adrienne's Tour Diary

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May 2, 2005
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April 12, 2005

May 1, 2005

We've been in the UK nearly 48 hours. When we arrived at Heathrow on Sunday, after passing through customs with all our stuff on wheels and in carts, we rolled through a series of tunnels moving towards Terminal 3, where Gijs was to meet us with the white Ford Transit van at the "drop off area." There were options for Terminal 3, though: the car park, arrivals and departures; a ramp going up, stairs going up, and a tunnel that just continued to go in the same fashion, forward, and my cell phone was only able to make and receive calls from UK numbers, not Dutch ones. Dan climbed the stairs and did not find Gijs. Chris W and I stood by our carts, under a sort of sun roof, while Dan explored the car park option and Chris G continued forward in the tunnel. It was noon, and Gijs was waiting upstairs outside the Terminal 3 car park with the van, its back windows taped over with plastic and tape that announces that there is asbestos inside (assbest, in Dutch), to ward off any would be thieves. He helped us to load all our stuff into the van and then he asked us to drop him off at Terminal 4 so he could "find a bar and watch the World Snooker Championships" until boarding his return flight to Amsterdam. Chris G navigated a series of roundabouts, and roundabouts within roundabouts, like the giant colorful pinwheels at the Super Longs in Oakland, and we all read the signs. "What does 'step down' mean?" Probably "drop off" we thought. Gijs gave us some advice: "The van does not go above 120"; "The least expensive place to fill up on gas is Belgium."
After leaving Gijs at Terminal 4, we made our way to the M25 and toward Andy's, a friend of mine from UCSB who I met when he was studying in the US for a year. As we left Heathrow we passed a park where people watch the planes take off and video them for fun. Everything was green: the grass, trees, and we saw the first of many many sheep eating the grass on the roadside. Andy had emailed directions to the train station in Farnham, Surrey, south of London, and when I called him to let him know we were near, he drove to the station in his mini and we followed him back to his house. The van had become like a sauna inside, so we turned on the air.
We put our gear into Andy's garage and then went with him and his girlfriend, Laura, on a walk through Farnham and to a cafe where I ate a goat cheese salad and we drank beers (Chris W. had some kind of champagne/orange juice beverage). It was SO sunny out, and humid but not as much as in Hawaii. Everyone we passed was wearing shorts and tank tops.
After lunch Andy had band practice and Laura went to her parents' house for a BBQ. We passed out in front of some show called Relic Hunter which is the worst show I've ever seen, other than Small Wonder. I slept through most of it and when I woke up we followed Andy to the University of Surrey to watch Andy's band, Sequoia, play. Chris is very adept at driving on the left side, but as our only driver so far, he had to limit his beer intake. I, luckily, did not have to use any sort of precaution.
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chrisg has a diary entry for this date as well
This entry is part of the Euro 2005 tour
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May 2, 2005
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April 12, 2005
© 2005 Citizens Here and Abroad ·  · Photography by Jason Koxvold