Happy New Year to all our dear family and friends!
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
I know it’s tough, but someone’s gotta do it!! First Class isn’t what it’s made out to be…. it’s better! Being pampered, silver service, Dom Perignon, lobster, but being able to stretch out to your heart’s delight on a long-haul flight – priceless!
I was a little nervous about the Bangkok stopover, but felt like a celebrity as an agent met me as I walked off the plane, whisked me into a ‘golf-cart’, personally escorted me through customs and straight into the First Class lounge for a 3-hour wait for the connecting plane. What was there to be nervous about… maybe the choices I then had to make – Moet Chandon or Chivas Regal? I settled for a fruit juice and kept an eye out for the real celebrities.
Meanwhile, on his plane, the ‘Cattle Class Kid’ (CCK) was upgraded to Premium Economy, but had to contend with a cranky, overtired and vocal, small child whose mother was beyond caring. On my arrival at Heathrow (our planes were luckily meant to land at exactly the same time at the same terminal, but I was slightly delayed, mainly because an unnamed passenger refused to leave the comfort of her first class seat) the ‘CCK’ was at my carousel with my suitcase and a big smile…. what a hero!
It was 7am – the sun hadn’t risen, we caught the ‘Heathrow Express’ (train) to Paddington station and walked about 1km to our hotel which is located at Marble Arch, near Hyde Park and right at the top of Oxford Street (which we have since been informed is the busiest shopping street in all of Europe – we happily added to the busyness!). The Hotel staff were very friendly and let us stow our luggage until we could check in at 1.30pm. We then set off to explore much of the local area – Oxford Street, Regent Street, Mayfair, Park Lane – sound familiar? I kept thinking we were going to run into a giant stack of ‘Community Chest’ cards at any moment. We were in an Irish Pub having lunch when midnight struck in Australia and we toasted all back home. (A photo of Bruce at this exact time will be posted later.)
We checked into our room at 2pm. Let’s just say that this isn’t one of my best finds… but we won’t dwell on the negative, the location’s great!!!! We decided to make our way to Big Ben to watch the fireworks. Our first glimpse of Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament was awesome. Sad to say that a combination of overcrowded viewpoints, rain and jetlag saw us take refuge in a little dodgy pizza place where I proceeded to nod-off into my slice of pizza. The decision was made that we couldn’t possibly last another 3 hours to watch fireworks that (according to Ben’s previous account) may have been a bit of a fizzer in comparison to our Sydney standard, so regrettably we made our way back to the hotel.
Note: I forgot to add that on our walk to our hotel, we passed by a couple of policeman armed with machine guns who politely greeted us as we walked by. They were in a street around the corner from our hotel and we have since found out that they are guarding the residence of Tony Blair.
First impressions of London: Everywhere you look it’s grey – weather, clothes, buildings, vehicles, but with vibrant splashes of red – in the buses, phone booths and the ‘London look’ bright red lipstick worn by the fashionable Londonites. Damp, but not as cold as expected. Incredible architecture. Friendly. Crowded. Charming.
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