the beginning

We arrived in London quite smoothly, Claire and I were seated next
to one another on the flight which was nice. London was amazing, I
want to live there, I loved it so much! We stayed in a hotel in South
Kensington which was really cool. Claire and I did all the tourist
sites but I think my favorite was most time was the afternoon we spent
in Notting Hill and Holland Park. We just had lunch and walked around,
it was much quieter and very lovely. We also went to alot of the parks
which was really fun as well. Oh and we got to see WICKED!!! which was
amazing!!! I am so happy that I got to see it, most of you know I have
been dying to. So London=great! Leaving London=complete crisis!
To make a long story short, we all, all 75 people in our group,
were forced to pay for our extra bags. I know we have to do that in
America, BUT we were only allowed to have 50lbs or 23 kilos, which for
most people was one bag. Because we had been in London for more than
24 hours, we were no longer considered international travelers, and
therefore we had to pay 8.88 pounds per additional kilo of luggage.
Well the exchange rate it terrible and Claire and I of course have
100lbs of luggages each ( 2 bags) so we either had to pay the very
high bill of we were being sent back to America (this happened to
everyone). Unfortunately, Claire and I were the last ones to go
through this process.So after a breakdown, and hundreds of dollars
lost, Claire and I sprinted ( I mean as fast as we could ) through
Heathrow airport, and we were the last ones to board the flight.
We made it to Nice, which was a beautiful flight because there were
no clouds in the sky, but when were made of course our luggage did
not! So we waited a day and a half and then finally received our
luggage. Needless to say, everyone on the trip is extremly bitter
towards British Airlines right now.
Now I am in Cannes, which is beautiful! We are staying across the
street from the Mediterranean which is the bluest water I have ever
seen. Also Cannes it wonderful because it is surrouned by Mountains
and the Mediterranean. The city itself it very Mediterranean, we
havent had much time to explore yet but what I have seen so far is
lovely. This Saturday, we are going to Provence which I am really
looking forward to. We are in Cannes 'til the 26th and then we are on
our way to Paris January 27th.
It is so fun to be surrouned by everything French. It has been
difficult as well trying to speak. However, I understand many things
but when someone speaks to me I panic a little. But each day it gets
better. Claire and I are trying to speak to each other as much as we
can in French.
We have had a really great time togeter, I am so thankful that she
is here. It would be very hard if she was not.