London

I have officially been on my trip to London for about 45 minutes. Carlos and I left the house at about 2:15p. We got to the airport very quickly. I didn't think to write down the terminal numbers (since most American airports list the airlines with the terminals) so we went to the wrong terminal first. He walked me inside, pointed me towards the ticket counter and wished me luck. I think he is fond of me because he always says if I need anything I should call and seems genuinely interested int the things that I do.

I got to the ticket counter and checked in with no problem. Then I went through security. I don't know when the last time was that I got to walk through an airport metal detector with my shoes on. I probably could have left my belt on too, but I didn't want to risk it. I stopped by an exchange center and got some pounds. My goal is to spend only what I have, but I brought extra euros just in case. I plan on walking as much as possible and eating discounted foods from the grocery store. Tonight I'm going with my new friend Nate to the pub near his (our) flat. I wont be drinking much so as to save pounds.

Next I made my way to the police check where you have to show your passport. The guy behind the glass barely had my passport in his hands two seconds before he was handing it back to me. Wow. That was easy. Now I am hanging out near a set of TVs that will tell me which gate my flight is departing from. My flight starts boarding in an hour and a half. I'm going to check the monitors again. 30 minutes ago my flight wasn't on the screen, but I think it's because I'm so early. If my flight still isn't on the screen I'll ask someone. then I will make my way to my gate and people watch until it's time to board.

I'm on board and ready to go. Whee! The flight is pretty short. I think there is a one hour time difference that puts us at 2.5 hours. Not too shabby. I' m in an aisle seat so hopefully it won't be too uncomfortable. This is my first time flying on a budget airline. So far I've noticed a few things. The seats are small, with little leg room, there are no TVs anywhere, the seats don't lean back, and all the food and drinks cost extra. No complimentary peanuts on this flight. I'm going to grab a bit and try to take a nap. Next stop, London!

I've landed in London after a fairly uneventful flight. However, I have yet to make it across the UK border. I received a "Notice to a Person Required to Submit to Further Examination." Apparently I'm a bad liar and when* the passport people started asking me questions all I could do was tell the truth. She didn't like what she heard. 1) working in Spain and 2) staying with a friend I've never met before. She asked me to have a seat. Then several minutes later a guy and his trainee walked me and my backpack to a table. They then asked me some informal questions and removed nearly everything from my pack. I think it would have been everything but the trainee was unfamiliar with the awesomeness that is my backpack (ie. it fits a lot of stuff). After being searched (just my bag, not my person) I was taken back to the seating area. I didn't have any documents about my trip so they took my journal because that is where I had written my flight information and Nate's contact information and that sort of thing. Everything that is before the Astrix (*) was in the journal when they took it. I finished writing in it later. They also still had my Passport.

I sat for what felt like a long time. I listened to my iPod and also a Brazilian man tell me his tale of troubles with immigration. I watched person after person make their way effortlessly through customs. Finally, I was called back into another door. I was asked to set my bag and purse down on the shelves in a closet-like room. I was shown to waiting room A where I was patted down. I was also handed a couple sheets of paper that said why I was being detained. The short of it is I didn't satisfactorily answer the agents questions. Next I was taken to another room. This room was small plain and had a table and four chairs, all of which were chained to the floor. The agent who had first taken my passport and I were the only ones in the room. She was a British lady (obviously) who looked tired. On her right hand she wore a silver chain bracelet that made noise while she wrote and a silver ring. On her left hand she wore two gold rings and a gold watch.

