Thursday, April 9, 2009

France only a 2wk Trip?!

OK, this is pretty new to me, but I'll take a swing at it or a crack at it or I'll try it out....
That right there is your fore warning of randomness that is sure to come out of this.
OK so most of you know I live in Wichita, KS and I've been here for 3 + yrs...(4yrs in July). I work for Spirit AeroSystems, Inc..we build planes..to keep it short!
The program I am currently on with Airbus, has a large portion of us working in Toulouse, France. Some ppl are staying for extended periods some a few wks here and there and other not at all. Anyway, I was sent for a 2wk trip just to help met a program milestone Jan 24th - Feb 8th. Mind I did think I have the opportunity. Another note is I never thought I even want to go to Europe...know what I mean? Oh I'll just go someday....
Anyway..I'll try not to bore you ....
So Toulouse, France is in the south west part of France...do a little research to find out more about it.
So for my 2wk trip My lead, another designer, and myself were expected to work 10 plus hrs and the wkends, this was not suppose to be a vacation at all! I was fine with that I guess...Even though some buddies of mine had been taking wkend trips for a month now...anyway..
Its late Jan. and this wkend's trip is to London for my good friend Brian London's Birthday..London in London, was the name of the trip, if it had one....
So from the start its trying to see if i'd be allowed to go...."you can't get in on the wkends, with a temp badge" My open door..Thursday comes I have not been approved to go and it kinda sucked....We had pretty much reached the deadline b4 time so, there was a chance they could let me go. So I pack Thursday night hoping I would get the chance....
Boy was it an expensive ticket, but I would out well worth it!
So we are off and I really a tag along with these month into it euro travelers..Brian, Tom and Jeff!
So I guess I should hav taken a nap on the plane....sorry guys!
Anyway its pretty late by the time we get there and our Hostel (my first experience with this, not a bad) was fairly far a way, two trains to get there!We check-in and go have a few beers in the Hostel's bar cuz it was to late to get into anything...
Jeff and I lose (terribly) a few games of Foosball and I think call it a night around 3am maybe....that makes for a early rise!!
So I remind you I've never been to London....Europe for that matter, and I hate History! I say that cuz the things we saw were pretty awesome! Plus I did no research on where to go....I like being the "go with the flow guy, sometimes"
So we have a traditional English breakfast near by and head into town!
Ok side note the "London in London" part is whenever we see something with London on it Brian is suppose to take a picture next to it....






I think this was the first one of the trip...

So we head into the city... our exit is Westminster...and we are all blown away by the first thing we see....the massive House of Parliaments! I've never seen anything like it in America that for sure! We decide to take a Bus Tour and there tones of amazing things to see. I hate reading History and but to see those Historic structures was unbelievable! I was definitely camera happy! We walk around and see many sites and later find The Sherlock Holes bar, this is also where I meet up with a good friend from college Jazz! He is in Air Force and is based in Germany.....The weather is fairly cold, little did we know what would happen later that wkend.

It was time to take a nap b4 going out a little later after all Today was London's Birthday! Jazz is in the same hostel, he booked his trip on short notice remember I purchased my fight Friday afternoon b4 we departed....

We are not too sure where to go after the nap but somewhere hopping...We wake grab dinner and head to Piccadilly Circus, Its a mimic of "Times Square" if you will. The weather being so cold put a damper on the mood, but we check it out and then head to a more younger area. We end up at the "world end bar" have a beer or two b4 they shut the place down...From their experience in Berlin places are open til 5am or later..not in London! It was still a pretty fun evening! Sunday we checkout Buckingham Palace and finally hav some traditional fish and chip b4 heading to the airport! Its also the wkend of the Superbowl and the plan was to stay up and watch when we got back to Toulouse! Our flight is for 6:30 plenty of time to get back and stay up til 12am to catch the game...Turns out London was unusually cold! It snowed..which it had not done in over 18yrs! bitter sweet to be apart of that history!! So we were actually on our plane and one of the 1st planes out! 3 hrs later they cancel the flight! yes almost 3 hrs of sitting on a plane! Long story short we hav to rebook our owe flight, find a hostel and a taxing willing to drive in this snow. We get to a hotel at about 12:30 in time to catch the last 2mins of the 2nd quarter of the Superbowl. We have to get up early for a 7:30 flight and go straight into work!! blah...3 hrs of sleep maybe! Here is something I think I will do for this blog at the end of each...is answer a few questions? Some you may assume while reading....

Ok that's a rap! Gosh that was only the 1st wk and I think I shortened it because I starting this thing 2 months later....

Best Part/Moment: Seeing the Massive House of Parliaments! It was really an awesome sight..esp how the sun coming out from behind it!

Worst Part/Moment: Sitting on a plane for so long hoping that the flight was not cancelled....I'm think man they let me go on this trip and I be late for work! What will they do to me...nothing happen which was good..

Quote of the day/trip:We over heard a convo in the rich British/English accent..."jenny don't seat there or you'll get your bum all wet"..that was not all of it but it was pretty funny!

Lessons Learned: EasyJet airline sucks! All three of our flights were late leaving....if the return had let on time we could hav beat the snow and wouldn't hav had a 3rd! CRASH!

Would you come back:Yes in warmer weather tho....it was cold!

Other Thoughts:CRASH! its a word you will hear, well see a lot in my reading! Its like "darn" or "shoot" or "crap"..i think you get the picture!
Anyway how did I do? I had fun doing it....

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-Jus