Day 1 (cont.): London: More British Museum and Euro-Mex

That was... Interesting.

The British Museum was fine - we saw a couple other cool things, like an Easter Island head, and I got an ankh necklace from the souvenir shop. The ankh is the Egyptian hieroglyph for life, and I've wanted one for awhile. It was nice to finally see one.

I promised I would explain my fascination with Egypt, so here it is. I've always thought it was cool, but it was one of those wayside interests for a long time before I started reading the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. They're for a teenage audience, but they're really interesting and they teach a lot about ancient Egypt. Part of the series takes place in London, so that's why I've been more insistent on seeing certain things - the Rosetta Stone, Cleopatra's Needle, Waterloo Station, etc. That way my brain can make the movies in my mind more accurate as I'm reading. :)

Now that my nerd moment is over, I can share my dinner experience. I knew Europe didn't have good Mexican food, and I knew as a Californian I would be disappointed, but it would have be nice to see actual Spanish on the menus. (Only Spanish was "pico de gallo.") It wasn't terrible, but it was far from authentic Mexican food.

That's basically the whole day. The rest of the evening involves hanging out at the hotel and not walking. Tomorrow we're going to the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Theatre (to see the London production of Phantom of the Opera.)

Love you all,

Megan

Take Me Away: Layover at LAX

Successfully in LA! Other than spilling water on myself (that's what I get for holding other people's drinks), the flight was pretty uneventful. Waiting for the bus, however, we found we were surrounded by angry travelers. I can sympathize with the lady who was twelve minutes from missing her flight, and sure, thirty minutes of waiting was a little extreme, but that doesn't mean yelling and swearing at the driver as a five-year-old stands four feet away is appropriate. At all. And really, when you're yelling at the driver for stopping at a taxiway intersection, you may want to look out the window first and notice the huge commercial jet that's the reason the bus stopped in the first place. Ground control is in charge of the buses. Don't act like it's the driver's fault.

Sorry about the rant... Annoying people get me irritated, especially in airports. Ten more hours of flying... Next update will be in LONDON!

Love you all,

Megan 

Day 1: London: the Eye, Buckingham Palace, the Hard Rock, and the British Museum

We've had a busy day today! Woke up at 7:30 to get to the Eye by 9:40 (note to self: my family takes a loooong time to decide which subway line to take). Had a wonderful half hour going around on the Eye (once) and got some pretty spectacular pictures, like this one:

That's Big Ben, for all you people who aren't so knowledgeable about London. After the Eye, we took an impromptu trip to Buckingham Palace, which we'd also seen from the air. Got some more good pictures and saw the changing of the guard (all we could really see were the bands, though). We ate lunch at the Hard Rock in London, and now we're at the British Museum. It's time to go back to the artifacts, so I'll explain my fascination with all things Egyptian later.

Love you all,

Megan

Defying Gravity: Finally at the Airport

We're here! At the airport, anyway. Now that this is actually happening, my trip excitement is kicking in. Sure, the plane rides are ridiculous, but hey, it'll be fun! I have PLENTY to keep me entertained. I'm just hoping my iPod battery lasts that long.

I've always loved flying. Some of my family isn't too fond of it, but my dad and I love it. When I was little we had a book that I loved to look at - pictures of various commercial and private planes and the dimensions of each. It was great.

This is a pretty short post, but there's only so much I can say about sitting in an airport lounge. Not sure I'll have wifi in LAX or on either plane, so the next update may be somewhere in London. Until then, prepare for takeoff!

Love you all,

Megan

 

Don't Wake Me Up: Flying Tired (And Other Things to Avoid in Airports)

Today's the day!

I've been waiting for this for years, and now that it's here my only thought is... Why on earth was I woken up at six AM? According to my mother, this way we'll be more tired and sleeping on the plane will be easier. However, I then proceeded to be only slightly more animated than your average zombie for the first two and a half hours or so - in fact, I'm really only waking up just now. [Hence the song of the day, Don't Wake Me Up by Chris Brown.] I wish I could sleep in more, but my sleep schedule's going to be so messed up this week that at this point I'll just do what I'm told.

We have a few more hours before we head to the airport, but we have plenty to do - for some reason, my family tends to associate "we're leaving" with "time to clean the house," so I'm busying myself in this to avoid dealing with my bedroom. My iPod is updated, my Kindle is charged, my camera is armed and dangerous... I'm ready to go.

Now, in the last two years I've done more flying than I'd care to admit, mostly for college-related visits. It's nice to be flying somewhere because I'm actually going on vacation, but if there's one thing I don't like (and of course have been forced into today), it's flying tired. Not so much the actual flying, but the getting through security, getting whatever edible food I can grab, and boarding without losing any belongings (or passports, or boarding passes) in the process. In addition, it's a lot harder to regulate your own vocabulary when you're tired, and one badly placed "that's so bomb" can quickly land you in TSA headquarters. [Not that I'd use anything like that - not my preferred vocabulary - but you get the point.] Airports can be really entertaining when you're watching for people who don't know what they're doing, but it can also feel dangerous if one of the aforementioned people gets on your plane. It's important to be aware of your surroundings on and off the tarmac.

