We're here!
We made it in one piece and without any hassles!
On Friday, we met Sandie in Auckland for a drink and lite bite to eat. Was awesome to catch up with her and the two hours just seemed to fly past. The plane to LA was full, only a couple of empty seats. We checked in at Wellington and were allocated seating together and on the middle three configuration so we were pretty happy about that, we were also in the front section of economy so didnt get the engine noise by being further down the plane. Sleeping was disasterous to say the least, I think the both of us only had about 3 hours sleep max. Security at LAX was a piece of cake ... there was none! We were finger printed and retina scanned, but otherwise it passed uneventfully, only confusion was Helena couldnt work out her left index finger from her right in her jetlagged state! However the Homeland Security dude was very patient. There were a few young children on the plane, but they were pretty quiet the whole trip - thank god!
The flight from LA to Heathrow was chocka - not a spare seat in sight. We sat next to a New Zealand couple travelling with their kids. They had no idea Heathrow was fogged in, they were travelling on to Zurich, but all internal flights had been cancelled at that stage. Met a scots couple from Wellington, they were carrying on to Glasgow for Christmas, a surprise for her family. Had quite a bit of turbulence on this leg of the journey - the cabin crew were told a couple of times to go to their seats. There were no pre dinner drinks either! Helena got about 2 hours sleep on this flight - Craig got none!
The plane was more comfortable than what we expected, there was a bit of leg room and the screens on the back of each seat helped the time go more quickly. They were a bit distracting though and after a few hours of staring at a bright screen it was kinda offputting. The cabin crew were lovely on both flights, especially after we kept stuffing up the arrival cards - just tired and not able to concentrate too well!
We landed at Heathrow on time. Pete and Helena met us at the airport, it was chilly outside about 8 degrees. We arrived after a little tiki tour (Pete got lost) just on lunchtime and Karen and Graham were ready for us with Pea & Ham soup for lunch!
We started to fade a couple of times in the afternoon, so we went out for a walk into Wimbledon - about a 3 minute walk - there were so many stressed pre christmas shoppers that we didnt hang around inside the shops too long. The thing that struck us was how dark it was at 3.30pm - it felt like 6.00pm and that wasnt just because we were jet lagged. We showered and Karen & Graham took us to Earls Court by tube and gave us good directions for getting home again!
Earls Court holds about 50,000 people and the Iron Maiden concert, the last of their European tour was sold out. The concert was amazing, loud and full on. Helena managed to nearly fall asleep a couple of times, but kept getting a second wind at the last minute (thankfully!) - Craig got his souvenir Tshirt £20 - very pleased!
We got home, on the right train about 11:15 and felt quite awake! Had a drink with Karen and Graham and headed to bed just after midnight - we'd been awake for 57hrs - through 3 time changes and 3 countries - with about 8 hours sleep between us. We got up just after 8am, slept solidly for 6 hours and went out for a walk up to Wimbledon Village - very very pretty and quaint - took photos - saw a couple of squirrels and about 7 pubs, which we are keen to try a few of over the next week or so!
Just about to have some breakfast (its nearly 10am) and we are heading to Petes.
Happy Christmas Eve - by the time you kiwis read this it will be Christmas Day - Happy Christmas and love to you all.
We made it in one piece and without any hassles!
On Friday, we met Sandie in Auckland for a drink and lite bite to eat. Was awesome to catch up with her and the two hours just seemed to fly past. The plane to LA was full, only a couple of empty seats. We checked in at Wellington and were allocated seating together and on the middle three configuration so we were pretty happy about that, we were also in the front section of economy so didnt get the engine noise by being further down the plane. Sleeping was disasterous to say the least, I think the both of us only had about 3 hours sleep max. Security at LAX was a piece of cake ... there was none! We were finger printed and retina scanned, but otherwise it passed uneventfully, only confusion was Helena couldnt work out her left index finger from her right in her jetlagged state! However the Homeland Security dude was very patient. There were a few young children on the plane, but they were pretty quiet the whole trip - thank god!
The flight from LA to Heathrow was chocka - not a spare seat in sight. We sat next to a New Zealand couple travelling with their kids. They had no idea Heathrow was fogged in, they were travelling on to Zurich, but all internal flights had been cancelled at that stage. Met a scots couple from Wellington, they were carrying on to Glasgow for Christmas, a surprise for her family. Had quite a bit of turbulence on this leg of the journey - the cabin crew were told a couple of times to go to their seats. There were no pre dinner drinks either! Helena got about 2 hours sleep on this flight - Craig got none!
The plane was more comfortable than what we expected, there was a bit of leg room and the screens on the back of each seat helped the time go more quickly. They were a bit distracting though and after a few hours of staring at a bright screen it was kinda offputting. The cabin crew were lovely on both flights, especially after we kept stuffing up the arrival cards - just tired and not able to concentrate too well!
We landed at Heathrow on time. Pete and Helena met us at the airport, it was chilly outside about 8 degrees. We arrived after a little tiki tour (Pete got lost) just on lunchtime and Karen and Graham were ready for us with Pea & Ham soup for lunch!
We started to fade a couple of times in the afternoon, so we went out for a walk into Wimbledon - about a 3 minute walk - there were so many stressed pre christmas shoppers that we didnt hang around inside the shops too long. The thing that struck us was how dark it was at 3.30pm - it felt like 6.00pm and that wasnt just because we were jet lagged. We showered and Karen & Graham took us to Earls Court by tube and gave us good directions for getting home again!
Earls Court holds about 50,000 people and the Iron Maiden concert, the last of their European tour was sold out. The concert was amazing, loud and full on. Helena managed to nearly fall asleep a couple of times, but kept getting a second wind at the last minute (thankfully!) - Craig got his souvenir Tshirt £20 - very pleased!
We got home, on the right train about 11:15 and felt quite awake! Had a drink with Karen and Graham and headed to bed just after midnight - we'd been awake for 57hrs - through 3 time changes and 3 countries - with about 8 hours sleep between us. We got up just after 8am, slept solidly for 6 hours and went out for a walk up to Wimbledon Village - very very pretty and quaint - took photos - saw a couple of squirrels and about 7 pubs, which we are keen to try a few of over the next week or so!
Just about to have some breakfast (its nearly 10am) and we are heading to Petes.
Happy Christmas Eve - by the time you kiwis read this it will be Christmas Day - Happy Christmas and love to you all.
