It was...like awkward.
Wanted to say, it was...like magic. Nope.
More like, I don't think either of us have kissed anyone in a really long time, and we were just a boy and a girl on a trip to London. London! Why not take advantage of this whole setting, and steal a kiss from each other? (Plus, I figured, I would get it out of my system. I would know, right then and there, this Paul character wasn't for me!)
Paul had been chasing, or pursuing me for almost two months now. I finally agreed to some "interviews" with him. Then I agreed to a major trip across the pond with him. With him, and a coworker of his. How does one go about telling their parents they are flying over the Atlantic with a man they had only met a couple of times in passing, and been on maybe three dates (interviews) with? My parents were just thrilled that I was possibly seeing a man, so they quickly gave me their blessing to set out to London with him.
I finally crossed the pond.
You act surprised, he was a contender? Yes, he actually was. For some reason, unannounced to me, he was among three men I was starting to date, all at the same time. Shocking, I know! One, an old friend who was recently divorced, making his way back into my life. The other, a passenger from Canada I had met on one of my flights. Lastly, Paul, some guy who worked for Delta, and who caught me in the airport one day. Even on this trip to London I was still talking and planning dates with these two other men. Paul was just one of these guys that happened to reel me in quicker, by inviting me to London. Who is going to say no to London?
Back out to the streets of London, to cram in more site seeing. Nestled in a corner of the Tube, Paul's friend and I begin to chat about my "wants" in a man. Because of the current trend, I was head over heels for bearded men. I shared that my "must have" in a man is a nice beard. Who needs anything more? Not caring that Paul was intently listening in on all my "worldly" wants in a man. I was pretty sure he wouldn't really be able to meet up to my high standards, so I talked freely. (I share the beard comment because what happened the next day was quite humorous.) Early the next morning we were on a train bound for South England, to a small village known as Brighton. It was a lengthy train ride that gave us plenty of time to visit. At one moment, Paul and I were left alone as his friend wandered through the train cars. As I was enjoying the beautiful scenery of England, Paul was quick to take this moment alone to ask me what I thought...of his so called beard, day one of growth. "What do you think?" As he motions to his face. "Huh?" I'm so confused, and really am starting to wonder about this silly man... "What do you think of my face?" Again, motioning to his face. "Good?" I say, in hopes to get him to bug off. "You said you like beards..." Paul states. "Yeah?" So, what's your point? As I think to myself... Oh? Oh my. Great, he really does like me. He is growing a beard for me. Thats just great. Light bulb is slowly flickering on - okay, electricity is clearly working now.
The rest of the day was spent in a small English village, Lewes. Here they celebrate the Guy Fawkes festival every year on November 5th. We were there early to celebrate in the burning. During our time of waiting for the parades to start Paul was ready to get down to business, and figure out if the two of us could start to (potentially) date. Here I am floored that he is still on this kick to want to date me. Granted, I did give into the whole kiss. But, I was not interested. So I told myself. As the night carried on and heavy smoke filled the crisp England air it was time to pack up and head back to our hotel for the night. As we were getting set to leave the crowds of people had doubled. It was wall to wall people slowly moving about the quaint, tiny, cobblestone streets. Paul turns to me and tells me that he needs to hold my hand so that we don't get separated. Oh please! He's being all suave. Right! Like I am going to let him hold my hand. He held my hand. ONLY because there was actually a lot of people, I didn't want to lose him or his friend, and I was in a different country. If I have to hold his hand, we both had gloves on, so it wasn't like I was REALLY holding his hand.
