Day One - T minus 3 hours and counting
Aug. 2nd, 2003 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolfsbrideToday is the big day. Will get to see Viccy in about nine and a half hours. Or so my itinitary says. We'll see.
Bleh... There's a lot of stuff I left undone since I was too damn lazy to get around to it. Hope it doesn't come back to bite me on the ass.
Stayed up most of the night packing and trying to get stuff off my two laptops. There's a story there but I won't rant about it. Sufficed to say that I strongly advise people NOT to buy Compaq Laptops.
Getting ready to go was the usual madness. My mom is hovering and nagging AND I still need to pick up my heart meds. That's another story all together. But fortunately we can stop on the way to the airport and get them.
Oh for the love of Mike! Got to pick up the meds but had to go back home since I'd forgotten my watch. Yeah, I know. They have a really BIG clock in London but it's just not the same :)
Anyway... Onto to the getting there!
WB
Got to the airport the reccommended two hours before take off. There's a HUGE MASSIVE line up. I'm wondering if I'll make it through in time.
Luckily, someone came around and asked where I was flying to and I got to go stand in a MUCH shorter line. Went to the area where I go through security. Mom was herself. Said goodbye. Yay :)
The security line wasn't at all bad. They make you put some types of stuff in a separate tray for them to inspect. Some of the men had to take off their belts, shoes and one guy had to take off his jacket because it had lots of metal badges and such. I had to take the laptop out so they could scan it. Since I thought they'd be like open your bags and lets see what you've got, it was a pleasant surprise.
I'm waiting at my Gate now. There's about thirty minutes left before boarding starts. There's a screaming kid in our section and I'm sincerely hoping that he's not going to end up in the same section I am. I hate that.
Also, can you believe that I couldn't get any foreign currency!?!??!? What the hell??? I went to the major banks in my city and they were all like.. we only deal in US funds.
Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw O_o I guess I'll have to ATM it, but that's seriously screwed. I should have anticipated that though because when I went to Japan the banks carried a maxium of TWO HUNDRED YEN. Which is like TWO FUCKING COINS for those of you that don't know. That's incredibly stupid in my opinion.
Whee.... We're being called to board. It's one o'clock. Will scribble more later.
**** Written after the fact as there was no room to write in real time ****
Holy crud! I guess I don't know planes. I'd have thought a Boeing 767 would have more room. Seats were incredibly cramped. The aisle was super narrow as well. I kept wondering what non skinny people do when they fly. I'm not super huge and I was very uncomfortable.
There was no room in the overhead bin for my stuff. Frigging hogs!!! I had to put my stuff down on the floor. That added to the discomfort since that took away the SMALL amount of leg room I did have.
My area wasn't bad. The guy next to me didn't bug me. The window seat was a joke. I think they must have added seats because I had a nice view of the column BETWEEN the windows. I was able to look out the two halves though, so that wasn't too bad.
Taking off and climbing was as interesting as ever. My seat was over the wing. YAY! I wonder if I'm the only person that likes to sit there. Kept thinking about all the airplane disaster movies as I watched the engines and the flaps move. And I thought about William Shatner's gremlin.
Heh... It's probably airport policy not to show those sorts of movies during flights. Lol...
Flying over the Rocky Mountains was just as breath taking as usual. I can really see why the Indians called it the backbone of the world. It does look like a ridged spine.
Some of the mountains were bare but others had snow. And some were hollowed out on top. Those ones were filled with water. Made them look like huge bathtubs. You can also see where they've been over logged. Massive bald spots :(
Managed to sleep for quite a bit on the flight. No screaming kids. Just one little one that fussed a bit but she was very good. Long flight for a baby.
Dinner was chicken and rice. Was very good amazingly enough. The three bean salad wasn't great though. Wrong marinade I think. They showed Down With Love and Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger. Didn't listen, just kinda eyed it once in awhile.
Breakfast was juice, yogurt and a danish. With raisins. EWWW! We landed at 6:45am. Only 15 minutes late so not bad.
The BAD thing was that we landed at Terminal 3. Yikes! That should have warned me how it was going to go because I was SUPPPOSED to land at Terminal 4. Oh bother.
Had to line up to get cleared to get my luggage!?!?!? Wish someone had mentioned it. I would have definitely shipped my clothes.
Had to stand in the line for an hour. The teller I finally got to was nice though. She was wearing a hair covering thing. I can never remember the name. She welcomed me home when she saw that I was born in London. I thought that was sweet.
Got my bags really quickly. They must have been the last to go on because they came off first. It was about 8am. Viccy's flight comes in at 9am.
I checked the monitor to make sure she was still landing at Terminal 2 since they messed up with mine. Yep, still Terminal 2. It was about 8:30am by the time I hiked all the way to Terminal 2. Gods, Heathrow is fucking huge!
Waited til 10:00am getting more and more worried all the time. Went to phone her cell a few times but it didn't do any good. Finally decided to hike back to Terminal 3 to their info desk. Viccy landed at Terminal 1. ARRRGH!
