the trip so far is awesome. am so excited to be in london. read about it on my travel blog.

so it was a journey getting to the airport yesterday. i was hot and uncomfortable most of the way but once we got to JFK all the stress left and i've been having a great time ever since.

the drive down to poughkeepsie was long and hot. huge trucks kept getting in the left lane and slamming on their brakes for some reason (I'm not kidding, this happened more than once). there was construction on the thruway and construction on the bridge into poughkeepsie and that did not improve my stress level. by the time we got on the train i was already hot and stressed. the trainride was uneventful. there was a group of drunk people who were especially annoying, but other than that it was a good ride. we got off in grand central and headed across the street and ended up catching an earlier shuttle to JFK earlier than we expected. the shuttle was full and i ended up sitting next to this guy who was fighting sleep the whole time. his head kept bobbing up and down and i kepth thinking he was going to smack his head on the window and i really would have laughed at him. we got to JFK around 7:30 or so and got through check in pretty quickly. once we got up front we were told that we could have gone to the business class check in and didn't have to wait in line (oops, oh well... my dad did tell me that but i didn't see it when we first got there so...) and then we were directed to the business class lounge.

flying business class is totally worth it. well, actually, i have no idea how much it costs, but getting upgraded by dad to go was definitly worth it... the lounge in JFK was very nice. we walked in and there was a self serve bar with assorted beers, wines, and liquors and some snacks there and plenty of couches. we were told there was food out and we hunted around until we saw a door that said club world (business class) dining area. we felt so freaking elite walking in there... there was a buffet with three types of salad, three hot dishes, soup, rolls, and dessert. I had the mixed baby greens salad with grilled eggplant, asparagus, and red peppers. awesome. the soup was an onion/three ale soup which was awesome. for dinner i sampled each of the three entrees: chicken with shitake mushrooms (freaking amazing), seafood stew (not as great as the chicken, but still very good), and a roasted veggie torte (very good). the dessert was a dark chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce. very, very good. we had guinness with dinner in honor of our trip.

they'd been anouncing in the lounge when to board the plane and when it got to be 9:45 and we hadn't heard anything yet for our 10:00 flight we checked the screen to see if there'd been a delay. yeah, there was no delay and they were on the final boarding call. we hurried to the gate and made it aboard with plenty of time. the seating on the plane was awesome. we sat on the upper level and felt like superstars. the seats were grouped in twos and they faced each other, almost like those old fashioned courting seats. there was a fan-like partition that you could pull across for privacy and little LED screens that flipped out so that you could watch tv or movies or play games (nintendo-like). there was this channel that showed you exactly where the plane was at all times (like an Indiana Jones map) and it gave you information about the flight time, the temperature, estimated time to land and what the local time was. it was so freaking cool. we were fed again on the plane. i've never eaten so much. and they kept offering you more food. so freaking awesome. there was a little drink tray that flipped down from near where the tv flipped out and your tray flipped out of your armrest. you could lay the seats all the way down into a bed position and i've never slept better on a plane. so freaking awesome.

when we got to London we had to get on a bus to get to the terminal and then wait in a longass line to go through passport control. there was this announcement that seemed to be on a 2 second loop that kept saying if you were a european passport holder you were to stay to the left and follow the signs. it took us nearly an hour to get through the line. and everyone (including us) smelled. it was most unpleasent. after we picked up our bags we made our way to the arrivals business class lounge. when we got here we took nice long showers and it feels so good to be clean. we got some lunch (an english breakfast of eggs, super salty bacon, beans, and awesome hashbrown things) and now we're relaxing. we still can't check into our hostel for about an hour, so i think we're going to make our way to the tubes soon and head that way. it'll probably take us about an hour to get there anyway.

so the trip so far has ruled. this was the "fabulous" portion. now we're heading into the "ghetto" portion: public transportation and hostels...

So I thought yesterday was hard to concentrate on work... I should have just taken today off because this blows, sitting here listening to everyone be productive around me and being unable to think about anything other than what I need to do to get myself on my way this afternoon.

Last night I met Dodi at Crossgates. Our mission was to find me some sort of comfy travel outfit. I was looking at yoga pants at Lerner, but they were too short (why, why can't they make "longs" if they can make "shorts" and "regulars"?). Dodi suggested that we hit H&M because there were some sweatpants there that she bought the other day that were almost too long on her so she thought they might be long enough for me. First we stopped at Ruby Tuesday's for dinner and Dodi bought because she rules. I totally love Tuesday's: they have a large, wonderful salad bar (I always get the baked potato/salad bar combo which rocks) and they almost always have 2 for 1 drinks. Awesome. So yeah, had a very good, very filling dinner and then Dodi and I went to H&M where we spent like an hour and lots of money. I got this cute sweatsuit that I'm going to wear to travel in today. Very cute: it's olive green with bright orange laces to hold up the pants and at the hood. The bright orange kind of threw me, but I decided that the pants were long enough like Dodi said they'd be and they fit awesomely and the hoodie fit great as well, so I had to get it. I also got these hella freaking awesome flare cargo type pants that rule. I'm so excited about those pants...

