And so it begins....

About and hour into my flight it hits me like a ton of bricks.  I have just left everything and everyone I know for a country of strangers.  I desperately search my bag for the the Green Book filled with the words of the world I left behind.  As I read I feel my anxiety subside because the pages are filled with support, love and a few surprises I wasn't quite expecting.  With each turning page I realize that I am exactly where I am supposed to be and each one of you are with me in some way.  So begins this adventure....


The flight was amazingly smooth and as luck would have it I was seated in the front row with loads of leg room, next to the window with no one next to me.  Tylenol pm helps the flight become one nice long nap and before I know it we are landing in London.  
Now since I'm flying on a one way ticket I knew going through customs might be tricky...The UK gets nervous you are going to try and stay.  I was prepared with my continued travel ticket to Spain but wasn't ready to be questioned like I was a celebrity on a talk show.   It was the longest 5-10 minutes of my life as I was asked everything from why was I traveling to what I designed, who I was living with and what they  do etc....  I believe that after all the questioning the man with the brilliant 90's style ponytail knows more about me then all of you...Sorry about that.  He finally stamps my passport and I head out to arrivals where the family I am staying with had a car sent for me.  Let me just say this is not as glamourous as it seems in the movies.  You assume that you are going to walk out the door to arrivals and a lovely man in a dapper suit and driving cap will be standing there with your name scrolled across a white board perfectly.  This is not how it happens in the real world...It's actually a hodge podge of dodgy characters whom you would never approach on the street holding scribbled names on ripped pieces of binder paper.  I roamed aquerdly up and down in front of these men staring each one down trying to read my name.  Some would barely lift up the sign while others were waving it at me like they thought they were about to win the lottery (those were the super creepy ones)  I finally found my name on the sign held by a english gentleman who was only slightly taller then my suitcase but absolutely lovely.  When we got to the car, being the American that I am, I went to what I am used to as the passengers side of the car and started to get in only to find the steering wheel in my way.  The driver calls out "The other side love...you'll get used to it."  
We climb in the car and head to my new home in Richmond, Upon the Thames, Surry (yes that is all apart of the address)
Stay tuned for life in Richmond and the old victorian.