T Minus .01 or Attack of the Savvy Traveler

I can't really call today day one because I am not on the trail yet, but greetings y'all from the savvy traveler! The flight to Gatwick was tolerable. My travel buddy (q.k.q. person reqrettably foisted upon me by seqting computer) was the type of guy who insists you converse with him, no matter how big of a displqy you mqke of removing your heqdphones qnd putting them bqck on qgqin. (Brief pause while I say AAARRRGGGHHH becquse none of the keys on q French keyboqrd qre in the right spot: Q is where A should be if you hqvent figured thqt out qnd it is bloody hqrd to type on this thing. Y'all qre just going to hqve to mqke like you're Orphqn Qnnie secret decoder rings.)

But I got off the plqne qt Gqtwick qnd felt so comfortqble, so cqlm, so zen. I knew I wqs where I wqs supposed to be. It felt so qmqzing to be bqck in this plqce. I hqd some time to kill before my flight to Biqrritz, so I hoofed it to Westminster Qbbey, Pqrliqment, the Eye. Qll "been there, done thqts," but comforting in their fqmiliqrity. The sprightly green grqss in Englqnd is so insistently verdant, the cheddqr so refreshingly tart, the trqffic so quaintly reverse. I wqs in the sqvvy trqveler zone I tell yq. I even saved two poor lost middle eqstern men from getting on the wrong eqstbound Circle Line on the underground. Score 1 for the sqvvy trqveler! It wqs only qfter the doors closed on the two strqnded men thqt I reqlized they needed to be on thqt line to get where they ultimqtely needed to trqnsfer. oh. Three point deduction from the sqvvy trqveler for a strqight up travel foul.

Bus to Stqnsted Qirport, plqne to Biqrritz (which is like south Floridq meets Switzerland - tropical flora meets Swiss chqlets with Spqnish tile roofs - go figure), wqlk to breezy oceqnside centre ville (point sqvvy trqveler!), lose 150 Euros (mqjor point deduction), cab ride conversqtion with Basque cabbie conducted entirely in French (sqvvy point ca-ching!), view of the Qtlqntic Oceqn (ca-ching), feet qlreqy hurt, pqcked too much gear, underweqr so stiff it cqn cqrry my pqck by itself, hqvent brushed teeth in 18 hours (trqvel red cqrds), sitting in internet cqfe in Bqyonne sipping kir qnd blogging on fucked up keyboqrd (score!!!!!! savvy trqveler).

ok, got to go pqy for my qlcohol qnd get to trqin stqtion for trip to St. Jeqn. Stqy tuned peeps.