Once the Guy Fawkes festivities started to mellow out a little, and that's an understatement, we decided our time here in England was ready to wrap up. Naturally, we were to leave in the morning and catch a ten hour flight home. Paul was pretty persistent that I follow them home through the nonstop to Las Vegas on Virgin Atlantic, out of Gatwick airport in South England. I was feeling confident in making my own way back to London and then flying nonstop back to Chicago, via London Heathrow. None of that happened, and I took the ten hour trek back with the two of them. In hindsight, I am glad I did. Apparently I had this air to me, that I could do this trek back home alone. Maybe I could have, but it probably wouldn't have been my brightest moment. I was glad that I stuck with Paul and JR. We were able to get a row of seats together, and Paul was able to sit with me for ten hours trying to work his magic with me. Thinking about that ten hour flight home puts me in awe that him and I were able to sit through that entire flight, not watching a single movie, and just conversing with one another. I should've known right then that he was the one. Honestly, what guy could sit for ten hours just talking, and crammed in the seat of a ten hour flight??? That truly was probably the best part of this whole trip to London - just sitting next to Paul on our flight home, and really getting to know him. I wish that I could go back to that moment. If I could, I would just sit and watch the interaction between the two of us. Just thinking of us sitting on the flight, me by the window, him in the middle seat, makes me smile.
A kiss is wonderful. A kiss in London is truly magical. But, to find someone who has the same thoughts, feelings, and ideas as you, is truly one of a kind. And, the fact that he loves to travel, well that's a huge bonus.
Bill Murray said it wonderfully:
I think I could've done that right there in Vegas, with that Pauly character. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I had some playing "hard to get" to do.
I finally crossed the pond.
- Big Ben
- Westminster Bridge
- Westminster Abbey
- Buckingham Palace
- Harrods
- Tower of London
- Piccadilly Square
- Fish and Chips
- Mushy peas
- The Tube - Mind the Gap
- Brighton, England
- Lewes, England
- Guy Fawkes Festival
(Just to name a few of the places and things we saw.)
After our nap it was time to go see more sites. There, on the edge of my bed, Paul quietly began to wake me. I was nowhere rested, and even though our time was limited in London I was happy to just sleep. As I slowly awoke I noticed that the room had grown dark, the blinds were open and rain was trickling down the window panes. As I sat up and tried to readjust where I was I noticed that Paul was sitting at the foot of my bed. This quickly made me set up. We talked for a moment, he, reassuring me, I was actually in London. After a moment I could tell a kiss was coming, but I also knew that I was not interested. Trying to remind myself that I was only here with him because he was going to be my new travel partner. What did he not understand about that? Kissing was not part of the contract! However, with the fact that it had been a while since I had kissed a man, and the men weren't lined up at the door for me, I decided to go in for the kiss, that he was so longing for. If anything, I wanted to clear up all doubts on my end. After what really seemed like several minutes of looking into each others eyes (I know, gag) we slowly came together and kissed. It wasn't terrible. But, I just didn't want to enjoy it. I did not want to give him the satisfaction that maybe, just maybe, he could be a very strong contender in my search for more than a travel partner.
You act surprised, he was a contender? Yes, he actually was. For some reason, unannounced to me, he was among three men I was starting to date, all at the same time. Shocking, I know! One, an old friend who was recently divorced, making his way back into my life. The other, a passenger from Canada I had met on one of my flights. Lastly, Paul, some guy who worked for Delta, and who caught me in the airport one day. Even on this trip to London I was still talking and planning dates with these two other men. Paul was just one of these guys that happened to reel me in quicker, by inviting me to London. Who is going to say no to London?
Back out to the streets of London, to cram in more site seeing. Nestled in a corner of the Tube, Paul's friend and I begin to chat about my "wants" in a man. Because of the current trend, I was head over heels for bearded men. I shared that my "must have" in a man is a nice beard. Who needs anything more? Not caring that Paul was intently listening in on all my "worldly" wants in a man. I was pretty sure he wouldn't really be able to meet up to my high standards, so I talked freely. (I share the beard comment because what happened the next day was quite humorous.) Early the next morning we were on a train bound for South England, to a small village known as Brighton. It was a lengthy train ride that gave us plenty of time to visit. At one moment, Paul and I were left alone as his friend wandered through the train cars. As I was enjoying the beautiful scenery of England, Paul was quick to take this moment alone to ask me what I thought...of his so called beard, day one of growth. "What do you think?" As he motions to his face. "Huh?" I'm so confused, and really am starting to wonder about this silly man... "What do you think of my face?" Again, motioning to his face. "Good?" I say, in hopes to get him to bug off. "You said you like beards..." Paul states. "Yeah?" So, what's your point? As I think to myself... Oh? Oh my. Great, he really does like me. He is growing a beard for me. Thats just great. Light bulb is slowly flickering on - okay, electricity is clearly working now.
