There's No Place like Home [Vacation]

This was it. Today was the day. Erin had been so excited for this trip that she had her bags packed at least a week in advance, adding to it every so often with something she thought she would need. She also found out just how hard it is to squeeze a week's worth of stuff into a carry-on size suitcase. She had woken up way too early for her own good, her eyes flying open at 5 a.m. She had tried to go back to sleep, but there was nothing she could do. So instead, she had cleaned her room, reorganized the entire dorm, and called her parents, letting them know that she was going to be heading back soon. They were just as excited as she was and she thought that she couldn't wait.

Glancing at the clock, she finally saw it was time to go. With an excited squeal, she threw some clothes on, threw her hair up in a ponytail, grabbed her things and ran out the door, ready to see Gabe and leave this place. She had been here way too long and the homesickness was hitting her hard. Practically flying out the door, Erin rushed through the dorm building, only stopping to push open doors and run down the stairs, ignoring the short pain from running into them so hard while she was trying to get to the entrance. She knew she made a racket as her bag hit the ground and rattled around, but she didn't care. She had made it to the entrance in record time, her breathing escalated as she looked around for Gabe. She had no idea if he would already be here or not considering she did get here a little early. In fact, she felt a little silly with how exhilarated she was about this trip. Hopefully Gabriel felt the same way. Hopefully he got here soon. They had a plane to catch.

Gabriel eagerly threw everything together last minute the night before the trip. He and Erin were going home! He had called his parents a few days ago and they were glad to finally see him, but his face had turned slightly red when he had mentioned that he was bringing Erin along. His parents thought the two were together. Gabriel furiously denied that, yet he couldn't help but smile. It was a hopeful thought, that the two were dating, but Erin had so far been fairly oblivious to the hints that he had subconsciously dropped.

Grabbing his suitcase, he dashed out of his dorm and headed for the entrance where his friend was waiting. Waving, he smiled at her. "Erin hey! Are you ready?" he asked excitedly. He couldn't wait to be going back to the UK for a few days. And, he'd be going to see Dublin as well, which he had never been there before. He wanted to see his sister again, it had almost been a year since he last saw her. He'd even missed her 16th birthday, although he had sent her a beautiful Native American necklace, which she had loved. "I can almost see the busy streets of London now." he added, smiling wider.

When Gabe finally showed up, Erin couldn't help but show off a big, toothy grin. It was almost as much of a rush seeing him ready to go too as it was to actively go. It took everything she had to hold back a squeal of happiness. "Am I ready? Is that even a question you need to ask?" she asked him, her grin turning into a playful smirk as she grabbed her bag off of the ground, squeezing it tight by its handle as she walked closer to him. "I'm glad you can see them. I'm so ready to visit and see your hometown! I've heard a lot about London. Is there anything I should know about it before we get there? I don't want to stick out more than I already would with my looks." It wasn't that she was worried about it too much, but she didn't want to mess anything up while they were there. She wanted both of them to have a good time.

As they stood there, it didn't take long for their ride to show up. It was a simple taxi that was going to take them to the airport. At first, Erin was impressed that there were taxis around here in the first place, but she had never been more thankful for it since the closest airport seemed to be a decent trek from where Beata was located. With a short honk, Erin turned to face the taxi. "I bet you didn't know I was excited about this," she teased as she pulled Gabriel towards their ride.

Gabe shook his head. "You'll be fine." he replied. Her excitedness was getting to him and he was getting pumped up, even when he's usually so relaxed. He laughed as she pulled him towards the taxi. "I had no idea.." he said smiling, rolling his eyes. He asked the taxi driver to pop the trunk, and when he did, Gabriel grabbed his and Erin's bags and placed them into the trunk, closing the lid. The Summer boy opened the back door of the vehicle and over exaggerated a gesture that signaled to her to enter.

She was so hyped for this trip that she barely noticed that Gabriel had grabbed her bag out of her hand. Well, it at least took her a few seconds to realize it. Looking at him with a curious but thankful look, she skipped over to his side for a moment, simply watching him place the bags in the trunk, even if it didn't take him a full minute to get it done. When he moved to the back door, opening it up for her, she giggled at his kind gesture. "Thank you!" She beamed, sliding into the back seat with a bit of an awkward movement. She wasn't used to having someone treat her like this and they hadn't even fully started their trip. She was used to doing a lot of stuff on her own since she was used to living with her two older brothers. Being on the other end of things was strange but oddly satisfying.

However, instead of allowing him to close the door and walk around, Erin slid through the back seat until she ended up on the opposite side of the car, looking at Gabe expectantly, almost impatiently waiting for him to climb in so that they could leave. With a goofy smile, she patted the seat next to her. "Come on in! I might be able to spare you some room in here. You can squeeze in right next to the door," she teased.

Gabriel smiled as she scooted over to make room for him. Climbing in after her, a little awkwardly, he buckled his seat belt. Telling the driver to take them to the airport, he looked over to Erin. "I still can't believe we're going home! This is going to be the greatest!" he said. "Ahh I can't wait!" The taxi took off a moment later, and the drive to the airport began. "So, when we get to London what do you want to do first?" he asked her, making the trip seem shorter by passing the time.

