June 13 (Friday the 13th) - A Day Where Lots of Bad Stuff Happened But I Experienced One Awesome Thing That Made It All Worth It

So I've definitely had better days. I woke up in the morning feeling fine, but shortly after I got out of bed I started to feel... weird. Like sick, pukey weird. Unfortunately, the sick feeling turned into an actual sickness. I ended up vomiting twice in the bathroom and felt like I could barely move for roughly 3 hours. Paige was an absolute gem. We had reservations with the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Tour, so she called them and moved our time to later in the day. She got me food and 7-Up (which only kind of made it worse, but it was the thought that counted). She was patient and sweet the whole time.

The receptionist came in to tell us that we were going to have to check out soon (it was nearly noon), and as soon as she saw me curled up in a ball on the bed she asked me if she needed to call an ambulance. So many thoughts went through my head. What was wrong with me? Was it something I ate? Was I dehydrated? Did my gallbladder explode? What if I had to go to the hospital? What is I had to get sent home? What if I died?

Thankfully, we didn't do anything drastic. The hostel workers were so so so kind to us. They let us stay a couple hours longer. I ended up taking a two hour nap and between the nap and taking Dramamine, felt better afterwards. Thank goodness! Paige and I then took a train to the Warner Bros. Studios and finally got into the tour at 5:00. We were five hours behind schedule, but oh well.

Let me tell you what, the Harry Potter Tour was AMAZING!!! I absolutely recommend it to each and every HP fan out there. It was totally fascinating. I had goosebumps the entire time and even teared up every now and then. Basically, it's this huge building that has a bunch of the props and costumes and furniture and stuff that was used to film the actual movies. There were TVs everywhere showing behind-the-scene type footage. There were rooms where you could ride a broomstick with a green screen behind you and you could even buy a video of you flying! They had sketches and models and everything you could imagine. They even had butterbeer! It was delicious! And for the grand finale, there was a huge, gigantic model of the Hogwarts Castle! It absolutely blew my mind. Incredible. You have to see it.

The Cupboard Under the Bed

The Great Hall

Gryffindor Costumes

Dumbledore

Hogwarts Professors

Just some HP fanatics ;)

The Yule Ball
(Emma Watson's actually wore this dress... omg.)

Umbridge's Educational Decrees

The Cast's Wands

The Fat Lady

The Mirror of  Erised

Gryffindor Common Room

Big Clock

Potions Room

Pensieve

Dumbledore's Office

Secret Passageway to Dumbledore's Office

Hagrid's Hut

The Burrow

The Door to the Chamber of Secrets

Bad Ministry of Magic Statue

Voldemort Voldemort oh Voldy Voldemort!

Death Eaters

Paper Props

Paige and I on the Hogwarts Bridge

The Knight Bus

Privet Drive

Tom Riddle's Gravestone

Butterbeer! Yum!!
(non-alcoholic)

Chess Pieces

Ollivander's

Weasley Wizard Wheezes

Diagon Alley

Hogwarts

Whomping Willow

Hogwarts Castle! Left me speechless.

Wands!

I'm going to wrap the next bit up fast. Long story short: we took the train back to central London, rode the tube back to the Heathrow airport, and got on a bus to Oxford. When we arrived, it was pouring rain and nearly midnight. There was a bunch of drunk college students wandering the streets and (thankfully) policeman patrolling the place. The hostel we had reservations for closed at 11:00, so it was locked. We didn't have anywhere to sleep! We asked some policeman for help, and they pointed us in the direction of another hostel. Unfortunately, they couldn't check us in at 1:00 am. So we found ANOTHER hostel that was open 24 hours. The receptionist was so kind! She gave us free wi-fi and towels because we looked tired and cold (basically we looked pathetic).

All in all, Friday the 13th didn't start or end too great for us. Thankfully, the Harry Potter Tour was amazing and definitely worth our time. Neither of us regretted taking the time to go there even though it cost us our hostel reservations and caused us trouble settling in at Oxford.