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Published: February 18th 2010
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Packing
Erin gets all her gear together. Well let me say hello and welcome to my blog.
My name is Paul and I hope to detail the adventures of the round the world trip I am currently embarking on with my partner of almost 3 years, Erin. We have spent the better part of 8 months planning and saving for this trip of a lifetime and I'm glad to say that it’s been worth every penny.
Before I jump in, let me tell you a little about us both. We're proud Australians and call Perth home. I work for a large software company and Erin is in the government. We are both children of the 80's and are enjoying our mid-20's before we reach that next milestone of marriage, kids and...well you know the rest. 😊
So without further adieu, let us begin.
Day One 12/13 February 2010
Location: Perth > Hong Kong > London
Hotel: Premier Inn Southwark
We begin at Perth Airport on the evening of the 12th of February. Erin had been preparing for the trip for the entire day, while I worked away until late into the afternoon. After some rushed packing and preparing the house for our departure,
Almost time
an initial photo to commerate the planning stage of the trip. about 4 hours from the airport at this point! we were finally at the airport and on the cusp of starting our trip.
Accompanying us at the airport were Erin’s mother and nan, Gail and June, as well as her best friend Janelle (referred to from this point as “Nelly”). After checking our bags, exploring the duty free store and enjoying one last coffee together, it was time to pass through passport control and begin out trip. The goodbyes were emotional, as we knew they would be. Erin and her mother are especially close and have never been separated for longer than 2-3 weeks. Understandably an absence of six weeks is considerably more, and as such, the goodbyes were teary.
We moved into passport control at approximately 10:30pm, being held up for a few minutes as we had not been provided with the necessary forms to actually leave the country (there is always something) and before we knew it, we were through to the departure lounge and awaiting boarding. Now I should mention at this point that we predominantly fly with QANTAS within Australia and to the US of A. However as we had booked this trip via One World, I decided to utilise a number of
Heathrow Express
Looking pretty tired, but spirits are still high while we ride the Heathrow Express to Paddington different carriers to ensure the travel times were suitable to maximise our time in each location. As a result, we were flying our first leg to London with Cathay Pacific.
Now I must admit, I am a creature of habit and as such, I enjoy QANTAS as I am secure with their consistent mediocrity. I understand the procedures; know the planes and the seat configurations and I accept the awful meals and no longer hope for a decent movie. So you can imagine my surprise upon boarding the Cathay Pacific flight (CX170 from Perth) when I was presented with larger seats, a larger and more expansive personal AVOD system, a pleasant safety message and an overall higher level of quality. Not to mention, this was the first flight I have been on where I wasn’t reduced to inches of space when the obnoxious person in front drops their seat all the way back 30 seconds after the seatbelt light is extinguished.
Erin and I sat back, joked as the plane taxi-ed and enjoyed the rather smooth takeoff. At 11:30pm we departed Perth airport and made our way north to Hong Kong. I’ve never really had a problem with
Luggage
Our luggage on the rack on the HExpress flying, but I will admit, take-off always leaves me a little anxious for the minute or so after leaving the ground. Erin is much the same, but we cope well by chatting and general amusing each other.
And so our first leg was underway. What followed was 7 fairly pain-free hours of flight until we touched down for a 2 hour stopover in Hong Kong. After a small wander through the airport, we waited for our next flight and boarded a few minutes before 9am.
Flight CX257 departed Hong Kong at 9:20am and we started our 13 hour journey to London. By this time, we were both pretty exhausted. Having not slept much in the first flight, we both strived to sleep throughout this flight, but I don’t think either of us achieved anything more than maybe 3 hours of broken sleep throughout the entire flight.
The flight was long, fairly boring and turbulence free. After a short delay during our descent to Heathrow, we landed and left the plane about 3:15pm (GMT). Erin and I are pretty efficient people. Actually, I should state that I’m a fairly efficient person and in turn have learnt to drag
Tix
Our tickets on the heathrow express Erin along at a faster pace than she would normally be interested in travelling, but hey, she’s use to it. As a result, we were through immigration fairly quickly and onto the Heathrow express by 4pm.
Now on previous trips, we have normally opted for shuttles and taxis as our primary mode of airport to hotel transport. However I wanted to actually experience the highs and lows of travel on this trip and the challenges that face every day commuters who can’t always afford taxi’s or rental cars. Therefore we grabbed tickets for the Heathrow express and boarded a few minutes later. While the train tickets were a bit pricey, the express is so easy to navigate and takes you all the way to the heart of the London Tube network, Paddington Station. We quickly departed the express plane and purchased one-way tickets for the tube.
Within minutes we were underground and on our way to Southwark Station in Bankside, London. While navigating the London Tube network is easy, convenient and quick, we were about to make our first blunder of the trip. Now I can admit, I’m a bit of perfectionist, and as such, enjoy the challenge of travelling in new cities and countries without making too many mistakes. And as a man, I’m prone to have a lot of pride when it comes to “going in the right direction”. We walked out of Southwark Station and found the sky to be darkening (it was about 5:30pm by this stage and being winter in London, night was approaching rapidly). To add to the darkness, it was also raining. This made navigating the streets with luggage even more difficult (especially for Erin, who is challenged when it comes to rolling suitcase management, love you sweety ).
…And so we set off towards our hotel, or at least, we thought so. I soon discovered that a number of mistakes were about to make our first 30 minutes on the streets of London fairly miserable. In no particular order they were:
1. Southwark is not the closest tube station to our hotel (even though that is what their website stated). As a result, we had to walk about an extra 15 minutes in the rain and wind;
2. The map I was equipped with was not sufficient enough to locate our hotel through the maze of old streets and alley ways that litter bankside;
3. Our luggage was designed for portability, but when put to the test; we found the suitcases would not cope with the cobblestone streets and inclines we encountered along the away; and
4. 25 hours of sleep deprived travel did nothing to lift our spirits and motivation.
After much walking and frustration, we finally located the hotel and entered. We were wet and tired, but happy to finally be inside and moments away from a shower and warm bed. I spent months reviewing London hotels (I’m a bit picky when it comes to lodging. That will happen when you’re use to decent accommodation provided by your employer). I was relieved when we arrived to find the Premier Inn was not only clean and quiet, but the rooms also quite large (based upon what I was expecting from other blogs and reviews of London hotel rooms). The only thing it was lacking was a small fridge where we could store drinks.
Erin hit the shower and I ran downstairs to grab some food from the Nandos across the street. Not the sort of food we wanted to eat on our trip, but hey, we wanted something quick and easy to eat before hitting the sack.
And so after more than a day of travel, next to zero sleep and an unwelcoming first experience with the streets of London, we finally ended the day and fell to sleep without much effort.
Find out what happens next........Day 2 coming soon!
Paul & Erin
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Robyn and Gary Caporn
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What a great idea Paul. Will keep Gary informed of your trip as not one to use computer often at home. Keep safe. Robyn and Gary.