Grace and I sat in the waiting area by the gate to catch our flight to New York, where we were transferring to a flight to London. We held hands nervously; we were off on a big adventure, traveling together for 3 weeks. It would tell us both a lot about our relationship and if we were really built to last.
I squeezed her hand lightly. "Are you as excited as I am?" I asked Grace.
"More like a little terrified. That night of my birthday in the Bed and Breakfast I felt so mature. Now I feel like a child. I mean, I am excited and I'm thrilled to be doing this with you, Henry. But this is like leaping into the void. What if we aren't so compatible? We've never been alone together longer than overnight before."
"We'll be fine" I told her with a bit of false bravado. I was also scared as well as excited. "This is going to be an amazing trip. Something we'll remember the rest of our lives."
"I know, baby. It's just neither of us has been away from our parents more than a night or two before. Three weeks...sorry, I'm just being a girl."
"Bullshit. I'm a boy and I'm feeling a lot of the same things. I think the hardest thing will be the currency conversions. Pounds, Francs and Guilders. It's already making my head spin" I said with a grin.
"Good thing for us I'm so damn good at math."
"You're good at everything" I said with a hint of teasing in my voice as I gave her a light kiss.
"Down, Tiger. We're not going to be alone for....at least ten hours yet. About midnight our time, but like 5AM London time. So keep that passion under wraps."
They called our flight and we boarded. As we settled into our seats, Grace said "You know, I've never flown before, anywhere. I just realized I'm mildly scared."
"I've flown a number of times. It's really no big deal. Just hold my hand and talk to me if you feel uneasy. We'll be in the sky before you know it."
"Uh-huh" was all Grace said. But it was no worry. The flight took off just a little behind schedule and it was smooth flying all the way to New York. When we got there, we looked out the window as the plane came to land at JFK. It was the first view Grace ever had of New York City, where we were going to be going to college, aside from in films. She was visibly impressed.
"Oh my god, Henry, it's huge! You've been here how many times?"
"We used to come almost every year to visit my Aunt Lorraine and her family. They live in Queens. It's one of the boroughs, or counties, that make up the city. More than 8 million people live here, more than in all of South Carolina."
"I know, but seeing it....it's incredible."
"It's going to be home for us for at least the next 4 years." We held hands lovingly and shared a kiss at the thought. The reality of our next stage of life, though still more than 2 months away, was feeling very close.
We caught our connecting flight on British Airways and were again just slightly delayed, and after a smooth flight, we landed at Heathrow Airport at 6AM local time. We caught a bus and finally were in the center of London by 9AM, which was 4AM to us. Though we got some sleep on the plane, we were wiped out when the taxi we caught pulled up at a recommended hostel. Who recommended it will remain a mystery. It was supposedly clean and well apportioned, but just from the outside, the place looked dicey. There were people who were obviously drug addicts hanging out (yes, we had such types in Charleston) and we got a bad feeling without getting out of the cab.
"You youngsters sure you want to stay 'ere?" the driver, an older, cockney man asked us? "Looks kinda sketchy if you ask me. I wouldn't let me own kids stay 'ere."
"Yeah, I don't think so" I answered. "You have any ideas for us? Nothing fancy, but we can do better than this."
"Sure enough, I know a nice place" he answered and drove to a nice modest hotel, a converted group of attached Victorian homes, in The West End, a pleasant, middle class neighborhood (back then) right off Leicester (pronounced LES-ter) Square, very close to Westminster and Buckingham Palace. The driver even took us inside and introduced us to the manager. We were relieved to be in a clean, decent place, which even came with free breakfast daily. I gave the driver his fare plus a 10 Pound tip, and he thanked us very gracefully. I already liked the British from previous trips with my parents, and I liked them even more by then. Besides, I knew Americans have reputations as good tippers, and I didn't want to ruin the image of my countrymen.
The manager checked us in and said he'd send our luggage up if we wanted to get something to eat in the dining room first. As tired as we were, Grace and I were also famished. We ate on the plane, but that was however many hours ago. We took turns using a small rest room off the lobby to wash up and such and sat and ordered a light breakfast.
"This is nice" Grace said. "Are you sure this is on our budget?"
"It's a little more than I planned per night, but no way in hell were we staying in that other place. I would spend five times as much as that place to be safe. This is very nice, it's clean, and we're close enough to walk to a lot of the things we want to see and do. We're near Parliament and Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, even Carnaby Street."
"Carnaby Street, hmmm. We can do some nice shopping there." Grace, despite being tired, lit up with a great smile. "Besides, what do you consider close?"
"About a mile or so from the Palace. Longer to Parliament. Walking distance. And even if it's a little far, there's great bus and Underground service everywhere."
"How many times have you been to London anyway?" she asked.
"Twice before. I remember geographical things. Like you're great with math. And just about everything else." I gave her what I hoped was a winning smile. I was pretty pooped.
Our food came out then and we ate heartily. We also ate relatively quickly; we really wanted to get cleaned up and get a few hours of sleep before exploring the city. So we finished and asked the clerk for a 3PM wake up call and we found our room on the third floor.
It was nothing as fancy as the B&B we stayed at on Grace' birthday; it was small, but it was tidy and everything was clean. Grace said "I need a shower before ANYTHING!" She was taking off her clothes so quickly it was as if they were on fire. I thought we could take one together and started stripping myself until we got a look at the bathroom and we shared a laugh. There'd be no playing in the shower in this room. The whole sink/shower area, separated from the toilet, was the size of a small walk in closet. The shower stall was a strictly one person at a time affair. We would have needed a crowbar to wedge me in there with her.
"Looks like you're waiting your turn, Nasty Boy. Ladies first!" she said as she closed the door. By now exhaustion was hitting me hard and I seriously thought about just getting into the bed without cleaning up first, but I knew what Grace would have to say about that. So I just sighed, turned on the small television, and sat on the only chair in the room. I turned to a BBC channel which had news on and tried to comprehend what they were talking about.
Finally Grace let me in 10 minutes later and said "You're going to be disappointed." I got in the stall and quickly found out what she was talking about. Water pressure was ridiculously low though there was plenty of hot water. Then, once I was clean, I grabbed a towel which was very small and not at all as soft as I was used to at home and in the fine hotels I stayed in when I traveled with my parents. Still, it felt good to be clean.
Grace was already lying in bed when I got there and climbed in with her. It was the size of her bed at home, small for two adults, really, but we managed before in such tight quarters.
