the plane is landing! the plane is landing! when the plane began to actually land, after circling above the airport at very fun sideways angles, i was incredibly excited...and just so purely happy to BE in england. the plane touched ground and sped down the runway and soon enough it slowed down and we pulled into the area where we would get off the plane...and everybody stood up and it was like being on a school field trip where the bus stops in front of the museum or wherever, and all of the kids stand up and wait anxiously to get off because they see the kids from the other class already off the bus and running around on the museum steps and the stupid chaperones for OUR bus have to always be the slow ones who are unorganised and spend 20wenty minutes figuring out that yes, yes, indeed all of the children are safe and sound in the bus, no alien has come during the drive and abducted a student through the bus window... but anyway...something tells me ive strayed from the subject of england... so we stood up in the plane and gathered our bags and passports and tickets and other random necessities and waited to actually walk off of the plane...soon we did, and it felt strange to be walking...my legs felt very jelly-like. it was very open and uncrowded in the area where we came out of after walking through another tunnel-like pathway...and we lined up...or wait, i should say queued up, now that i am in england at this point in past time...so we got in the queue for the passport check, and some lady was checking and handing out some customs form that we had received on the plane to fill out...and then we were directed to the passport check...i think i went to number 4our...and i noted with slight dissatisfaction that if i had been one person earlier..or maybe it was later..?...i would have got to go to number 7even...but c'est la vie..i didnt really care...! the lady who checked my passport asked me what i would be doing in england...and i was at a complete loss for words...i didnt have some major purpose/schedule planned out and i didnt exactly know how to say that i would be seeing michael jackson...it sounded like such a strange thing to say... i dont even remember what i told her.. she asked me where i would be staying and i said with a friend...she asked me how i had met this friend and i lowered my head and mumbled "computer", and she gave me some patronising look and said, "so youve never actually met before?", and i said no....no as in no, we havent met before...and she gave me this look as if she was my mother and i started to feel scared for a minute that she was going to hold me back or something...but i tried to reassure her that it was ok...while thoughts of Robin Meltzer, Notorious Internet Freak and Basic Bad Person, ran through my head...!! but she let me through and i waited with sandy on the other side for emily to come through...or it couldve been i waited with emily for sandy to come through...i forget... we walked to an entrance to go to baggage claim, and then realised that we needed to check to see if we were going to the right baggage claim, so we walked back to the big area with screens and waited until it showed the information for our flight....i think we were at either number 4our or 8ight...or maybe it was 5ive...actually, i just have no idea. so we went to get our baggage, and my bag and suitcase came through right away...with the stickers still somewhat attached! we waited a bit for emily and sandy's baggage, and then we were off to meet robin and glen.....it was at this point in time that i realised that the weight and unfortunate clumsiness of my baggage was going to cause me great difficulty... ...to be continued....... *Amanda Wild. 25 july 97 england. part III aaaaaargh you bloody suitcase---MOVE! i had about 100 pounds to carry through the airport, spread out between one suitcase and one duffel-type bag....and the suitcase was some apparently crippled hunk of luggage...it would not move in the right direction. pleading for emily and sandy to slow down just a little bit, flashbacks of my mother telling me that everybody was going to hate me because my heavy luggage would slow them down played through my mind. i was strong enough to carry both things, but i hadnt anticipated the clumsiness of my suitcase. we walked into the area where people were waiting to pick up the airplane passengers, and i had the creepy and sinking feeling that somebody was probably watching for me; and there i was, practically crawling on the floor as i tried to drag/push the paralysed suitcase along. i looked up and thought i saw glen lambert in the crowd, and when i looked at sandy and saw her looking at the same person, i knew it was him. so we stopped and put our luggage down and seconds later robin meltzer came running up to us. it was actually amazing how flawlessly our meeting occurred...we could have been wandering around the airport for hours trying to find eachother. by this time, i was covered in sweat and completely exhausted from dragging my luggage through the airport...what a wonderful way to meet people!...but anyway...i think glen took one of my bags and robin took the other...or maybe glen took one and i took the other...or robin took one and i took the other...my memory fails me... (if any of you remember...please enlighten me...as you can see, im very into small details..) i was completely flustered and not really living in the moment right then...i felt like i was gliding along..drifting through the airport in some sort of trance...which is why i cant really describe meeting everybody for the first time...there was so much to do that it felt to me that we already knew eachother and there wasnt really time to stand around and "meet" people... ...i remember somebody mentioning to me that it had taken robin 2wo hours to get to the airport...and i remember giving him a look of surprise....but then being relieved that i would be able to sit/stand still for 2wo hours...little did i know that our journey to Hotel Meltzer would actually be a crazy criss-crossing of underground station leapfrog. we dragged our bags into a somewhat empty area...as empty you can get in a bustling airport...and sandy, emily, and i went to the bureau de change to get some british money... i think it was at that time that the spirit of my parents entered my body and caused the numerous turning of my head into the direction of robin and glen standing by our bags...i eyed them suspiciously to make sure they werent stealing off with our luggage....well, not quite, but i do remember turning around a few times just to check...my parents would be proud...! i cashed £200 of my £500, and delighted in the difference of british notes compared to boring look-a-like green american notes. the part after this i dont remember very well....everything kind of happened in a blur...arriving in england was so overwhelming...but i think we came back to robin, glen, and our luggage, and i think they both took my bags...but i really cant remember...but that was where my apologising started...i felt so bad..i couldve carried my own bags... somehow we said goodbye to sandy and glen...although my mind is a complete blank on when and how that happened... and somehow i assume that emily, robin and i dragged the bags to some train station...but thinking back, when i went to gatwick again to go home, i dont remember a station being close to the airport...but i also dont remember having to go far before we were on a platform waiting for a train. it was a beautiful day in england..if a bit hot, and robin informed us that prior to the day of our arrival, the weather in england had been horrible and rainy....well, all i have to say to that is...of course there would be sunshine on the day amanda wild arrived in england, silly! (just kidding) no, actually, the truth is that i am the goddess of sunshine, and i merely filled the plane engine with sunshine fuel, and so when we flew over england, the engine tanks poured out sunshine all over the country...umm, yeah. it was SO hot out...i thought i was going to melt...dragging my bags along was a very aerobic activity...but i stayed in solid human being form...which is a good thing i guess, since melting into a puddle on my first day in england would perhaps NOT be the best way to start off the xperience...and plus, i dont think robin had any bottles with him...so how would i have got home? the train came, and we got on..and i felt SO bad because my bags were taking up so much room and the train was already crowded enough...i have endless memories of whining, “im sorry...” that day... ...to be continued....... *Amanda Wild.