Into The Great Wide Open

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Well we have I have now arrived here in London so now seems like the best time to kick this off.

My mate Bevan and I have had a really good trip over which took the best part of a day in a half. Having not been on a long haul flight before I didn’t quite know what to expect but I can now confirm that international air travel is pretty much like being hungover and crammed into a small cage with zero leg room for 24 hours. But without the fun of generating the hangover mind you.

We flew Air NZ from Auckland to San Francisco in one of their new 777 planes which proved to be superb for the 12 hour journey. I didn't see a single person going to San Francisco with flowers in their hair though, so that song is a crock. In the back of each seat were these screens which linked to a central drive with heaps of the latest movies, CDs, tv shows and even computer games on it so we were kept thouroughly entertained all the way. I got all the way to the million dollar question on the Who Wants to Be A Millionaire computer game but ran out of lifelines when it mattered! Air NZ really were excellent with great food and constantly asking us if we would like something (we were on the OJs rather than the booze). We then arrived in San Fran and managed to charm our way past US Immigration (every one of them was packing a holstered hand gun so I kept the bomb jokes to an absolute minimum) and head to the Virgin Atlantic counter where we had to recheck in our bags for the last leg to London. Much to our surprise this lady saw that we were two good kiwi boys and brought us straight through, so we didn't even get our bags checked by Homeland Security and Customs even though we could have walked straight from the airport with a load of WMDs and kakapo eggs if we had them. We had 4 hours to kill in San Fran so we headed straight for an airport bar for some celebratory Budweisers (thanks for the US cash Mum & Dad - we put it to good use!).

We then boarded our Virgin Atlantic flight for the 10 hour flight to London Heathrow and arrived without too many problems. When we checked in they noted that I was tall and offered me the extra leg room of an emergency door seat. That sounded superb right up to the point where they wanted $100 for the seat upgrades - what a bunch of pirates!

We were met at Heathrow by a friend who is already well versed in the art of living here, so with her help we managed to negotiate the London Underground without too much trouble. Boy it was hot and stuffy though - probably about 30 deg most of the day, which is a far cry from polar Wellington and not really the "foggy London town" that Ron Burgundy went on about. One thing I learnt is that the Poms don’t like being called Poms - and here I was thinking it was a term of endearment. But they’ll always be Poms to me …

Tonight has been spent acclimatising myself with London by doing what the Londoners do - go to the pub for a few pints and a steak sandwich. Pretty good pub really - I have noted it and I shall certainly return another day. I am staying with a friend in Putney at the moment although tomorrow morning we are heading back to Heathrow to fly out to Athens for the next leg of the great adventure.

Stay tuned!

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Photos

King of Beers
Well not really but Bud was all they had on tap at San Francisco airport. Would have killed for a Speights.

Which Way To Putney?
Managed to master the tube first time around, but only just!

Comments

[Kat]

Are they matching T shirts?