The first email from the UK

Originally written 4 June 2005

Well I've arrived safe and sound in Ol' Blighty. Not too much to report as of yet as it's only been 33 or so hours but I'll fill you in on what I've been up to.

Left Napier at 8.05am on Thursday morning NZ time and flew to Auckland, caught up with a couple of friends there and had coffee, bought travellers cheques etc. Flew out of Auckland at 12.50pm bound for Hong Kong, thankfully the plane was not very full so I had a window seat and an empty seat beside me. I had 11 hours thirty minutes to kill and only got about 4 hours sleep the night before so I tried to make use of the empty seat beside me, which even with my smallish frame was rather uncomfortable, however, I did manage to catch a few ZZZ's every now and then in between watching Million Dollar Baby and a bit of TV etc and trying to avoid deep vein thrombosis.

Got to Hong Kong about 8.30pm local time (it was amazing flying in and seeing the all the lights etc through a dim haze) and spent the 3 hours 30 minutes stop-over time checking out the duty free stores and getting a bite to eat. I was worried about falling asleep and missing my flight so I made sure I set my alarm just in case as I was absolutely exhausted and wondering how I was going to survive another 12 hours 50 minutes on a plane to London and was praying for a rather empty plane so that I could sprawl across a few seats and basically sleep the rest of the way. However, I got on the plane which was stiffling hot, and arrived at my seat to find myself stuck against the window with two guys in the other 2 seats. I was close to both throwing up and passing out so I took my seat and opted for the later (and I hadn't even had one drink the whole day), thankfully when I woke up the guy on the aisle seat had moved and the one next to me had taken his place, so at least I had a bit of space.

We left Hong Kong and I actually got a reasonable amount of sporadic sleep, broken up by a bit of turbulence every so often. The trip actually seemed shorter than the one to Hong Kong and we got into Heathrow about 5.25am (20 minutes early). I actually got quite excited coming in over the Thames and it all finally started to seem a bit real, after 24 hours flying time I had arrived. I was absolutely amazed at how slack the UK security is, and after hearing a whole heap of horror stories about UK Customs not wanting to let people on UK working holiday visas into the country, the only question they asked me was how long I planned to stay in the UK, simple as that and I was in. Picked up my bags and walked through the "nothing to declare" section (they didn't even have anyone working there to check anything!!!) and I was free.

I soon discovered how quickly something can go missing as Iaccidentally left a bag of duty free wine (which was destined for my friends Craig and Marsha who I was meeting) and my polar fleece top on my baggage trolley. I only discovered I'd left it there once I got onto the tube. I got off before it got going and went back to get it but it was no where to be seen. Thankfully I didn't lose anything really valuable and it has certainly made me a lot more aware.

Met Craig and Marsha at Earls Court station and went back to their flat. Tried to stay awake etc and managed to, but couldn't stop the floor from moving (stupid motion carry-over from 24 hours flying. Went into central London (Liverpool St) and had lunch and walked around and saw some sites. I had to keep resting every so often and couldn't really focus on anything for very long. Went to the Slug and Lettuce pub with Craig and Marsha and met some of their ex-work mates for a drink, had a Becks but they are only 270mls over here and so moved on to Kronenborg which seemed a bit better value - still £3.05 for a pint. After a couple of these I was feeling rather happy and managed to fall asleep multiple times on the train home. Got to bed about 10pm and it has never felt so good to actually sleep in a bed.

Came into Wimbledon today and am trying to find a backpackers to stay at until I leave for my Contiki to Scandinavia on the 14th, and that's basically where I'm up to now.