Day 24 So Long Galway, Hello London

And just like that it was over.  All that planning, worrying, working, and suddenly Galway, Ireland was just a memory, a place I hoped to one day visit again.  The shuttle came, we said good-bye to Safia, our program advisor and boarded the coach for the airport.  After checking in and peeking around a shop, a few of us hung around for a little while until we had to split up for our flights.  Clare was on the same flight to Heathrow as me so I was glad to have someone to wait with for the next couple of hours.  We parted ways after our flight--she had a connecting flight back home and I had a shuttle waiting.  Flight was rough in one part and fine the rest of the way.  It wasn't too long either, just over an hour.  After collecting my luggage, it took me a few minutes to find my shuttle driver, but I found him and off to the hotel we went.  The hotel is nice enough and it's actually quite close to the tube, which is convenient.  I was thrilled to be in London, but still sad from the morning good-byes.  Instead of all these people, friends really, around, now I was on my own in a strange city.  I guess I shouldn't say strange, as I have been to London before and very much enjoyed it, hence why I came back, but still I was sad and lonely.  I checked in and got situated in my hotel room and tried not to cry.  I found the tube station--the hotel staff was right, it was just a two minute walk down the street, got food at a cafe down the street and then went back to the hotel for a little while.  I had booked an evening bus tour for that night so not too much later it was time to head to that.  Luckily for me, the bus stop was right across the street from a tube station.  There was a staff member waiting when I arrived.  I enjoyed the tour.  It took us by the big sites of London.  I had seen most of them before, but it was still enjoyable.  The bus dropped us off where it started, which wasn't far from the Hard Rock Cafe.  My husband likes those t-shirts so I walked down the street and bought him one.  I hope he likes it, but by the time this posts, I'll have found out since this won't actually post until a couple of days after I wrote it.  I then hurried back to the tube so as not to be out after dark on my own.  Hey, I get nervous, what can I say.  I got a little lost when I got out of the subway station.  I think I turned the wrong way.  But thanks to phone GPSs I got myself sorted.  Thankfully, the place where I was lost was hopping with tourists so I wasn't too sketched out.  I actually felt quite a bit better after the tour.  No more tears.  Back to the hotel for a quiet rest of the evening.  Here are a few pics, but clearly, taking pictures from a moving bus is a skill I need to work on...