She began by asking questions she already knew the answers to. In fact she started writing my answers before I spoke them. She asked me things like why I was coming to the UK, how long I had been in Spain, what I was doing in Spain, and who I had lived with in the US. Fair enough. Then she began asking a bunch of questions about, Nate, the guy whose flat I had planned on staying at. How did I know him? How long had I been emailing him? What did he look like? What was his nationality? Who did he live with? She also asked who the guy in my picture was. In my journal I had placed a copy my favorite picture of me and Flynn. I told her it was my boyfriend in Seattle. To which she replied, "So, you have a boyfriend in Seattle, a boyfriend in Spain, and now one in London too." It wasn't a question. I was shocked and told her that she was obviously mistaken. But she wasn't listening, so I stopped trying to clarify. Unfortunately I began writing this entry in my journal when I was asked to sit down the first time. I had no idea my random flow of thoughts would be used against me. She wanted to know what I had meant when I said I was a bad liar (see the Astrix above). Again I explained that I hadn't finished my thought, but she wasn't listening. She asked me a series of questions about the intentions of my travel. She seemed particularly ticked that I had written down notes from the Rick Steves travel book "Europe Through the Back Door." She said it sounded "dodgy" like I was trying to get away with something or avoid the law. Again I tried to explain (Through the Back Door is all about traveling like a local as opposed to a tourist) bu she wasn't hearing a word of it. When she was finished I was taken back to the front area. The guy who had searched my bag and the guy who had secured my bag in the closet took me back towards the "interview/interrogation" room but instead we went to a different door. In this room I had my fingerprints scanned electronically. From there I was taken to waiting room B. This room was much different than the other rooms. This was more like a holding cell. There was a TV, a pay phone, two bathrooms, a book case with a few very used books, a a series of tables and benches all of which were secured to the ground. There was a Portuguese girl (late 20s or so) who kept trying to get a hold of her sister on the payphone. She was crying a lot. There was another lady who looked pretty dreadful too. I remained surprisingly calm throughout all this. I figured getting upset wasn't going to help the situation much. The way I saw it I had three options. 1) Stay in London and finish my trip: Sweet! 2) Go back to Spain: Fine by me. 3) Go back to the States: This was the most unplanned for plan, but it was strangely reassuring. At least I would have friends and family there to receive me with open arms.

Finally I was called out of the waiting room. I was handed yet another sheet of paper. This sheet said that I had been refused entry into the UK. Can you believe it?! Since Spain is where I've just come from they had me scheduled for the first flight out in the morning. Now I just had to figure out how to sleep on a hard steel bench in a cold brightly lit room. It wasn't easy. And I wasn't allowed a pen so I couldn't even write to fill my time. I chatted with the other ladies a bit, watched CNN a bit, and tried with very little success to sleep. At about 6a I decided I couldn't pretend to sleep anymore. Not only that but my flight was in less than two hours and it felt weird just sitting there. Normally before a flight I'm getting to the airport, checking in, finding the gate and all that jazz.
At 7a a very tall younger guy called me out of the room (which had acquired two more people overnight). He got me my bags and he and his partner walked me to the gate. I chatted with them and told them that the agent had pretty much insinuated that I was sleeping my way across Europe. They that was hardly any of her business and said I should file a complaint. At the gate I "got" to go straight to the door with my friendly escorts. Then we got to be first on the plane. Lucky me! I still didn't have my passport though. The security lady had given it to the head flight attendant in a big brown envelope.

So now I am on my way back to Spain and I have no idea what is going to happen. will I be handed over to the Spanish immigration officers? Will I be deported working with a tourist visa? Will this journal be used against me, again? I don't know. Worse. I don't have a clue. Whatever happens, happens. I'm not too worried about it. This may not have been my plan, but God knows what He's doing and this is in his hands. For now, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the rest of my flight. I could really use a nap. Oh! And that agent never gave me back my picture of Flynn. She must have thought he was cute. I tend to agree.
The remainder of the flight was uneventful. I took a nap and ate a sandwich. My third sandwich in 24 hours actually. I think I'll be done with them for a while. As we were landing I had visions of armed security officers boarding the plane to haul me off. In the end, I stopped at the front of the plane before exiting to ask for the envelope containing my passport. They got it out of the cockpit and sent me on my merry way. We had to take a shuttle to the gate, then back through customs. He didn't say a word to me and I didn't say a word and neither did I. He stamped my passport and off I went.

Now I am sitting on the Metro thinking about what to do next. I have to change Metros soon then take the bus back to Tres Cantos. I think I'll take a shower and a nap. Then I need to email Nate and let him know what happened. I also want to talk to my mom. Should I stay till my visa expires (4 more weeks)? Should I do the trip in August or will it be too risky? If I want an out, this is it. Do I want an out?