Hiked all the way to Terminal 1. Waited some more. So tired and my feet ache like hell. Kept thinking that she wouldn't have left without me. She MUST be here, somewhere. Limped to the info desk and asked them to page her.
Of course, since I can't pronounce her first name I ask them to page Ms. Vee Estelrich. Hopefully she'll recognize her last name. Waited some more.
Found someplace to to buy some water. YAY! Was so parched. Oh. Took forever to find a bank machine that worked with my friggin card. And then when I did, I could only take out fifty pounds!?!?! Will denfinitely be talking to my bank when I return.
Finally, I hear MY name being paged. I go to the desk and they're like... We didn't page you. Can I bang my head against something now???
Anyway, got them to find out WHERE the page came from. YAY!!! Have FOUND Viccy. Was great to hear her voice! Told her to 'please come get me. Wah!' Waited some more.
Viccy arrived! YAY! We hug! YAY! Jars say hihi to each other! YAY! All are happy :)
But... Our happiness does not last. Went to the counter to exchange the travel vouchers for cards. Only get two. Was supposed to get four -_-.
Lady was really rude. Was not impressed. Also was not impressed with the layout of Heathrow. Will either fly to Gatwick or one of the others if I should come here again.
Finally on our way! Took the Heathrow express to Paddington station. Viccy keeps calling it the Hogwarts Express. I keep calling her insane.
Took a cab from Paddington to our hotel. Felt kinda silly since it was like five minutes away but it would have seemed like more with all the luggage we had to lug.
Got to our hotel. Piccolini. Makes me think of Piccolo :) The guy who checked us in is cute and has a wunnerful accent. Sounds like he's sleepy. And now I'm having naughty thoughts about the poor man.
Hotel is nice. Clean. The hall are very narrow. Must be an old building. Our room is great! Again small. But its clean.
The walls are pale yellow. Hardwood floor. Two twin beds. Very nice beds. A wardrobe for our clothes. A very tiny bathroom with shower. A tv and an electric pot to make tea or coffee. For fifty pounds a night this is great!
Oh, a large window that we probably can't close. Viccy wonders if someone will climb through while we sleep. Lets hope not :) Room 8 is our number.
Babbled with Viccy for a few hours. Thought about going out to get something to eat as the hotel has no in house restaurant but we ended up not going anywhere as it was too hot and I was too tired and all achy feet.
We checked it at 1230pm and fell asleep around 9pm. Not bad considering how wiped out we both were. Of course, I woke up at 3am.
And thus was Day One
Bleh... There's a lot of stuff I left undone since I was too damn lazy to get around to it. Hope it doesn't come back to bite me on the ass.
Stayed up most of the night packing and trying to get stuff off my two laptops. There's a story there but I won't rant about it. Sufficed to say that I strongly advise people NOT to buy Compaq Laptops.
Getting ready to go was the usual madness. My mom is hovering and nagging AND I still need to pick up my heart meds. That's another story all together. But fortunately we can stop on the way to the airport and get them.
Oh for the love of Mike! Got to pick up the meds but had to go back home since I'd forgotten my watch. Yeah, I know. They have a really BIG clock in London but it's just not the same :)
Anyway... Onto to the getting there!
WB
Got to the airport the reccommended two hours before take off. There's a HUGE MASSIVE line up. I'm wondering if I'll make it through in time.
Luckily, someone came around and asked where I was flying to and I got to go stand in a MUCH shorter line. Went to the area where I go through security. Mom was herself. Said goodbye. Yay :)
The security line wasn't at all bad. They make you put some types of stuff in a separate tray for them to inspect. Some of the men had to take off their belts, shoes and one guy had to take off his jacket because it had lots of metal badges and such. I had to take the laptop out so they could scan it. Since I thought they'd be like open your bags and lets see what you've got, it was a pleasant surprise.
I'm waiting at my Gate now. There's about thirty minutes left before boarding starts. There's a screaming kid in our section and I'm sincerely hoping that he's not going to end up in the same section I am. I hate that.
Also, can you believe that I couldn't get any foreign currency!?!??!? What the hell??? I went to the major banks in my city and they were all like.. we only deal in US funds.
Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw O_o I guess I'll have to ATM it, but that's seriously screwed. I should have anticipated that though because when I went to Japan the banks carried a maxium of TWO HUNDRED YEN. Which is like TWO FUCKING COINS for those of you that don't know. That's incredibly stupid in my opinion.
Whee.... We're being called to board. It's one o'clock. Will scribble more later.
**** Written after the fact as there was no room to write in real time ****
Holy crud! I guess I don't know planes. I'd have thought a Boeing 767 would have more room. Seats were incredibly cramped. The aisle was super narrow as well. I kept wondering what non skinny people do when they fly. I'm not super huge and I was very uncomfortable.
