London Blog Pt. 1 - "An interesting arrival"
Well, at last I am in London. And by "at last" I mean that both figuratively (I've been wanting to come back since I left back in January) and more literally (it's a really long travel day to get here). I'm completely knackered. ;) For whatever reason I couldn't sleep on the plane so in the past 24+ hours I've gotten about 1 hour of sleep. I took off Monday evening and landed Tuesday afternoon. Yay for time differences.
The flight started off well but was a little bumpy throughout and then got really bad as we came in for landing. We were bouncing around pretty badly and when the back wheels touched town I was very relieved. That relief was short-lived when we suddenly felt the front of the plane jerk to the side while the front wheels were still above the ground. Thank goodness for pilots who know what they're doing! I know I'm not the only passenger who had the recent events in San Francisco on their minds during that moment. But we landed and all was well. They didn't have a gate for us so the rolled up a flight of stairs for us to disembark and then we hopped on a bus to take us to Terminal 5. That's the first time I've done that in at least 20 years, and probably the first time I've exited a 747 in that manner. It was pretty cool and gave me an immediate sense of the weather here right now. Gorgeous! Sunny and cool with not a cloud in the sky. Very different from January.
The line at the border check was pretty quick and my bag was already coming out as I got to baggage claim. A quick stop to top up my Oyster card and then short trip down the lift to the Tube and I was on my way into the City. I got to Liverpool Street Station near my friend's flat before rush hour and after lifting my bags up and down a bunch of stairs and all the walking around the Underground I was grateful they only live a couple streets away from the station. They live above next to a Caffe Nero coffee shop so already I know I'm in trouble. :)
I've spent the last few hours chilling with my adorable "nephew" Alex (I love that my best friends all have kids that I can spoil!) and my dear friend Alicia. It's so good to see them and have all this time to spend with them.
For now, it's been a long day/couple of days. I'm going to eat and then probably get to sleep early...or early-ish.
I haven't really started taking photos yet, but here's a few I got from the past 24 hours.
The flight started off well but was a little bumpy throughout and then got really bad as we came in for landing. We were bouncing around pretty badly and when the back wheels touched town I was very relieved. That relief was short-lived when we suddenly felt the front of the plane jerk to the side while the front wheels were still above the ground. Thank goodness for pilots who know what they're doing! I know I'm not the only passenger who had the recent events in San Francisco on their minds during that moment. But we landed and all was well. They didn't have a gate for us so the rolled up a flight of stairs for us to disembark and then we hopped on a bus to take us to Terminal 5. That's the first time I've done that in at least 20 years, and probably the first time I've exited a 747 in that manner. It was pretty cool and gave me an immediate sense of the weather here right now. Gorgeous! Sunny and cool with not a cloud in the sky. Very different from January.
The line at the border check was pretty quick and my bag was already coming out as I got to baggage claim. A quick stop to top up my Oyster card and then short trip down the lift to the Tube and I was on my way into the City. I got to Liverpool Street Station near my friend's flat before rush hour and after lifting my bags up and down a bunch of stairs and all the walking around the Underground I was grateful they only live a couple streets away from the station. They live above next to a Caffe Nero coffee shop so already I know I'm in trouble. :)
I've spent the last few hours chilling with my adorable "nephew" Alex (I love that my best friends all have kids that I can spoil!) and my dear friend Alicia. It's so good to see them and have all this time to spend with them.
For now, it's been a long day/couple of days. I'm going to eat and then probably get to sleep early...or early-ish.
I haven't really started taking photos yet, but here's a few I got from the past 24 hours.
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| Polyvore set for my travel outfit, or in the case of some items (like the coat and bag) a rough approximation. |
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| I always have to get my Starbucks before a flight. Also started writing in my travel journal while waiting at the gate. |
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| I think I have a travel companion again. Stay tuned for more adventures of the Talking Squirrel. |
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| Free copy of the FT for the flight. So I could sound super smart and informed when I land. Or not. |
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| Goodbye Phoenix! |
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| Map your journey on the inflight entertainment system. We're getting closer! |
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| Breakfast box! |
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| Flying over Ireland. |
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| Leaving our plane. |
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| Spending some time above ground while on the Underground. |
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| View from the back window of my friend's flat. |
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| And a modern London landmark is the view from the front. I'm in London! :) |
Oooh... I've seen that building on Doctor Who :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad you got there safely.
I remember the first time I went over there (my first trip out of North America). Even though I was 19 and should have known better, I was vaguely surprised that the ground was the same color and the grass looked like...well, grass.
Yeah, it's a pretty recognizable building, it gets used in a lot of shows and films.
DeleteAnd I kind of know what you mean. Compared to Phoenix, London seems like another planet almost. Or rather, Phoenix feels like an alien planet and London seems like the real world. :)