By Mark W, June 03, 2008 at 09:14 PM

When you're flying out of central Florida to London, there's one choice in non-stop service: Gatwick. My flight was departing from Tampa around 5 in the evening, with arrival around 7 a.m. the next day. Which means, unless you want to spend your first day in London in bed sleeping, you've got some serious planning to do way before you depart.

On my first trip, I was doing a tour around Europe. The tour departed from London and fourteen days later, we would be having one last drink at a London pub before we each flew our separate ways. The way the tour is scheduled, your one day in London is the day your flight arrives. 7 a.m. London time is 2 a.m. central Florida time. Not the time of day I usually get up and plan on staying up for 20 hours.

In order to compensate for the time difference and get the most out of that day, I started shifting my sleeping hours. By the time I got on the plane, I would have been up 15 hours, giving me plenty of time to eat dinner (my first ever serving of bangers and mash, I've had much better since then, but you never forget your first), pop in a couple Tylenol PMs (to help knock me out) and enjoy at least 6 hours of sleep before landing.

And sleep is what I needed.

The plane made a perfect landing at Gatwick. As we taxied to the terminal, we passed the Virgin Atlantic side of the airport (I was on British Airways this trip). I love corporate culture that Virgin shows publicly. As we passed, there was a Virgin Boing 747 sitting at a terminal. On the side of the airplane was this slogan: More experience then our name suggests.

It certainly put a smile on my face as I knowing laughed to myself thinking that we'd never see that plane in the states.

Landing in a foreign country is a sensory overload for anyone.

Even if you speak the language (and I'd argue that English and American are different languages), the cultural differences take some getting used to. You know, stuff like looking right before stepping into the street. It's completely unnaturally to an American (or I guess anyone in the world except for a UK citizen or former colony).

I stepped off the plane and followed the flow of people through a never ending maze of corridors. Turning left, then right, then left, then left, right, right, right, then left and right, no wait, that's the women's restroom and ended up at customs.

Which is nice, because I think every country in the world hires the same burly people to work customs. Why are you here? Because I was standing in that line. Where you going? To get my luggage. How long will you be here? Until you stamp my book.

Seriously, though. If I'm unhappy at work, the people I meet become unhappy and that makes me even more unhappy. Wouldn't customs workers have better days if they showed just a little bit of enjoyment in there roles as ambassadors to their countries. Every business in the world knows that the first point of contact they have with customers is the most vital. Why can't countries figure that out? And don't even get me started on the United States "welcoming" committee who even gives its own citizens a hard time (but more on that story some other time).

Needless to say, I made it through the cattle call and now faced the enviable task of getting a ticket on the Gatwick Express.

Gatwick Airport, for those who haven't been there, isn't anywhere close to London. Well, relatively speaking, it's closer to London then say Paris, but it's far enough away to not be on any of the main subway lines. The easiest way to get from Gatwick to London is by train. You can either take a train that stops at stations along the way, or grab the Gatwick Express which takes you straight into London Victoria station. From there, it's simply switching to the Underground to your destination. It should be noted that the future of Gatwick Express is rather fluid at the moment, so check your options before arriving for the least amount of hassle.

Purchasing a ticket required a little bit of calculation to try and get the best value. Do I buy a one way there and back, will a round trip, which is cheaper be better and do my travel plans fit within the needed time frame. Again here, the Internet is your best friend for planning before you go. It's less hassle having an idea of what you're going to get before you stand in line.

Another bit of advice here, don't exchange your money at the airport. You'll get the worst rates. These days, I'm all about using my credit card for most purchases with some pocket change for smaller purchases. With a credit card, you'll get the current rates plus a transaction fee from your bank, which may give you better rates then Thomas Cooke. Another idea, if you have American Express traveler's checks, I believe you'll get a more favorable exchange rate if you go to an American Express office. I've been to them in the UK and Germany, so you should be able to find one close to where you'll be.

With a stamped passport in hand and a valid train ticket in my pocket, I'm off to find my luggage. By the time you get there, your luggage won't be on the conveyor belt. It'll either be in the rows of luggage parked in the middle, or like my last visit, moved to the lost luggage area (that was a mini heart attack). Trust me, you never like the feeling of having to go to the lost luggage window and try to track down your luggage, especially when you're only going to be in London for a day at most.

So far, airlines aren't charging baggage fees for international flights, so you don't necessarily have to worry about packing a larger bag for your trip. I love watching travel shows on TV and they're adamant about taking the smallest bag as possible. Rick Steves only has a backpack! That's great, yeah, because when they travel, they have time to stop and do laundry one day. Me, I'm on a packaged tour and only get one two days in Rome and I'm not spending one of them doing laundry. I'm still amazed at how even paring down your clothes to the minimum still takes up a lot of room. I'd like to get it down where clothes only take up half the luggage space and I've got room for souvenirs.

But with luggage in hand, I head out to the main terminal. Here I'm awash in a caldron of swirling nationalities and languages. London is a true cultural center of the world and the airport is the hub of that. Unfortunately, I don't have time to people watch, I have a train to catch.

I follow the signs for trains, feeling a bit like Mr. Smith on his first trip to Washington. My eyes agape, my brain pulling up enough reserve energy to keep my jaw from dropping in wonder and delight. I spot my destination, a sign pointing down a set of stairs. Here I'll warn against traveling with a lot of luggage, or a single heavy bag of luggage, while a lot of areas have elevators or escalators, there still may be a bit of stair climbing. Not fun with 40 pounds of luggage.

I trudge my way down the stairs to find myself at the bottom, almost face to face with a police officer holding a rather threatening looking automatic weapon. That's a fine welcome to Gatwick that I wasn't expecting. I smile and bite my tongue to keep from making any jokes.

The train on the track to my right is getting ready to leave; I opt for the one leaving next on the track to my left. It sits there, silent, empty. The doors closed. I wait. And prepare for a lesson that will serve me well in London.

And I waited.

You see, in the United States, we really don't have commuter trains, so it's not like I have any experience on them. We do have subways and I do have a lot of experience on them when I lived in Washington DC. But the thing is...all the doors open automatically at stations.

So here I stood, off to the side, looking at a train with closed doors.

And I start wondering, is this train in service?

Finally, someone else walks up to the door, pushes a button on it and the doors magically open. Aha! Lesson learned, because on the Underground, if you get to a station where no one else is getting off, the doors won't open, unless you hit the button, or swing the lever. Luckily, I learned that here and not three stations past the one I wanted in London.

So, I stepped onto the train, wrestled my luggage into the rack and found a seat. Soon the train started filling up with other people and soon we were departing Gatwick.

Next stop, central London.

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