There was no room in the overhead bin for my stuff. Frigging hogs!!! I had to put my stuff down on the floor. That added to the discomfort since that took away the SMALL amount of leg room I did have.
My area wasn't bad. The guy next to me didn't bug me. The window seat was a joke. I think they must have added seats because I had a nice view of the column BETWEEN the windows. I was able to look out the two halves though, so that wasn't too bad.
Taking off and climbing was as interesting as ever. My seat was over the wing. YAY! I wonder if I'm the only person that likes to sit there. Kept thinking about all the airplane disaster movies as I watched the engines and the flaps move. And I thought about William Shatner's gremlin.
Heh... It's probably airport policy not to show those sorts of movies during flights. Lol...
Flying over the Rocky Mountains was just as breath taking as usual. I can really see why the Indians called it the backbone of the world. It does look like a ridged spine.
Some of the mountains were bare but others had snow. And some were hollowed out on top. Those ones were filled with water. Made them look like huge bathtubs. You can also see where they've been over logged. Massive bald spots :(
Managed to sleep for quite a bit on the flight. No screaming kids. Just one little one that fussed a bit but she was very good. Long flight for a baby.
Dinner was chicken and rice. Was very good amazingly enough. The three bean salad wasn't great though. Wrong marinade I think. They showed Down With Love and Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger. Didn't listen, just kinda eyed it once in awhile.
Breakfast was juice, yogurt and a danish. With raisins. EWWW! We landed at 6:45am. Only 15 minutes late so not bad.
The BAD thing was that we landed at Terminal 3. Yikes! That should have warned me how it was going to go because I was SUPPPOSED to land at Terminal 4. Oh bother.
Had to line up to get cleared to get my luggage!?!?!? Wish someone had mentioned it. I would have definitely shipped my clothes.
Had to stand in the line for an hour. The teller I finally got to was nice though. She was wearing a hair covering thing. I can never remember the name. She welcomed me home when she saw that I was born in London. I thought that was sweet.
Got my bags really quickly. They must have been the last to go on because they came off first. It was about 8am. Viccy's flight comes in at 9am.
I checked the monitor to make sure she was still landing at Terminal 2 since they messed up with mine. Yep, still Terminal 2. It was about 8:30am by the time I hiked all the way to Terminal 2. Gods, Heathrow is fucking huge!
Waited til 10:00am getting more and more worried all the time. Went to phone her cell a few times but it didn't do any good. Finally decided to hike back to Terminal 3 to their info desk. Viccy landed at Terminal 1. ARRRGH!
Hiked all the way to Terminal 1. Waited some more. So tired and my feet ache like hell. Kept thinking that she wouldn't have left without me. She MUST be here, somewhere. Limped to the info desk and asked them to page her.
Of course, since I can't pronounce her first name I ask them to page Ms. Vee Estelrich. Hopefully she'll recognize her last name. Waited some more.
Found someplace to to buy some water. YAY! Was so parched. Oh. Took forever to find a bank machine that worked with my friggin card. And then when I did, I could only take out fifty pounds!?!?! Will denfinitely be talking to my bank when I return.
Finally, I hear MY name being paged. I go to the desk and they're like... We didn't page you. Can I bang my head against something now???
Anyway, got them to find out WHERE the page came from. YAY!!! Have FOUND Viccy. Was great to hear her voice! Told her to 'please come get me. Wah!' Waited some more.
Viccy arrived! YAY! We hug! YAY! Jars say hihi to each other! YAY! All are happy :)
But... Our happiness does not last. Went to the counter to exchange the travel vouchers for cards. Only get two. Was supposed to get four -_-.
Lady was really rude. Was not impressed. Also was not impressed with the layout of Heathrow. Will either fly to Gatwick or one of the others if I should come here again.
Finally on our way! Took the Heathrow express to Paddington station. Viccy keeps calling it the Hogwarts Express. I keep calling her insane.
Took a cab from Paddington to our hotel. Felt kinda silly since it was like five minutes away but it would have seemed like more with all the luggage we had to lug.
Got to our hotel. Piccolini. Makes me think of Piccolo :) The guy who checked us in is cute and has a wunnerful accent. Sounds like he's sleepy. And now I'm having naughty thoughts about the poor man.
Hotel is nice. Clean. The hall are very narrow. Must be an old building. Our room is great! Again small. But its clean.
The walls are pale yellow. Hardwood floor. Two twin beds. Very nice beds. A wardrobe for our clothes. A very tiny bathroom with shower. A tv and an electric pot to make tea or coffee. For fifty pounds a night this is great!
Oh, a large window that we probably can't close. Viccy wonders if someone will climb through while we sleep. Lets hope not :) Room 8 is our number.
Babbled with Viccy for a few hours. Thought about going out to get something to eat as the hotel has no in house restaurant but we ended up not going anywhere as it was too hot and I was too tired and all achy feet.
We checked it at 1230pm and fell asleep around 9pm. Not bad considering how wiped out we both were. Of course, I woke up at 3am.
And thus was Day One
