Friday, 14 February 2014
Work as usual. Busy busy busy. Katie gave out Kinder Surprises for Valentine's Day. I'm still upset with Mike.
Drinking after work. Drinking games included horse racing and Irish Poker, both were fun. I bounced home around 10:30pm and packed my bags! :X
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Up early - 4am - to finish packing and to get to my flight. I ordered a taxi to take me to the airport at 5:20am, and got to the airport around 05:40. I had my boarding pass, so I just needed to get to the gate. At security, there was a priority line that I assumed I was not allowed into, so I waited in the other queue.
There was a Russian (?) family of old people in front of me who did not speak German or English. So the security officer told the man to remove the water bottle from his bag, he didn't understand. It took maybe 5 minutes (!) before he finally did it, and he walked so slowly to the trash can to get rid of it. And the older women/men with him - they were the same! All so slow. After about 10 minutes of that BS, I realized that my flight had already been boarding for some time, and I finally saw another security line open at the other end. I dashed there, already with everything in my jacket, and whizzed through. Then there was the passport check, which was also a bottleneck. There was a man who was being interrogated by one of the officers. A couple of Albanian women with a child were in front of me. Not as big of a delay, but still a delay. It was 06:15 and my flight was at 06:30. I should have been ok. But oddly, I didn't see the flight displayed on any of the screens. I rushed downstairs to the gate. The attendants were there. I ran to them, boarding pass in hand. But I knew from the first word they said that it was too late - "sorry..."
So I missed my flight. I begged the attendants to let me on. But the shuttle bus to the plane had already left. Fuck that shit. I begged some more. But there was no other airberlin flight to London that day. I had to simply buy another ticket. Embarrassingly, I had to go through immigration again to re-enter the airport terminal. I went to the British Airways counter, and they had the soonest flight, leaving at 07:15. Ok, I thought, If it costs like €200, that's ok. My return flight is still valid. And I have to get to London! The flight cost something like €245, which I stomached. The woman selling the ticket was new, so she was slow to figure out the system. And when I handed her my card, she said they don't take bank cards, only credit or cash. So I had to rush to find a cash machine. I dashed to the shopping area and did it - the machine charged me a fee of like €4, ridiculous but necessary. I handed the cash over, and soon I had my ticket. I ran to security (which had no wait this time), breezed through immigration, and was soon at the boarding gate. They were just about to start boarding, so it was perfect time.
The flight was mostly empty, maybe 25 people in total. And I got breakfast too - a sandwich. I then filled out my landing card for the UK Immigration people. However, the adventure was not over yet! There was a storm that had passed through the UK overnight; the winds were still blowing but starting to calm down, and there were many residual delays for flights coming into Heathrow. So our flight had to circle above London for about 30 minutes (making at least 3 circles in the sky) before we could descend to land. It was like the world did not want me to get into London that morning! Finally, the plane made its final approach, but as we got close to the ground, winds started buffeting the plane. The plane tilted heavily from side to side. We were only about 200 meters off the ground and the plane was still not steady! Soon, I could see the start of the airport, but the winds were still making the plane rock from side to side. Shit, I thought, there's a good chance the wing of this plane could get slammed into the runway as we land. Ironically, I did not feel stressed about this at all. After all the stress of the morning, a little plane crash was nothing to worry about.
The plane landed safely. Kudos to the pilot for doing such a good job. I dashed out, got to immigration, had my little immigration interview, then tried to figure out my SIM card situation. Finally, something was working in my favor: "In this time of distress, all Heathrow wifi is now free and open for all" - so I was able to connect to wifi, download the API settings, and contact Angela. I got on the tube - my oyster card still had £18 of credit on it, yay! And my phone worked, so I could connect as I was on the tube, yay!
I LOVE THE FEELING OF RIDING THE PICCADILLY LINE INTO THE CITY. It reminded me of my first arrival in London. The weather was clearing up, sunny. People crammed into the train. It was London, it was exciting! Tourists, immigrants, bankers, waitresses, retirees, teenagers, hipsters, nerds, loners, socialites - everyone together in one Tube car. This is life, people! And it's all in London. That is the energy I get.
I made my way to King's Cross, changed to the circle line (which has changed into a new, clean, upgraded train car!) and rode one stop to Farringdon. I walked to Ang's address, and gave her a buzz on the doorbell. OMG I was there. I dashed up 3 flights of stairs to see her. And it was her - we were reunited in London!
