Because of how difficult it is to get tickets and how it probably won't fit into my schedule in the future, I've decided to get there tomorrow by all means to make the pilgrimage to the spiritual home of tennis at least once before the end of my student life.
I'm going to have to queue for tickets in the morning, and the website recommends that I arrive at the turnstiles at 5.30 am to avoid disappointment. This will allow me to purchase the Ground Pass, which gives access to all of the matches tomorrow except those happening on the show courts. They release only 1500 of those tickets on the day, so gain entry to those means queueing up for a day early, which is something I'm not nearly ready to do yet but maybe I'll get lucky tomorrow, who knows? :)
I'll update this through out from time to time to let people know what's going on. The entire trip hinges on getting to Wimbledon at 5.30 am tomorrow to make sure I don't miss out on tickets, so let this epic journey begin!
The Day Before
5.10 pm - Confirmed reservation at a small hotel near Waterloo. I'll be taking the 0500 train from here to Wimbledon so it's better not to disturb a friends.
5.30 pm - Showered and packed! A change of clothes, cap, toiletries, iPod, camera, chargers, book and water bottle and I'm ready to go! Am trying to catch the 1811 or 1837 train down to London so I can make time for dinner before checking in.
6.00 pm - Arrived at Coventry Rail Station and bought my train tickets. Unfortunately the 1811 train is delayed by 20 minutes. If I knew I wouldn't have rushed so much *grumbles*. Anyhow it's just enough time to grab a snack from the train shop before boarding the train.
6.27 pm - Train finally arrives and I am en route to London Euston! I downloaded the Wimbledon app onto my phone earlier. Should make for some interesting reading along the way :)
7.27 pm - Arrived in London and it's blazing hot! Thank goodness I'm in short pants and have my cap with me. Hopefully this weather lasts until tomorrow! Not a lot of people in the tube, which is surprising, but those who are seem to be working up a nice tan for themselves! Maybe I'll get one too tomorrow :P
9.30 pm - Checked into the hotel and the first thing I noticed was that there was no air con in the room! Opened up the window and hopefully London will cool down later at night. Gonna take a cold shower and watch some news before retiring early tonight. Alarm has been set for 4 am tomorrow. Can't wait!
Game Day
3.00 am - Woke up super early because of the sheer heat in the room. Can't believe London can actually get this hot! Another cold shower and some rolls for breakfast and I'm ready to go. If the weather continues I might need to switch back to short pants for the day!
5.00 am - Arrived at the hallow ground an immediately join the queue. From the looks of things it's going to be a brilliant sunny day with lots of tennis to be played. Let's hope they do the weather justice! Can see the overnight campers starting to stir. Am in the queue with a nice Danish family who's flown in to support Wozniacki. Good luck to her and them!
7 am - Time for a spot of breakfast! The queue's grown to 5 lines now and still growing, surely they can't let everybody in? Can see footballs and frisbees flying around in the far corners of Wimbledon Park, while the stalls start opening for breakfast. Everybody seem to be in good spirits as the stewards start ushering the first campers through to the ticket counter. Hopefully it won't be long now :)
~Zhongy~
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