The blog is evolving!
Stay tuned for new features including journey maps, some missing posts, linked photo albums, minor tweaks and ultimately... the earlier trips...
Finally, London. What a mess of an airport but fortunately no dramas with getting out, it was surprisingly easy. It was two hours until Sarah was due so I sat around waiting and I desperately wanted a shower!
She arrived and we jumped on the tube to go meet Mim and we then headed to Julia's place in Hackney (it's as dodgy as it sounds!) where we were staying.
The first thing we decided to do was do as the Romans... er... do as the Londiniums do. So we went to the football. We had to become West Ham members to buy tickets bet we watched them thump Aston Villa 4-0. Gwennie joined us (hadn't seen her since she finished up on Wivenhoe) and hopefully we'll see her a few more times before this trip is over.
Now this is football!
Found some dodgy chicken place and finally, I could sleep. After being awake for 32hours or more, I needed it!
This is a perfect example of how you loose a day to travel... well, commuting really and as a passenger, there's nothing I can do to make it any better or go quicker.
Sarah left this morning via Japan and I left early evening going a different route. I'm on an Emirates flight via two quick stops in Singapore and Dubai.
Growing up in Brisbane meant the biggest gun I had seen on a police officer was their sidearm. At Singapore airport police or army walk around with MP5's, something I had only seen in computer games. It was a fairly quiet and orderly experience.
Dubai was quite the opposite. The airport is huge and surrounded by construction. Gotta love oil! We landed, herded into a bus and then transported about 10 mins to a terminal. Here five flight loads of passengers converged in the one space. Many different languages could be heard and while initially I thought a 90 minute stopover would be enough time to make my connecting flight, I realised it might not. We were packed in like tinned sardines and waiting to see or hear when our flights were available.
Someone held up Heathrow and I worked my way through the crowd. From then I followed a procession through a few check points until I finally made it to the plane. I think I'd walked for about half an hour and the plane doors were closed a few minutes after we made it. I hope my luggage did!
London, here I come.
This trip is all Sarah's fault. At one point she asked if I'd go overseas with her and I said yes. Two months later she's telling me that she has her flight booked and I'd better get my butt into gear!
The plan is to meet up with Mim in England and head to Scotland and meeting Sarah's friends and family on the way. We are to meet Fiona in Paris, drive to Switzerland and finish up with a couple of weeks of pizza and pasta in Italy.
Sounds good, as long as I can get my end of the trip organised...
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