We have finally arrived in Birmingham. Last night our plane departed from Pittsburgh at 9:45, and it still feels weird that we are actually here after talking about this trip for so long. During the flight they served us dinner, which was honestly a lot better than I expected for airplane food. I chose the gnocchi option, and it was really good. They gave me a roll, cheese and crackers, and cheesecake with dinner. I thought it was cool that they also provided everyone with a blanket and a pillow because it made the flight feel a little more comfortable.
My plan was to sleep through most of the 6-hour flight, but that definitely did not happen. I could not get comfortable no matter how hard I tried, so I probably only slept about two hours total. By the time we landed, I was exhausted. Once we arrived, we went through customs, which was a lot different than I was used to. Instead of talking to someone, all we really had to do was scan our passports and continue through. It felt super quick compared to other international travel that I have done.
After leaving Heathrow Airport, we took a bus to Birmingham. During the first part of the drive, I stayed awake and looked out the window. Honestly, parts of the scenery remined me a lot of Pennsylvania right now with all the trees turning green again. After a while though, I was so tired that I ended up sleeping for most of the drive.
Once we finally got to Birmingham, we stopped for lunch at O’Neill’s. I ordered their Guinness burger, and it was super good. I came with fires, or “chips” as they call them here. The pub had a really cool atmosphere, and I would definitely go back there again.
After lunch, we spent the afternoon walking around Birmingham and exploring the city. My favorite part was walking by the canals because it was super pretty and honestly looked like the pictures of Europe that I have always seen online. There were boats, bridges, and restaurants along the water, and the whole area felt really relaxing. Later on, we also went into an art museum and looked around for a tiny bit. One thing I thought was cool was that they had items connected to Ozzy Osbourne. I don’t know much about him myself, but my dad has talked about him before, so it was interesting seeing things connected to someone so famous from the area. Even though I am exhausted from traveling, today was really fun, and I am excited to keep exploring England.
One thing I have already noticed is how different some of the little everyday things are here compared to home. Hearing different accents everywhere, seeing cars drive on the opposite side of the road, and even hearing different words for things has been really interesting. Even though we have only been here for one day, it already feels like a completely different experience from being back home in the United States.