We spent maybe half an hour getting ready (I had made plans to meet Ziva for English breakfast) and catching up. Kevin was also there and super chill, happy, and excited that I was there too. "I can't believe you're here!" was said many times by each of us :)
We traveled to Holborn and met Ziva at the Wetherspoons there. I was explaining so many things about London to Ang and Kev along the way; I have reverted to become the tour guide I always was. Ziva is now living in London (after her visiting us all the time and talking about her dream of living in London) as an au pair. We had a nice breakfast and then went out to walk around. We walked through LSE, then to Fleet Street to see if I could sort out my bank, but the Lloyds bank there was closed. We were continuing towards St. Paul's when it started to rain, so fuck it, let's go into a pub for a pint - Ye Old Cheshire Cheese was right there, so I showed them the "oldest pub in London" which was really cool. We drank, and there was a man and woman from San Diego who overheard us as we were leaving. Then, we walked around St. Pauls, over the Millennium Bridge, checked out the Tate Modern for some time, and continued walking along the South Bank to Borough Market (taking plenty of pictures along the way). The Shard has now been completed (and you can apparently go to the top for £25). And so many things have changed in the last year - lots of new restaurants opened, old places closed down, construction started, other sites finished, and a few new skyscrapers are rising up in The City. Amazing!
We walked further along to Tower Bridge, where Ziva said bye (she had to meet friends). Kev, Ang, and I crossed to the Tower of London. They had not seen most of the sights of London yet, so I was really showing them a lot of new places.
We made our way home and Ang prepared some chicken (to which I added some bell peppers) with rice for dinner. Awesome.
We rested for a bit, then prepared for a night out in Camden. After much indecision, we settled on starting at The World's End, where I told people (Sandeep and Asia) to meet us. We went there, and got to see them yay! Kev had a few coworkers (Sebastian and Justin?) who joined us too. Sandy had two friends from India who are now also in London. Drinks happened. Lots of catching up and reminiscing about good times. Was really great. We then went to Cafe Jazz, which had an 80s vs 90s party. After a bit of difficulty getting in with the bouncer, we drank and partied there til 3am, when they kicked everyone out. A late night fried chicken followed by a rush to find a taxi home followed. Ang had to pee badly; it was hilarious.
That was just the first day! :D
Work as usual. Busy busy busy. Katie gave out Kinder Surprises for Valentine's Day. I'm still upset with Mike.
Drinking after work. Drinking games included horse racing and Irish Poker, both were fun. I bounced home around 10:30pm and packed my bags! :X
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Up early - 4am - to finish packing and to get to my flight. I ordered a taxi to take me to the airport at 5:20am, and got to the airport around 05:40. I had my boarding pass, so I just needed to get to the gate. At security, there was a priority line that I assumed I was not allowed into, so I waited in the other queue.
There was a Russian (?) family of old people in front of me who did not speak German or English. So the security officer told the man to remove the water bottle from his bag, he didn't understand. It took maybe 5 minutes (!) before he finally did it, and he walked so slowly to the trash can to get rid of it. And the older women/men with him - they were the same! All so slow. After about 10 minutes of that BS, I realized that my flight had already been boarding for some time, and I finally saw another security line open at the other end. I dashed there, already with everything in my jacket, and whizzed through. Then there was the passport check, which was also a bottleneck. There was a man who was being interrogated by one of the officers. A couple of Albanian women with a child were in front of me. Not as big of a delay, but still a delay. It was 06:15 and my flight was at 06:30. I should have been ok. But oddly, I didn't see the flight displayed on any of the screens. I rushed downstairs to the gate. The attendants were there. I ran to them, boarding pass in hand. But I knew from the first word they said that it was too late - "sorry..."
So I missed my flight. I begged the attendants to let me on. But the shuttle bus to the plane had already left. Fuck that shit. I begged some more. But there was no other airberlin flight to London that day. I had to simply buy another ticket. Embarrassingly, I had to go through immigration again to re-enter the airport terminal. I went to the British Airways counter, and they had the soonest flight, leaving at 07:15. Ok, I thought, If it costs like €200, that's ok. My return flight is still valid. And I have to get to London! The flight cost something like €245, which I stomached. The woman selling the ticket was new, so she was slow to figure out the system. And when I handed her my card, she said they don't take bank cards, only credit or cash. So I had to rush to find a cash machine. I dashed to the shopping area and did it - the machine charged me a fee of like €4, ridiculous but necessary. I handed the cash over, and soon I had my ticket. I ran to security (which had no wait this time), breezed through immigration, and was soon at the boarding gate. They were just about to start boarding, so it was perfect time.
