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London Trip Report - Day 1 - May 6, 2005
Early Morning Flight
Our day began very early. Linda's mom and dad transported us to Norfolk International Airport. They picked me up around 3:30 AM Eastern. I was so far behind on packing that I only had one hour to take a power nap. Linda was behind too so neither of us was very alive and kicking. We arrived at the airport two hours ahead only to find that the people at the American Airlines desk were not even at work yet. We ended up having a very quick flight to Boston on an American Eagle commuter jet. From Boston we got on an American Airlines Boeing 777. Even the coach seats seemed a bit more like first class. There was more leg room than normal. We arrived at our seats to find comforts of a pillow, blanket, and headphones for the inflight video/audio system. Each seat has an LCD screen in the back of it. You can choose to watch a movie, listen to music, or watch the flight pattern. It uses a GPS system and shows several map views, distance traveled, miles per hour (ground speed), outside temperature, and flight altitude. It made the flight go by much faster. During this flight we tried to get a little sleep with little success. We also watched the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts movie "Notting Hill".
Our flight to London arrived around 8PM local time. After walking what seemed miles, we finally arrived at the passport checkin. We only had about a 10 minute wait. We got our first stamps in our passports. Then it was on to baggage claims. I then exchanged some money and we were on our way. We had to walk a really long way again to get to the Underground. We were hot and tired by this point. We had to make 16 stops on the Underground before arriving at Piccadilly Circus.
After arriving at the Piccadilly Circus Underground station, we had to go up a long series of steps and escalators. The last flight was the stairs to street level. About halfway up the stairs we could hear the noise, then spotted a red double decker bus. At that moment, the reality of making it to London sank in. We both got very excited. Everyone talks about Times Square in New York City being chaos. I really think Piccadilly Circus is crazier. There is a traffic circle and several roads feeding into it. It's even difficult to cross the street as a pedestrian!
We checked into our hotel and got our room. We got a superior room for tonight because of some maintenance problems they had today. We got our luggage to our rooms then went for a quick walk to take some nighttime pictures and get a feel for things. It is now around 12:30 AM and we are both going to bed, exhausted. Tomorrow is another day.
My first impression is that everything is different...even something as simple as the way the toilet flushes! The people here seem to take great care in their appearances. Most people are dressed very nicely. It also appears that people here are more health concious. By looking at many of the ads in the airport and Underground stations, it appears that they are less conservative here. I'm beginning to feel as if we live in a bubble in the United States. We live in a censored world in the US.
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Linda and I on the first plane (to Boston). |
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Our Boeing 777 sitting at the gate waiting to take us to London's Heathrow. |
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I zoomed in on the huge engine. There is only one engine on each side. I wish someone was standing nearby on the ground to show the scale of this monster. |
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Prepare for takeoff! |
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The beautiful horizon over the ocean. |
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The LCD panel on the back of the seat showing the time zones. |
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The LCD panel on the back of the seat showing the flight pattern. |
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Sunset at Heathrow |
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The Piccadilly Theatre across the street from our hotel where "Guys And Dolls" is about to start previews. Unfortunately it doesn't start until May 19th so we'll just miss it. It stars Ewan McGregor and Jane Krakowski. |
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The statue of "Eros" in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. |
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The famous neon lights of Piccadilly Circus. |
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The Regent Palace Hotel (where we are staying) can be seen to the left of the Piccadilly Circus neon display. |
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