I've landed
It's now Friday morning - for another few minutes - and I've arrived safely and in one piece. Had no trouble with immigration, although they did ask about the stamp on my passport from last time.
My itinerary was Melbourne-Singapore-Dubai-London, with an extra stop at Colombo, Sri Lanka after Singapore. It broke the legs up nicely: 8hrs to Singapore, 2.5 hours to Colombo, 3.5 hours to Dubai, and 6.5 hours to London. I had a 3.5 hour layover in Dubai - long enough to have a shower and a massage at Timeless Spa and a bit of a walk around. Bliss! I was supposed to have an hour in Singapore, and an hour an a half in Colombo; unfortunately, the hour turned out to be 20mins ie. long enough to exit one transit lounge and go to the next one along, with a brief toilet stop, and go through security and get on the next plane. Not very refreshing and not even much of a walk... Then in Colombo we weren't allowed off the plane, although the stop was the full 90 minutes. Luckily I was in the rear of the plane and had the slightly wider aisle which meant I could walk about three paces in either direction - much, much better than nothing.
On the ground at Heathrow, and through immigration and customs in record time. Caught the Heathrow Express which is wonderful and well worth the 18 pounds tariff - 15 minutes into town rather than 1hr plus on the underground. Ok, its sort of a rort, but in the great scheme of international travel costs, nothing to bother about. It's only drawback is that I was decanted at Paddington Station, which is going through renovations. I needed to get to King's Cross to catch my train out to Suffolk. Who would have thought it would be so difficult?
Dragging my backpack and my roller suitcase, I crossed the entire station concourse at least 3 times, including going up and down ramps and stairs. Each helpful staff member told me to go somewhere else to both purchase a Tube ticket and/or find the right platform. The automatic ticket machine would not read my card - even though I have a chip and PIN enabled card which most other machines find quite palatable! One kind station staffer - who cannot be sufficiently blessed for coming to my aid - caught me about to drag myself and stuff down another flight of stairs, and took me into the staff toilets which were on the same level. Coming out, I walked past a taxi rank and asked a driver how much to go to King's Cross (I already knew it was too far to walk under the circumstances). 12 pds seemed quite reasonable so I recklessly said yes and climbed in. The driver reproached me for not waiting so he could lift my suitcase in for me (!)
If you ever find yourself in a similar position, I heartily recommend the trip from Paddington to Kings Cross. It's quite an attractive drive, goes past St Pancras station and a number of typical London streets. Besides, a ride in a London Cab is practically a tourist experience in and of itself. Very soothing for a by now rather frazzled traveller.
At King's Cross I was just in time to catch the 4.45 Cambridge train, and at just short of 7pm I was being collected at the Bury St Edmunds train station by Mr Host.
A good night's sleep and my 'tankles' have subsided although I'm not planning long rural rambles for a day or so.
The weather is pleasant partly cloudy and around 20'c-22'c - that seems warmer in England than it would in Melbourne at the same temperature, or maybe after our very cold winter it's just in comparison?
Off to town soon to Waitrose - my favourite supermarket - to buy supplies. I'm back in my old room from last year - the smaller one of the two I had last time. Lucky for me one of the other lodgers moved out recently. Blackett the cat remembers me very well - she is timid around strangers - and came to supervise my unpacking. One of my furry four-legged friends has gone (he tried to cross the road once too often) but his replacement, Onyx, is friendly to a fault and is trying to make it up to me.
My itinerary was Melbourne-Singapore-Dubai-London, with an extra stop at Colombo, Sri Lanka after Singapore. It broke the legs up nicely: 8hrs to Singapore, 2.5 hours to Colombo, 3.5 hours to Dubai, and 6.5 hours to London. I had a 3.5 hour layover in Dubai - long enough to have a shower and a massage at Timeless Spa and a bit of a walk around. Bliss! I was supposed to have an hour in Singapore, and an hour an a half in Colombo; unfortunately, the hour turned out to be 20mins ie. long enough to exit one transit lounge and go to the next one along, with a brief toilet stop, and go through security and get on the next plane. Not very refreshing and not even much of a walk... Then in Colombo we weren't allowed off the plane, although the stop was the full 90 minutes. Luckily I was in the rear of the plane and had the slightly wider aisle which meant I could walk about three paces in either direction - much, much better than nothing.
On the ground at Heathrow, and through immigration and customs in record time. Caught the Heathrow Express which is wonderful and well worth the 18 pounds tariff - 15 minutes into town rather than 1hr plus on the underground. Ok, its sort of a rort, but in the great scheme of international travel costs, nothing to bother about. It's only drawback is that I was decanted at Paddington Station, which is going through renovations. I needed to get to King's Cross to catch my train out to Suffolk. Who would have thought it would be so difficult?
Dragging my backpack and my roller suitcase, I crossed the entire station concourse at least 3 times, including going up and down ramps and stairs. Each helpful staff member told me to go somewhere else to both purchase a Tube ticket and/or find the right platform. The automatic ticket machine would not read my card - even though I have a chip and PIN enabled card which most other machines find quite palatable! One kind station staffer - who cannot be sufficiently blessed for coming to my aid - caught me about to drag myself and stuff down another flight of stairs, and took me into the staff toilets which were on the same level. Coming out, I walked past a taxi rank and asked a driver how much to go to King's Cross (I already knew it was too far to walk under the circumstances). 12 pds seemed quite reasonable so I recklessly said yes and climbed in. The driver reproached me for not waiting so he could lift my suitcase in for me (!)
If you ever find yourself in a similar position, I heartily recommend the trip from Paddington to Kings Cross. It's quite an attractive drive, goes past St Pancras station and a number of typical London streets. Besides, a ride in a London Cab is practically a tourist experience in and of itself. Very soothing for a by now rather frazzled traveller.
At King's Cross I was just in time to catch the 4.45 Cambridge train, and at just short of 7pm I was being collected at the Bury St Edmunds train station by Mr Host.
A good night's sleep and my 'tankles' have subsided although I'm not planning long rural rambles for a day or so.
The weather is pleasant partly cloudy and around 20'c-22'c - that seems warmer in England than it would in Melbourne at the same temperature, or maybe after our very cold winter it's just in comparison?
Off to town soon to Waitrose - my favourite supermarket - to buy supplies. I'm back in my old room from last year - the smaller one of the two I had last time. Lucky for me one of the other lodgers moved out recently. Blackett the cat remembers me very well - she is timid around strangers - and came to supervise my unpacking. One of my furry four-legged friends has gone (he tried to cross the road once too often) but his replacement, Onyx, is friendly to a fault and is trying to make it up to me.