Later Alex came over and I dragged him to Target where I bought containers to put my shampoo and conditioner in and wrapping paper for a wedding shower gift (the shower's this weekend and I'm missing it, but I work with the sister of the bride so I can give the gift to her today). We went to see a movie afterwards. We saw Grind in the upstairs theater at Crossgates. The theater was ghetto compared to the big ones downstairs and the air conditioning wasn't really working right (it was humid and smelled weird in there). The movie started out slow but got good by the end of it. One of the stoner's from Supertroopers was in this movie (the blonde one) and his character was "Sweet Lou". Sweet Lou was awesome... he was this kind of lounge lizard type guy who hit on all the women and made out with most of them. At one point they were asked to clean up port-a-potties that they'd knocked over and he said, "Sweet Lou cleans no man's poo". Very funny... anyway, so the movie was better than I expected. We hung out for a while at my apartment and I didn't end up going to bed until 3am. And so now I'm tired.

Yeah. Tired and not productive and peeing my pants about leaving for Europe tonight.

so i am totally peeing my pants about leaving today.

work blows and i wish that i just took this whole day off instead of a half day. ah well. i have crap to do when i get home before i can leave for poughkeepsie, but i've got about 2 hours between when i get home from work and when i have to leave and i should be able to get it all done. i totally have my typical nervous stomach feeling that i have before i travel.

ugh. it doesn't really feel like i'll be on my way to europe tonight because i'm sitting here at work like it's a normal day... weird. well, 2 hours until i get to leave work... then it's home to take care of the cats, finish packing and get organized and then off to poughkeepsie. i guess i'm meeting beck at her work (she says it's ok to leave the car there for the week... i hope so, it'd suck major ass to get back and find it towed or vandalized or something) and then we're heading over to the train station to catch the 4:30 train into Grand Central.

it's going to be a voyage just getting to JFK: a car drive of a little over an hour, a train ride of a little over an hour, a shuttle ride to JFK of around an hour... and then sitting in the terminal waiting to go. God, by the time we depart JFK tonight (supposedly at 10) I'm going to be a wreck... and i'm already exhausted, i can't wait to get on the plane and sleep...

so, so hard to concentrate on work today...

this is the hostel we're staying at in London, the Atlantic Paddington
this is the hostel we're staying at in Dublin, The Isaac's Hostel
this is the hostel we're staying at in Edinburgh, the "Cowgate Tourist Hostel"

i think we have internet access at all three hostels, so i think that i should be able to update daily. i've got a seperate blog for my travelogue: alitravels.blogspot.com. so you'll want to check that out while i'm away...

oh so want to go home. cannot work. suckage.

so we leave tomorrow for europe. i still feel like i have nothing done. ohmygod.

so never watch sex and the city if you've just been packing and you've already decided that you hate all your clothes and/or that you're fat. because it'll just make you feel bad about it all over again.

i want new clothes. and new shoes.

damn, i hate being poor. i really have to follow mary ellen's advice and marry for money. she says you can always learn to love them. (and if not you can always love your fabulous things and have a boyfriend on the side).

so i can't pack. i don't know how. i'm hella proud of myself for attempting to start tonight because i only have two more nights left before i go. but i did a crappy job of packing. i hate all my clothes and i guess that means that i feel like i have to bring all of my clothes with me because if i decide that something is just too heinous to wear i have a back up. i cannot for some reason get my head around the thought of bringing less shirts than days that i'm away. i just can't for some reason think about rewearing a shirt on a single trip. i think i need to get over that because i'm gone for 10 days and i have a small bag...

packing blows. i hate my clothes.

(that was kind of poetic. i meant it that way. yeah. just needs a final line. whatever.)

just watched queer eye for the straight guy. that guy was all a man's man around the gay guys and all homophobic. but then he got with his girlfriend and started talking all almost baby talk. you know, really exaggerated happy and calling each other by pet names. it made me ill. nothing is more unattractive than a guy talking that way. ew.

yeah. sex and the city is on. then nip/tuck. i should really go to bed though...

3 days. that's rediculous. i'm so excited! :) in 4 days I'll be in London. In 5 days I'll be in Dublin. and in 10 days I'll be in Scotland. rock!!!!

i've got no packing done. yeah, i rule. i don't even know for sure what i'm bringing. i need to remember to pack towels and a pillow case and i have to figure out what i'm going to bring to sleep in. i wanted to find one of those really lightweight sleeping bags that folds up to like nothing. i think they're called silk bags or something. i figured i could just bring one of my queen sized sheets and wrap myself up in it. or i could get a really cheap twin sized duvet that would be like a sheet sleeping bag. Alex offered me his sleeping bag. he says that it folds up very small. my suitcase is so small, but i don't want to bring anything bigger than that because it'd be a hassle on public transportation.

so exciting.

since we're travelling business class we get all sorts of perks. like we get free drinks and we get to use the lounges at the airports, including the spa at heathrow. ba business class rules! i'm so excited. this is such a real grown up vacation :)

i need to get a travel power converter so that i'll be able to charge my camera (because a dead camera is useless) and my palm (because i have everything in there. exciting.

god. i can't concentrate on work. and i can't believe it's only 10:15... ugh...