London welcomes us.
A few days ago Odessa and I flew from San Francisco over to a city called London, we both had never been on the continent and were very excited about the possible adventures ahead....but we couldn't have guessed what the possibilities for that day were.
After the ten and a half hour flight we gathered our things and waited in the long lines of other foreigners.When we went up to the woman she asked us what our plans were and for our itineraries. Being the free flowing spirits we were, Odessa didn't have her information for her trip home and I didn't even have a ticket. The woman got really upset and questioned us as if we were planning on living here in her beautiful safe country...well we assured her that we would do whatever possible to get back home. We also told her how london was only our first stop, from here there would be dublin, barcelona, istanbul...
But then she filled out a white piece of paper and gave it to me. It said that I was being detained for further questioning. That they would either decide to send us on the next plane home or allow us into the country. Odessa was included because she was traveling with me. I will let you know that Odessa originally wouldn't have been on this trip, as of one week ago she decided to get a plain ticket to london for only 9 days because she had also never been to europe. So back to the heathrow airport, we waited as they offered us tea every half an hour. Then came along a nice older man, the english grandfather. He was to be our case manager. He told us why we were sitting there and how we would have to be questioned (interrogated) and have our bags searched. After we spoke with him we waited another hour until a man and woman walked up to us, both looking young and they took us to our luggage where we opened our bags for them and the rummages through asking questions and collecting evidence for our case.
The evidence they collected from me was the following:
washington state license
visa card
cornish student id
brand new moleskin journal with two entries, one from waiting
modeling portfolio
laptop
Then they gave us back our bags and walked us back to our seats where we waited another half and hour for them to return and take our mugshots. I looked cross-eyed and odessa looked stoned. Very good pictures for two "models." Afterwords we waited another 30 minutes before we were taken into the detainee room. Oh a wonderful room with a TV in the corner and other foreigners. They consisted of a sleeping Indian woman who was pregnant and had a little baby with her, a young guy from pakistan who kept hitting on odessa, an older man from jordan who liked to talk, another indian woman with a young son, a crying girl our age from japan and us; the two american girls who didn't know better then to get a one way ticket. For two hours we waited, did yoga, read, drank tea and watched over the indian baby who was so quiet and happy. He would gaze into our eyes and laugh when we lifted him into the air. We were about ready to adopt him. Then along walked in our english grandfather, he asked for me to come with him and in the other room i was interrogated, he asked many questions and i tried to clarify as much as i could about my open ended trip for the summer and possibly the year. Then at the end he asked me. "sierra, are you a buddhist?" I replied that I believed in a lot of buddhist beliefs but wasn't practising. He then responded by explaining that in my moleskin, it sounded like I was through my writing, he mentioned that he was a practicing buddhist for nine years now. Afterwords I went back into the detainee room with a smile on my ace and odessa was then questioned. After she was done, we waited for another hour until our English Grandfather came back and asked us to step out. In the security room he said "london welcomes you" grins spread wide across all of our faces, including the security and our case managers face. I told him how happy we were to have met him and off we were to London! So we trecked out, took the tube and the train to Queens Road Peckham where we met Nathalie and Ben who offered their couch to us through couchsurfer.com. They were so welcoming and we shared our stories and ate a large homemade feast with them and their friends. Nathalie used to teach art and Ben goes to the university and studies painting among other mediums. Instantly we felt at
home and have been staying here since.
But now Im done with this long ramble. We are going to Brighton today because Odessa has this fascination with the place ever since she first read Pride and Prejudice. Tomorrow we are off to Dublin and then we will return here in a few days.
After the ten and a half hour flight we gathered our things and waited in the long lines of other foreigners.When we went up to the woman she asked us what our plans were and for our itineraries. Being the free flowing spirits we were, Odessa didn't have her information for her trip home and I didn't even have a ticket. The woman got really upset and questioned us as if we were planning on living here in her beautiful safe country...well we assured her that we would do whatever possible to get back home. We also told her how london was only our first stop, from here there would be dublin, barcelona, istanbul...
But then she filled out a white piece of paper and gave it to me. It said that I was being detained for further questioning. That they would either decide to send us on the next plane home or allow us into the country. Odessa was included because she was traveling with me. I will let you know that Odessa originally wouldn't have been on this trip, as of one week ago she decided to get a plain ticket to london for only 9 days because she had also never been to europe. So back to the heathrow airport, we waited as they offered us tea every half an hour. Then came along a nice older man, the english grandfather. He was to be our case manager. He told us why we were sitting there and how we would have to be questioned (interrogated) and have our bags searched. After we spoke with him we waited another hour until a man and woman walked up to us, both looking young and they took us to our luggage where we opened our bags for them and the rummages through asking questions and collecting evidence for our case.
The evidence they collected from me was the following:
washington state license
visa card
cornish student id
brand new moleskin journal with two entries, one from waiting
modeling portfolio
laptop
Then they gave us back our bags and walked us back to our seats where we waited another half and hour for them to return and take our mugshots. I looked cross-eyed and odessa looked stoned. Very good pictures for two "models." Afterwords we waited another 30 minutes before we were taken into the detainee room. Oh a wonderful room with a TV in the corner and other foreigners. They consisted of a sleeping Indian woman who was pregnant and had a little baby with her, a young guy from pakistan who kept hitting on odessa, an older man from jordan who liked to talk, another indian woman with a young son, a crying girl our age from japan and us; the two american girls who didn't know better then to get a one way ticket. For two hours we waited, did yoga, read, drank tea and watched over the indian baby who was so quiet and happy. He would gaze into our eyes and laugh when we lifted him into the air. We were about ready to adopt him. Then along walked in our english grandfather, he asked for me to come with him and in the other room i was interrogated, he asked many questions and i tried to clarify as much as i could about my open ended trip for the summer and possibly the year. Then at the end he asked me. "sierra, are you a buddhist?" I replied that I believed in a lot of buddhist beliefs but wasn't practising. He then responded by explaining that in my moleskin, it sounded like I was through my writing, he mentioned that he was a practicing buddhist for nine years now. Afterwords I went back into the detainee room with a smile on my ace and odessa was then questioned. After she was done, we waited for another hour until our English Grandfather came back and asked us to step out. In the security room he said "london welcomes you" grins spread wide across all of our faces, including the security and our case managers face. I told him how happy we were to have met him and off we were to London! So we trecked out, took the tube and the train to Queens Road Peckham where we met Nathalie and Ben who offered their couch to us through couchsurfer.com. They were so welcoming and we shared our stories and ate a large homemade feast with them and their friends. Nathalie used to teach art and Ben goes to the university and studies painting among other mediums. Instantly we felt at
home and have been staying here since.
But now Im done with this long ramble. We are going to Brighton today because Odessa has this fascination with the place ever since she first read Pride and Prejudice. Tomorrow we are off to Dublin and then we will return here in a few days.
posted by s.s. at 2:28 PM
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