The rest of the day was spent in a small English village, Lewes. Here they celebrate the Guy Fawkes festival every year on November 5th. We were there early to celebrate in the burning. During our time of waiting for the parades to start Paul was ready to get down to business, and figure out if the two of us could start to (potentially) date. Here I am floored that he is still on this kick to want to date me. Granted, I did give into the whole kiss. But, I was not interested. So I told myself. As the night carried on and heavy smoke filled the crisp England air it was time to pack up and head back to our hotel for the night. As we were getting set to leave the crowds of people had doubled. It was wall to wall people slowly moving about the quaint, tiny, cobblestone streets. Paul turns to me and tells me that he needs to hold my hand so that we don't get separated. Oh please! He's being all suave. Right! Like I am going to let him hold my hand. He held my hand. ONLY because there was actually a lot of people, I didn't want to lose him or his friend, and I was in a different country. If I have to hold his hand, we both had gloves on, so it wasn't like I was REALLY holding his hand.
Once the Guy Fawkes festivities started to mellow out a little, and that's an understatement, we decided our time here in England was ready to wrap up. Naturally, we were to leave in the morning and catch a ten hour flight home. Paul was pretty persistent that I follow them home through the nonstop to Las Vegas on Virgin Atlantic, out of Gatwick airport in South England. I was feeling confident in making my own way back to London and then flying nonstop back to Chicago, via London Heathrow. None of that happened, and I took the ten hour trek back with the two of them. In hindsight, I am glad I did. Apparently I had this air to me, that I could do this trek back home alone. Maybe I could have, but it probably wouldn't have been my brightest moment. I was glad that I stuck with Paul and JR. We were able to get a row of seats together, and Paul was able to sit with me for ten hours trying to work his magic with me. Thinking about that ten hour flight home puts me in awe that him and I were able to sit through that entire flight, not watching a single movie, and just conversing with one another. I should've known right then that he was the one. Honestly, what guy could sit for ten hours just talking, and crammed in the seat of a ten hour flight??? That truly was probably the best part of this whole trip to London - just sitting next to Paul on our flight home, and really getting to know him. I wish that I could go back to that moment. If I could, I would just sit and watch the interaction between the two of us. Just thinking of us sitting on the flight, me by the window, him in the middle seat, makes me smile.
A kiss is wonderful. A kiss in London is truly magical. But, to find someone who has the same thoughts, feelings, and ideas as you, is truly one of a kind. And, the fact that he loves to travel, well that's a huge bonus.
Bill Murray said it wonderfully:
If you have someone who you think is the one, don't just sort of think, your ordinary mind, and think, 'Oh, OK, let's make a date, let's plan this and make a party and get married.' Take that person and travel around the world. Buy a plane ticket for the two of you to travel all around the world and go to places that are hard to go to and hard to get out of. And when you come back...when you land...if you're still in love with that person, get married at the airport.
I think I could've done that right there in Vegas, with that Pauly character. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I had some playing "hard to get" to do.
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| Mind the Gap. |
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| Best picture EVER! Such a great traveling trio we were. Strike a pose.    |
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| Mushy peas, and of course, fish and chips. |
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| Guy Fawkes Festival - full blown! |
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| Paul fraternizing with the flight attendants. (Several times JR and I had to go ring him in...eye roll.) |
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| Ten hour flight home - Paul and I talked the entire time. (Except when I had to go find him up in the galley...) |
1 comment:
You're just lucky he stuck around especially after all your playing hard to get. I roll my eyes at you!
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