My Last Workaway...Bath, UK

I teared up again when dad left. You'd think I'd be okay with this alone stuff, and I guess I am, but I was still sad to see him go. Hopefully he got some sleep in the plane and will be able to get back to normal quickly.

I headed tote Eurostar to check in/go through security. They make all non EU citizens fill out a landing card with name, passport #, reason for going to the UK, and where you'll be there. I don't know if the workaways are legal in the UK without a visa, so I told the border control guy I was just traveling...cause I am. When he found out I was traveling alone, some sort of red flag went up and he started questioning me like crazy. "Do you have a reservation?" "Why don't you have a reservation?" "How much money do you have right now?" "Is that in cash or just available to you?" "Do you have credit cards?" "How are you paying for this?" "Where did you get the money to pay for this?" "Where did you work?" "Are you still in school?" "What are you studying?" "When are you leaving?" "Do you have your plane ticket?" He seriously asked all those and more. I showed him my flight itinerary and then he called someone to bring him a "Code C stamp." After watching Jason Bourne last night, I was gearing up for something big. Europe was totally after me. He stamped my passport and granted me access to the UK until the 26th, when I'm leaving. For all those traveling to England, print out your hotel reservation/flight itinerary before going. My goodness. At least he let me through!

I waited for my train and enjoyed my last French pain au chocolat. Sorry Ray, I tried to get dad to take you one home, but he was in too big of a hurry to the airport. :( Maybe we can find a French bakery near k town. I'm sure we can!!

The Eurostar was real nice, and I arrived in London fine. I had bought my train ticket online and retrieved it at the info desk. I then shopped around because I had an hour before my train...plenty of time. With 30 minutes til my train left, I started looking for the platform. I asked three different workers where London Paddington was. The first two said down the hall to the left...so three times I went down the hall to the left but only found the underground. The third person finally told me I needed to take the underground to get to London Paddington. I didn't realize I had to take the underground to the station...I thought I was at the station I would be leaving from! So with ten minutes til my train left, I got an underground ticket and ride it to London Paddington. I arrived ONE minute too late. I missed my train :( I was pretty sure I would miss it before i got on the underground so I emailed the lady that was supposed to be picking me up while I was at the other station and had wifi and told her I missed my train. I almost made it through my trip without missing any trains. Luckily my ticket was ok for the next train that left half an hour later.

I got to Bath and walked the mile ish to the B&B. My first impressions of Bath were great. It is a very pretty place. My hosts are really nice...an English couple with five children, three of which still live at home. They have one adorable dog and five MIA cats. I watched Italian job, ate dinner, and watched The Eagle with them. The dad, Rob, is the most talkative and he loves to hear about the differences between America and England. He is real smart, and I was happy to see a grown man hang his own pictures and fix his own towel rack after staying with poor helpless Roger last week.

I'm not 100% sure what my duties are, but I know I'm supposed to paint something as well as attempt to clean up two common rooms. That will be next to impossible since I can't exactly throw anything away...we'll see what tomorrow brings.