Hello everyone!
Firstly, I think it’s important to say that it will be me (Chris) writing all of these posts. The thoughts and opinions are my own and shouldn’t be confused with those of Miriam. If I think it’s worth mentioning how Miriam is feeling about a topic or situation, I’ll tell you how I think she’s feeling rather than asking her and writing that. Good to get that out of the way. Don’t want you to have high expectations that this blog will be good or anything. Here we go!
Flights
Our journey begins on Monday afternoon. Auckland airport was still the same as it was 3 years ago when we last left the country, minus a few shops that still seem to be closed. Check in was normal. Had some Maccas and then said goodbye to my parents before heading into security. Nothing much to note about security either.
Sadly our plane was an older one. Emirates haven’t really returned their standard fleet to NZ so we were stuck with a Boeing 777-300 rather than a nice new Airbus A380. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was ok. Took about 12 hours and it was dark the whole flight. We managed to get a little bit of sleep and some fairly average food. Miriam’s seat didn’t lean back so we managed to get moved to a couple of seats elsewhere on the plane which was nice.
Once at Kuala Lumpur we were excited to be able to get off the plane and stretch our legs, but unfortunately (I assume due to Covid), that wasn’t possible. So the 1.5 hour stop over was spent on the plane with less air conditioning than usual and no real way to have a break. A guy came in and fixed Miriam’s seat so that we didn’t have to move for the next leg.
So, after that time, we continued on to Dubai. This next section of the flight was much the same. Average food and a little bit of sleep.
Dubai airport was pretty quiet from what I remember in the past. Thankfully our next flight wasn’t too far from where we landed so we found our next gate pretty quickly. It was nice to finally be able to walk around and then sit in a terminal for 3 hours until the next flight. I spent $7.50 on a small bottle of water that didn’t taste very nice so that was cool.
Eventually we got the call to start moving and went through the gate only to be filtered downstairs to another seating area. They did more security there as well so my bags have been checked twice now at Dubai Airport. They actually asked me to remove my shoes and I hadn’t thought about my socks on a 20 hour flight until that point. Could smell them straight away and I’m 90% sure that the security guy regretted asking me to do that.
So after a bit more waiting we ended up on the plane and it was so much more comfortable than the last one! I really wish they were flying the nicer planes in NZ still because it makes a huge difference.
Not much to report from that flight though. I fell asleep during the safety video and was confused when I woke up briefly and we were in the air. The food was much better on this flight which was great. I think the key is to pick the dish which sounds more authentic to the place you’ve just left.
Landing into Heathrow was shaky. Lots of turbulence coming through the clouds, but as we turned to aim for the runway, we were treated to an incredible view looking straight up the Thames through Tower Bridge. It was very exciting to finally see the place after so many hours of travel!
Heathrow airport was a breeze. I didn’t have to talk to anyone, and we pretty much walked straight through. There was a queue for passport control, but the electronic gates certainly make things fast!
As a kiwi, it blows my mind that they didn’t ask me how many apples I have or whether or not my shoes have been on a farm in the past 7 days. No one even looked at us as we walked through the border security area. Next thing we are greeted by a crowd of people. We looked for the sign with our names on it, but sadly no one turned up. That’s what happens when you don’t ask anyone.
Miriam sorted out her phone and we jumped on the tube!
Now this is Miriam’s first tube experience aside from the tubes she deals with every day at work. She had a massive smile on her face as we travelled firstly overground and then through the screeching tunnels of the London Underground.
It took us about an hour and a half to get to Sam & Lydia’s place where we are staying in London, but once we arrived, we were stoked to be able to have a shower and sit down!
That’s all for now. It’s still sinking in that we are doing this for three months. We’ll see how long I keep this up for!
Next post you can expect to hear about our London adventures. I’m currently sitting in St Dunstan In The East Church Garden as I write this, and we both have very sore legs from two days of exploring!
Bye for now! 👋🏻