London/Heathrow: Part 1

I made it....to London!! Running free from the Delta dress code and so therefore dressed to impress in my most formal loungewear, I'm in London where I'm busy moving stuff around and causing the occasional international baggage incident. But that is, after all, a fine Mims family tradition. In fact, the last time I remember staying in Heathrow like this was on a trip with my family years ago when we cleverly decided to just leave our bags and wander off for some reason, only to return and find them under police guard and about to be taken off to be exploded. I don't think that the UK was very impressed with us, but after some talk we did get our bags back. I guess they figured terrorists would not be 1. so imcompetent or 2. small children. :)

Anyway, I made the crucial error of having more than one carry on bag--which is verboden when traveling through Heathrow. I knew I'd be stuck for the whole day before flying overnight again to Cape Town, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay at Heathrow or go explore some of my old London haunts. After landing and deplaning to some confusion I saw that there were two lines--the line to connect, full of baggage searching and a gung-ho "let's stick to the one bag rule" security detail, or the airport immigration/exit with no detail. I took a run for the exit and fled the scene, only to return later (after a trip to the London Eye!) to an even stricter security officer who took issue with the size of my carry on. After much argument, I was forced to concede that 1. I did, in fact, have two bags, NOT just the one allowed, 2. My main bag would not fit into the size-wise measuring container even if I could alter the laws of physics, and 3. I would not be able to "make a run for it" and get to the plane. Eventually the entire security team made it clear that I was not going to get through with my bag situation as such. They took my carry on, gave me a sad sad sad tiny (sad) plastic bag for my computer and the other stuff that I managed to jam into it, and sent me through to the gate with a shake of the head. And that is where I am now, sans emergency m and m's and cable to connect my camera to the computer. So no pictures yet.

Being in London however, is so great! Except I don't remember how the money works, and I've already been rained on twice. But the man at the tube station called me "ducks" and "love" so I'm feeling the London cheer!

More to come--Fingers crossed my luggage makes it!!

**This posting was written on no sleep. There is no hope for grammer.