July 4, 2011
Happy July 4th! Hmmm, don't know why there's no celebration going on in jolly old England:)
Once we deplaned we quickly went through customs (thankfully the duffel was checked all the way through to Johannesburg) and followed the directions to the Sofitel Hotel in terminal 5, where we had the unprecedented luxury of the use of a day room to shower and nap before our 12-hour flight to Johannesburg later this evening. But, since Iris had never been to London, we had other plans to explore London during our 10-hour layover, so we emptied our backpacks of some of the electronics - putting them into the room safe - and hoofed it over to the Heathrow Express train to Paddington. We hopped on the Big Bus on-again, off-again 24 hour bus tour of London. Initially, we thought we had plenty of time to complete the 44-stop loop, relax with a pub lunch, and return to our room for a shower. Little did we know that in preparation for the 2012 Olympics and other events, so much of the city and the roadways would be under construction. The traffic congestion made the Washington, DC rush-hour traffic look like a walk in the park. As a result, we only made it as far as stop 32, the Marble Arch near Hyde Park, where we decided we needed to power walk back to Paddington to catch the express train back to the airport. I told Iris I felt like we were contestants in The Amazing Race. Needless to say, there was to be no shower and no pub lunch:(
We grabbed our belongings and ran to security, not knowing how long it might take us to get through. Thank god we made it through quickly so we were able to eat some delicious noodle dishes at Wagamama Restaurant.
Unfortunately for us, this longer flight of 12 hours was packed. Even worse, we were stuck in the middle section of the plane; my headphone handset was not working; and we had the high-definition stereo sound of children whining and screaming - one child from in front and 3 children under the age of 5 in the row behind us. (Thank god for night flights and the quiet that comes from an entire group of passengers passed out). If it weren't for my Johannesburg seatmate, Thuli Zulu (great name), entertaining us with hysterical commentary, we would have truly been pissed off ugly Americans.
No comments:
Post a Comment