My parents have done a ton of flying in their lives, so I generally end up learning at least one important or useful piece of advice when I'm flying. During the standard flight attendant safety instructions, Dad quizzes me and/or my brother on how many rows are between us and the nearest exit to the front and rear of us. My mom's taught me a really useful trick for weaving through opposing airport foot traffic. I've gotten pretty efficient about going through security, and I know that flight attendants need verbal confirmation that the people in the exit rows feel capable of carrying out the responsibilities that go along with their seats. I've been to eighteen states in under eighteen years (and technically will be claiming my nineteenth when we fly through JFK on the way home). And, like any other kid would say, the most fun part of any airport is the inter-terminal train, if there's one present.

Well, it's time to do some final checks. Adventure is calling my name (or maybe that's just my brother). At any rate, I'll post again soon. Until then, stay awake!
Love you all,
Megan

Awake and Alive: Pre-Flight Jitters (And Other Things)

Tomorrow's the big day.

No, I'm not getting married - I'm leaving for Europe. In the last couple days, our flight to LAX has been changed (twice) and I've puzzled over time differences for hours. The contents of my carryon are strewn around my room in little piles, and I have yet to actually feel prepared for this trip. It's not due to my state of not-packed-yet, it's more due to the state of... me. It's my last summer living at home full-time, and while I want to go to Europe, taking two weeks out of the middle of my summer is a little alarming. Sure, it'll be tons of fun, but it means going two weeks without hearing my friends' voices, two weeks without sleeping in my own bed, and two weeks without eating fast food (because let's face it, no self-respecting tourist eats McDonald's in France or Italy). 

For me, it also means two weeks without my phone. I'm new to the smartphone bandwagon, so that's not the end of the world, but I'm a little bummed that my iPhone does everything better than my iPod touch - because being stuck with the latter for two weeks means lots and lots of app reboots. But hey, I'll have lots of music and plenty of distractions, so maybe Jetpack Joyride's apparent inability to stay open for more than ten minutes at a time won't be a problem. (However, I don't know what I'm going to do about the also-constantly-rebooting Rick Steves' Audio Europe that I was planning on listening to on the plane.)

Ah, the plane... A one-hour flight to LAX, then a couple hours of layover, and then whoosh! We're off on a nine-hours-or-more journey over land and sea to a vast, faraway continent. I usually am a pretty good flier - I like plane rides, I don't get airsick, and after following my business-traveler dad through airports my whole life, I know a lot about everything from security to frequent flier miles to which American airports offer free wifi (not kidding). Still, the nine hours of plane ride over all of America and then the Atlantic are probably going to require a little more than just my iPod, which usually can get me through six hours of flying, no problem (sometimes with one album). My first plan of attack is usually doodling or writing, but since my parents have imposed a Minimal Paper Injunction, I'm down to a notebook full of music theory, accompanying workbook, and probably a travel journal. Maybe I'll just doodle Eiffel Towers all over a couple pages.

At any rate, the song of the day/post is Awake and Alive by Skillet. My brother and I were roused from dreamland at the crack of seven AM (which is really early, considering we're both teenagers who fully appreciate the value of sleep). And we're waking up at six tomorrow, even though our first flight doesn't leave until mid afternoon. My mom says we're getting up early so we'll have a better chance of sleeping on the plane tomorrow (in a desperate attempt to avoid jet lag), but in reality I think we have to wake up early just because it's a travel day, and that's what we do. Tomorrow I probably won't mind, but today it was a little... well... let's just say I almost fell back asleep while I was studying music theory.

Hopefully I'll get to post from an airport tomorrow... It's almost here!

Love you all,

Megan

All That I Am: The Beginning of Something Very, Very... Important?

Well, it's almost over. My time to goof off and enjoy the littlest things and be allowed to make mistakes because I don't know better.

I don't know how far this blog is going to go - ideally, I'd like to keep it up in college, but I'll be the first to admit that I get sidetracked easily. If it does get maintained, I'm sure I'll eventually have some pretty crazy stories to share (I am going to college, after all). Even though things might get intense, please keep the following in mind:

• I'm not an adult with a solid plan for what I want to do with my life. Yet.
• I make mistakes, just like everybody else. I have my own issues and my own ways of dealing with them.
• As stupid as I might be sometimes, when I understand that I've messed up, there's very little I won't do to fix things.
• I'm an avid musician/composer and a good student (and I'd like to keep it that way). I don't have time to enjoy every single facet of every experience because I'm very dedicated to the things that I do.
• I'm going to try to associate some song title with every post (we'll see how long that lasts).

The song that would probably go best with this post is "All That I Am" by Parachute. (They're one of my favorite bands ever, so I'll probably use their songs a lot.) Basically, my name is Megan, and I'm a college student. I play trumpet, flugelhorn and piano well. I'm going to college to become a composer (at least, that's the plan right now). I have a boyfriend and good friends and a band family who loves me very much and a biological family who also loves me very much - most of the time. I like reading and writing and listening to music. I'm loyal and defensive. A lot of people see me as a leader, even though I make as many mistakes as the next person. I'm enjoying my last free summer so far - I just got back from a trip to Magic Mountain (a roller coaster theme park) with my dad and boyfriend. I had a BLAST. On Friday, my family and I will leave for Europe. It's a trip I've been dreaming about since I was little, but all the packing is too complicated for my liking. Still, it'll be great, although I'll hate not seeing my friends for two weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to update this often enough that they don't feel like they're missing out too much.

That's me in a nutshell. Hopefully I'll get at least one more good update in before Europe!

Love you all,

Megan