Day One: The Journey and Not the Destination

Well, I'm here in London....finally. I'm sitting in the first session of the Royal Geographic Society conference and in awe of my surroundings. I've walked down these hallowed corridors past pictures and statues of Darwin, Livingstone, Stanley, Shackleton, Scott, Peary, Cook , Amundsen, Hillary, and more. Me, an educator and amateur adventurer, prowling these corridors that have helped map and define our modern world and the frontiers of our knowledge. It's almost laughable...how can this, the oldest scholarly society in the world, have an interest in my research? I'm still amazed that I'm here and in this building...but, after my travel experience yesterday, perhaps not....

Although I'd like to say that my journey was uneventful, I'm afraid to say that it wasn't. So, I'm trying to keep in mind the sage advice that it's important to enjoy the adventure and process of the journey rather than see the destination as an end in, and of, itself. Let me explain...

Yesterday in Spokane I debated about whether I should check my bag. In the interest of keeping light, I went ahead and let them take it; although I did throw some medicine and a change of clothes into my carry-on backpack. Well, I made it to Seattle uneventfully and then made it on the British Air flight with time to spare. After we had boarded the BA flight in Seattle we ended up sitting on the tarmack for 1.5 hours while they reconciled a "baggage discrepancy". At the moment they made the announcement I thought: "Wouldn't it be funny if they lost my bag?" Ha, ha, ha....they did!

After arriving at Heathrow after a brutally long 10 hour flight, I was relieved to get off the plane and was looking forward to getting on the Tube, getting to my accommodations and taking a rest. Instead I ended up waiting in lines to file baggage claims, sorting through mountains of lost bags, and generally getting more and more frustrated with BA. I spent four hours in the bowels of Heathrow trying to track down my luggage and, after officially registering my dissatisfaction with their service, I headed for Imperial College, where I am staying.

The Tube ride was long and crowded. I had a brutally vicious headache from exhaustion and frustration and felt like I was going to be sick. It took an hour to reach Kensington and then another 30 minutes of negotiating the various interconnected tunnels, entrances, and exits before I found where I was supposed to go. As I walked down Prince's Consort Way toward Beit Hall at the Imperial College, I passed Royal Albert Hall and the Royal College of Music which are right next to my accommodations. There was music coming out of all the windows at the Royal College of Music and I was serenaded on my way by a cacophony of divine operatic sound.

I checked into the dorms which are like...well, they're like dorms. I have a room the size of a walk in closet, a bed that is 5 feet long (which is a problem since I'm 6'2") and a small bathroom. All of this luxury for 65 pounds a night, that's $120 in U.S. dollars! Unreal! Still, it's nice enough and right next to Hyde Park and the RGS, so I guess I'm paying for convenience. Here's a couple pics of my room and environs...the first is of Trinity Church and Beit Hall where I am staying. Then there's a pic of my room and then the Royal Albert Hall which is on the other side of Beit Hall.


I walked out last night to get dinner, buy a phone card to call home, and to get some basic toiletries. I took some pics of the neighborhood I'm in and will post them here.

So, I need to wrap up for now, but needless to say I'm wearing the same clothes I traveled in today. I washed my underwear last night, so that's clean, but otherwise I'm pretty grungy. I'm unshaven, uncombed, and generally feel pretty scummy. BA said this morning that they have no idea where my luggage is. The last time it was scanned was when it came into Seattle, so it may still be in Seattle or in some BA netherworld. They say that I probably won't get it for a couple days...unfortunately I'm only here for 5 days and need to look decent for my presentation tomorrow. They said that I can go out and buy any essentials, including clothes, toiletries, etc., save the receipts, and then send the receipts to them for reimbursement, so I imagine that I will have to do that at some point today. I wanted to spend my time at the conference and seeing few sights, not shopping. I'm not a good shopper and find no joy in buying clothing...especially in a foreign country where they don't have my style of clothing...canvas, denim, and flannel. Everything here is so urban and dressy that I stick out like a sore thumb...perhaps I should try to blend in. Buy a nice suit and charge it to BA. What do you think?

Okay, so here's some pics...more to come...