tiki's super fabulous London holiday!
Jul. 12th, 2007 05:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tikistitchOur BA flight touched down at noontime yesterday.
And then we taxied.
And taxied.
And taxied.
We finally found a gate, somewhere far, far from the teeming masses at the airport. After another half hour walking to passport control, it was then a short 'nother hour waiting for the boxes we'd checked to finally emerge from the teeming maw of the baggage carosel.
Then we ran screaming for the train to Paddington, which was leaving in EIGHT MINUTES! And the train sat. And then it sped off! And, then it stopped. And then sped off! And then stopped. And so on for another hour.
O the joys of being carefree on vacation!
But we were not at our hotel yet! No, first to find the subway station, located conveniently only 70 kilometers away fromthe rest of the tube lines. Plus a connection. Or two. With a couple of unexplained stops.
Transport in total ran just under $40 apiece. We later heard a shared van ran $50 apiece.
And, so we arrived at ExCel con center yay!
Not seeing our hotel, we inquired at the desk.
"All the way across the convention center, and then across the parking lot."
Oh.
After a checkin, and a shower, we were finally feeling halfway human again, and after a pep talk from Mr. Tiki, had decided that maybe we didn't want to go back home just yet.
We paid for Internet access at our hotel. Being London, we now owe our firstborn child for WiFi priveleges.
The web kinda works. And, our email doesn't work.
So down to dinner.
There were approximately two diners in our hotel restaurant. Perhaps we should have taken that as a sign. The maitre d' inquired suspiciously, "Do you have a reservation?"
"Er," we said, looking at the 90% empty dining room.
A seafood pie with peas sounded very British and filling.
It was, perhaps, the single worst restaurant meal of tiki's life. Imagine whipped instant mashed potatoes, covered in cheese, and placed over a few scraps of greasy fish.
Yup.
And for this we paid $20.
Plus, our watch stopped last night. Oh, and did we mention we have cramps?
And just back from the Oxford Street Stitch Store. To cheer us up. It was pleasantly Stitch-free.
We met buddy Tony this morning. We started talking. "You must be in a mood--that's the first time I've ever heard you curse!"
It won't be the last. We promise.
He mentioned he was having trouble getting used to England. We counseled that once one gets used to snorting money up one's nose, then, well, it doesn't get good, but it gets a bit better.
And then we taxied.
And taxied.
And taxied.
We finally found a gate, somewhere far, far from the teeming masses at the airport. After another half hour walking to passport control, it was then a short 'nother hour waiting for the boxes we'd checked to finally emerge from the teeming maw of the baggage carosel.
Then we ran screaming for the train to Paddington, which was leaving in EIGHT MINUTES! And the train sat. And then it sped off! And, then it stopped. And then sped off! And then stopped. And so on for another hour.
O the joys of being carefree on vacation!
But we were not at our hotel yet! No, first to find the subway station, located conveniently only 70 kilometers away fromthe rest of the tube lines. Plus a connection. Or two. With a couple of unexplained stops.
Transport in total ran just under $40 apiece. We later heard a shared van ran $50 apiece.
And, so we arrived at ExCel con center yay!
Not seeing our hotel, we inquired at the desk.
"All the way across the convention center, and then across the parking lot."
Oh.
After a checkin, and a shower, we were finally feeling halfway human again, and after a pep talk from Mr. Tiki, had decided that maybe we didn't want to go back home just yet.
We paid for Internet access at our hotel. Being London, we now owe our firstborn child for WiFi priveleges.
The web kinda works. And, our email doesn't work.
So down to dinner.
There were approximately two diners in our hotel restaurant. Perhaps we should have taken that as a sign. The maitre d' inquired suspiciously, "Do you have a reservation?"
"Er," we said, looking at the 90% empty dining room.
A seafood pie with peas sounded very British and filling.
It was, perhaps, the single worst restaurant meal of tiki's life. Imagine whipped instant mashed potatoes, covered in cheese, and placed over a few scraps of greasy fish.
Yup.
And for this we paid $20.
Plus, our watch stopped last night. Oh, and did we mention we have cramps?
And just back from the Oxford Street Stitch Store. To cheer us up. It was pleasantly Stitch-free.
We met buddy Tony this morning. We started talking. "You must be in a mood--that's the first time I've ever heard you curse!"
It won't be the last. We promise.
He mentioned he was having trouble getting used to England. We counseled that once one gets used to snorting money up one's nose, then, well, it doesn't get good, but it gets a bit better.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 04:57 pm (UTC)Mmmm pub food.
There's a small pub/bar on the walkway near the station? You'd have gone past it. It may be a bit more expensive since it's in central London but it'd definitely be nicer than eating what you described at the hotel hopefully.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 05:47 pm (UTC)We were tired and hungry enough to kill.
Of course, AFTER the meal, we were still tired and hungry enough to kill.
But, we had some nice panini this morning, so I'm better.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 05:39 pm (UTC)