The flight was mostly empty, maybe 25 people in total. And I got breakfast too - a sandwich. I then filled out my landing card for the UK Immigration people. However, the adventure was not over yet! There was a storm that had passed through the UK overnight; the winds were still blowing but starting to calm down, and there were many residual delays for flights coming into Heathrow. So our flight had to circle above London for about 30 minutes (making at least 3 circles in the sky) before we could descend to land. It was like the world did not want me to get into London that morning! Finally, the plane made its final approach, but as we got close to the ground, winds started buffeting the plane. The plane tilted heavily from side to side. We were only about 200 meters off the ground and the plane was still not steady! Soon, I could see the start of the airport, but the winds were still making the plane rock from side to side. Shit, I thought, there's a good chance the wing of this plane could get slammed into the runway as we land. Ironically, I did not feel stressed about this at all. After all the stress of the morning, a little plane crash was nothing to worry about.
The plane landed safely. Kudos to the pilot for doing such a good job. I dashed out, got to immigration, had my little immigration interview, then tried to figure out my SIM card situation. Finally, something was working in my favor: "In this time of distress, all Heathrow wifi is now free and open for all" - so I was able to connect to wifi, download the API settings, and contact Angela. I got on the tube - my oyster card still had £18 of credit on it, yay! And my phone worked, so I could connect as I was on the tube, yay!
I LOVE THE FEELING OF RIDING THE PICCADILLY LINE INTO THE CITY. It reminded me of my first arrival in London. The weather was clearing up, sunny. People crammed into the train. It was London, it was exciting! Tourists, immigrants, bankers, waitresses, retirees, teenagers, hipsters, nerds, loners, socialites - everyone together in one Tube car. This is life, people! And it's all in London. That is the energy I get.
I made my way to King's Cross, changed to the circle line (which has changed into a new, clean, upgraded train car!) and rode one stop to Farringdon. I walked to Ang's address, and gave her a buzz on the doorbell. OMG I was there. I dashed up 3 flights of stairs to see her. And it was her - we were reunited in London!
We spent maybe half an hour getting ready (I had made plans to meet Ziva for English breakfast) and catching up. Kevin was also there and super chill, happy, and excited that I was there too. "I can't believe you're here!" was said many times by each of us :)
We traveled to Holborn and met Ziva at the Wetherspoons there. I was explaining so many things about London to Ang and Kev along the way; I have reverted to become the tour guide I always was. Ziva is now living in London (after her visiting us all the time and talking about her dream of living in London) as an au pair. We had a nice breakfast and then went out to walk around. We walked through LSE, then to Fleet Street to see if I could sort out my bank, but the Lloyds bank there was closed. We were continuing towards St. Paul's when it started to rain, so fuck it, let's go into a pub for a pint - Ye Old Cheshire Cheese was right there, so I showed them the "oldest pub in London" which was really cool. We drank, and there was a man and woman from San Diego who overheard us as we were leaving. Then, we walked around St. Pauls, over the Millennium Bridge, checked out the Tate Modern for some time, and continued walking along the South Bank to Borough Market (taking plenty of pictures along the way). The Shard has now been completed (and you can apparently go to the top for £25). And so many things have changed in the last year - lots of new restaurants opened, old places closed down, construction started, other sites finished, and a few new skyscrapers are rising up in The City. Amazing!
We walked further along to Tower Bridge, where Ziva said bye (she had to meet friends). Kev, Ang, and I crossed to the Tower of London. They had not seen most of the sights of London yet, so I was really showing them a lot of new places.
We made our way home and Ang prepared some chicken (to which I added some bell peppers) with rice for dinner. Awesome.
We rested for a bit, then prepared for a night out in Camden. After much indecision, we settled on starting at The World's End, where I told people (Sandeep and Asia) to meet us. We went there, and got to see them yay! Kev had a few coworkers (Sebastian and Justin?) who joined us too. Sandy had two friends from India who are now also in London. Drinks happened. Lots of catching up and reminiscing about good times. Was really great. We then went to Cafe Jazz, which had an 80s vs 90s party. After a bit of difficulty getting in with the bouncer, we drank and partied there til 3am, when they kicked everyone out. A late night fried chicken followed by a rush to find a taxi home followed. Ang had to pee badly; it was hilarious.
That was just the first day! :D
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