Trip to UK- Day 1

After so many complications and doubts as to whether I could take my long over due and much needed vacation, I finally made it on the plane before I canceled my trip. As soon as I came out of the train and saw a complete different scene of location and people, all my tensions and problems of the past few weeks were thousands of miles away. I could breath and experience a detached world from miseries back home.

I arrived at London around 6 am local time. There were a few first observations. Escalators are not as common as they are in the U.S. There were not big clocks in the airport to spot the local time quickly. You could see trash bags waiting to be picked up from the streets. After breakfast, and a couple of hours of nap, my cousin and I headed towards the Notting Hill, a place I had seen so many times in movies. We visited the famous book store in the Notting Hill, went to Saturday's Portobello Market, walked in the streets with middle eastern shops, restaurants, etc. The streets were over crowded. I saw a lesbian couple kissing and hugging so affectionately in public. We passed George Orwell's house too.



Food does not seem very expensive so far, but everything else costs 1.5-2 times more than it does in the the U.S. Well, somethings are orders of magnitude more expensive. There was a swim suit which was 75% off, and yet was over 100 GBP. Who would buy a swim suit for that price? I just cannot comprehend it. A simple shirt for 100 GBP. Well, it was a designer store if it helps. The cheapest coat started from 300 GBP!

A friend of my cousin, who I had met before in Australia, joined us too. It felt like we had already been in touch all these years. It was a nice feeling walking in the shops and having lunch and coffee with them. There were so many signs in Arabic, I could not believe it. A middle-eastern bookstore had the historic Al-Kharazmi book on algebra in English and Arabic. I so much wanted to have that book. It was just too expensive, 70 GBP, over $100. Well, the bookstore had sections on Arabian Gulf too. I tried to ignore that and keep the memory of its cool atmosphere. They had a large section of books on Iran, many of them I had not seen before. My cousin picked a book which had translation of Persian poetry of Shamloo and others in English. I looked at the cover. "He is the dean of Persian studies at University of Maryland", I tell my cousin. I think to myself how small my world has become over the years. Thousands of miles away, I see the books of people that not only I know, but meet often and frequently.



I am sitting in the dining room, viewing the beautiful Thames river reflecting the lights over it. The lovely full moon, my loyal companion, is also in the sky. I am thrilled that I will have breakfast with the river's view every day for a short time. I am glad I made it here. I was going literally crazy. When I had originally planned this trip, I was just planning a vacation. Little that I knew what was in store for me shortly before my trip. I had no idea this would turn into a therapeutic trip instead of just a fun one.