Erin grinned again as the taxi took off toward the airport. She could barely contain herself in her seat. Glancing over at Gabe as he asked her a question, she paused. That was something she hadn't thought much about. What were they going to do there? She knew of a few things in London but not much. "Um..." she pondered, trying to think of some kind of idea. "I don't really know. What is there to do in London? I mean, I'm sure there's plenty, but I don't know what's easy or really fun. I've always wanted to go on the Eye though!" She exclaimed, noting that was one of the only things she knew that was in London.

"Oh yeah the Eye is a brilliant sight at night time. I've never actually ridden it before, though. That's definitely something we're going to have to do." he said. He thought about what else they could do together, something fun and exciting. "We could go see Big Ben, although there's not much to actually do there. Uh.. we could go see the Shard, it's a magnificent building. Oh! And the Tower of London is really cool!" he told her. "We could also just walk around, and visit whatever we happen to walk by, that could be fun too."

As Gabe spoke, Erin could only sit there with wide, curious eyes as he went on and on about his hometown. It was so nice to see him so excited about where they were going and talking about what they could do while they were there. All of his ideas sounded so lovely. With a smile, she listened intently to every word, trying to imagine what each of those things would be like if they did it. She was most ready to ride the Eye and see the skyline of the city. She had always been told it was such a nice place, but now she was actually going there. "I love it!" she exclaimed, slapping her hands together. "We should do all of those things! We'll be there for a few days, right? Maybe we can split it all up to fit into the trip? I would love a tour of the city since I've never been. And we can visit all of your favorite places!"

And in what felt like almost no time at all, the car was already pulling up to the airport, slowing to a halt outside of where they needed to be.

OOC: just to speed things up to the actual vacation if that's okay ;w;

OOC: No worries, you can do as many time skips as needed, and I will do one right now.

IC: They made it through the airport with no problem, and the plane ride was easier than that, although it was a long one. Stepping off the plane, Gabriel took a deep breath. "It feels so good to be back home!" he told Erin. "But it's so late." The plane had taken off at 9 am, but the flight had taken 8 hours, plus the time zone difference made things difficult. It was actually midnight in London. "Quick, let's get to the hotel." he said, heading to the airport entrance to hail a cab.

That was the craziest part of the plane ride to London. The sun went down a whole lot faster than it normally did as they crossed the several time zones between North Dakota and here, and it threw her off. The clock said midnight, but she wasn't anywhere close to being tired. As they exited the plane, though, she stretched tall, enjoying the feeling of being free again from that cramped space. It was getting a little too much for her in the midst of all of those people. With a smile, she quickly followed Gabriel, loving how much he was already enjoying this. "I can't believe it's so late here. I wish I could say I was tired..." she muttered as her eyes glanced at everything around her. It was so different from what she was used to. Everything looked amazing! "Aw, do we have to find the hotel right now? I want to get a good look at everything! It's so pretty!" she mused but continued to follow him anyway. She knew they needed to get to the hotel and get checked in. As they got to the front of the airport, it didn't take long for them to find a cab surprisingly and she quickly climbed in, having a hard time getting used to the left-sided driving again.

The ride in the taxi was a short one and they paid the driver before stepping out. Grabbing their things, they made their way inside the hotel, checking in. Before long, they each had a key card to their room and entering the room, Gabriel breathed in deeply. He loved hotels, although they'd only be spending the rest of this night in one before they went to the Summer's parent's house. The room was spacious, with two twin-sized beds and a large tv in one area of the room and a full kitchenette on the other side of the room. Tossing his stuff down on the furthest bed, he sat down. "This is a fancy room. The school must be rich, eh?" he said, smiling at the girl.

She was glad that the cab ride didn't take long, but she was enthralled with the sights of the city. Everything was so large and beautiful. She couldn't keep her eyes away from the window as they drove through the streets, only peeling her gaze off of the buildings around them when they finally stopped in front of the hotel. Scampering out of the car, she quickly grabbed her bags and followed behind Gabriel into the hotel where they finally got their key and headed inside. The architecture of the building was absolutely stunning. Even the room itself as they walked in and turned lights on was freakishly nice. She didn't even know hotels could look this good. How much money was the school putting into this trip anyway?

Lazily tossing her own belongings onto the closest bed, she plopped down on the end of it as her eyes studied the room further. "Rich might be an understatement. How much do you think this room cost? It's got so much in it!" In some ways, it was overwhelming, but it was way too exciting for her to care. They were finally here! Lying back and sprawling on the bed, Erin let out a loud sigh of relaxation as her tense muscles from the cramped plane right could finally stretch out. Looking over at her current roommate, she smiled. "So how does it feel to be back?" she asked him, her red hair poured over the bed.

"It feels fantastic! I'm so glad to be home!" he said, sitting back in his bed. He stretched and let out a contented sigh. In a few short hours, they'd be out and about in his home town. He wondered if anything had changed in just under a year away. "What do you think of London so far?" he asked the girl.

She giggled at how giddy he got about being back. It was nice that he was so happy. "It's a beautiful city!" she replied. "I almost can't stop looking at it." Suddenly she got an idea. Jumping up off of the bed, she got to her feet and walked to the window, tossing open the curtains to get a view of the outside. It was a gorgeous view of the tops of the buildings around them, lights gleaming for miles. After a minute or so, she finally turned around and stared at the summer again. "I can't believe that you live here! I would love to stay. I feel like there's so much to do here."