and she almost had a nervous break down in the street about her financial situation - nothing a hot chocolate with cream from Starbucks couldn't help.
We decided to try and make the most of the day so hopped off the tube like proper tourists at Buckingham palace, to be greeted with a massive crowd and lots of police on horses, all gathered around watching the Beefeater's playing New York New York on brass instruments. We hung around a while hoping we might catch a glimpse of a real royal - but no such luck so we went on the hunt for cupcakes instead in Islington.
The Hummingbird Bakery looked so good, but we settled on The Diner - an American style restaurant down the road for some proper food. We then headed back to Victoria and clock watched in a pub, waiting for our coach to arrive - trying to ignore the odd man with a tattooed face who kept asking if we were sisters, and the students with annoyingly loud laughs.
Finally the coach arrived and as Tasha settled down to nap, i was entertained by the lady infront who must have called everyone in her phone book to tell them that her Jamaican boyfriend, who is yet to get a green card, who is nasty to her to the point that she cries, really only acts like he does out of love...really?!
We finally got back but I still had something to do - at 10 on the dot I drove around to Corporation and asked if my lost drivers license had been handed in on Friday night. I stood watching some sights that could definitely out do what we had seen at Buckingham Palace trot into Corp (alot of 'when I were there age...' thoughts ran through my head until I realised how old I was sounding), listening to the bouncers comparing bizarre stories with each other and hoped that next Monday didn't quite turn out the same way!
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