Holiday updatery
The Journey
Woke up late on Tuesday, half-packed and needing to book my cab to the airport ASAP. Rushed about trying to get ready and finish packing. My cab arrived at 3PM, just as it was starting to snow. The snowfall quickly intensified as we drove to Pearson; the drive took half again as long as it normally does and I was worried that my flight might get cancelled if the weather didn't let up. I had a nice, rel;axing 5-hr wait at the airport before my flight actually arrived. It had been delayed arriving at Pearson, so we didn't end up boarding our 20:15 flight until nearly 21:30.
It was a Toronto to London flight, with a brief stopover in Halifax. Arriving in Halifax, we experienced yet more delays. First, it took them an hour to load all of the baggage and cargo when it should have taken 20 mins, max, according to the apologetic and annoyed pilot who kept us updated every 15 mins. Then, once all of the baggage had finally been loaded and all of the new passengers seated, they couldn't get the cargo hatch shut. Fantastic. It took maintenance another 20 mins to fix that problem. By that time, it had really started to snow hard so the pilot had to drive the plane over to the de-icing area of the the airport. Another 30 min delay. Despite all of that, though, we were only a couple of hours late getting to London. Good tail winds, apparently. Aidan met me at the airport and we took the train into central London together. It was really nice to be back.
A Christmasy England
I knew that if we stayed in during my first day I would just fall asleep and completely ruin my sleep schedule. So, we went out Christmas shopping in the West End for a bit. We had a nice little snack in a patisserie off Covent Garden and then we headed over to Leicester (pronounced "Lester") Square to see Narnia in one of the cinemas there. After that, feeling tuckered out, we headed back home for an early night.
Stayed in all of the next day, but the day after that we finished our Christmas shopping and then went to see a play, Heroes, which I really enjoyed. At some point, we'll probably also go see The Producers. The movie (coming out soon) doesn't look very good, but the play has gotten some really good reviews.
Over the past several days, I've gotten a lot of Christmasy/holiday emails from people. That's really nice and somewhat surprising, though I do subsequently feel kinda bad for not similarly writing to people over Christmas. Oh, well. I heard from both Emily and Chung, who I was hoping to meet up with whilst in London. Emily, unfortunately for me, is in Israel with Shoam and his family for the holidays. Chung is around, though, so I should definitely try to meet up with him. His girlfriend, Shu, leaves for Guangzhou tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to catch her too, alas. Note to self: call them.
Aidan's mum and her boyfriend, Ricky, came up for Christmas in London with us. It was nice, although they did end up having to stay an extra two days because Ricky snapped their car key in half trying to unlock the car on Christmas morning. They weren't able to find an open locksmiths's until this morning, three days later.
Up Next
Plans for New Year's Eve aren't yet concrete, but I'd like to go out on the town and see what's what. Perhaps we'll go to a party or few with some friends. We'll see. London public transport will apparently be running all night, free of charge, starting at 23:45. I bet that only happens once a year.
After New Years, Aidan and I are thinking of going up to Edinburgh for a few days, depending on how expensive it is. I really hope we can swing it; I haven't been to Scotland yet. If we do go, I should probably remember to bring something back for 'Tague and El. El, is there anything you'd particularly want me to get for you? Sar, that goes for you, too. Incidentally, I haven't come across your flute-playing Little Person outside the portrait gallery, but I have been keeping an eye out for 'im. ;)
I hope everyone's holidays so far have been jolly!
Woke up late on Tuesday, half-packed and needing to book my cab to the airport ASAP. Rushed about trying to get ready and finish packing. My cab arrived at 3PM, just as it was starting to snow. The snowfall quickly intensified as we drove to Pearson; the drive took half again as long as it normally does and I was worried that my flight might get cancelled if the weather didn't let up. I had a nice, rel;axing 5-hr wait at the airport before my flight actually arrived. It had been delayed arriving at Pearson, so we didn't end up boarding our 20:15 flight until nearly 21:30.
It was a Toronto to London flight, with a brief stopover in Halifax. Arriving in Halifax, we experienced yet more delays. First, it took them an hour to load all of the baggage and cargo when it should have taken 20 mins, max, according to the apologetic and annoyed pilot who kept us updated every 15 mins. Then, once all of the baggage had finally been loaded and all of the new passengers seated, they couldn't get the cargo hatch shut. Fantastic. It took maintenance another 20 mins to fix that problem. By that time, it had really started to snow hard so the pilot had to drive the plane over to the de-icing area of the the airport. Another 30 min delay. Despite all of that, though, we were only a couple of hours late getting to London. Good tail winds, apparently. Aidan met me at the airport and we took the train into central London together. It was really nice to be back.
A Christmasy England
I knew that if we stayed in during my first day I would just fall asleep and completely ruin my sleep schedule. So, we went out Christmas shopping in the West End for a bit. We had a nice little snack in a patisserie off Covent Garden and then we headed over to Leicester (pronounced "Lester") Square to see Narnia in one of the cinemas there. After that, feeling tuckered out, we headed back home for an early night.
Stayed in all of the next day, but the day after that we finished our Christmas shopping and then went to see a play, Heroes, which I really enjoyed. At some point, we'll probably also go see The Producers. The movie (coming out soon) doesn't look very good, but the play has gotten some really good reviews.
Over the past several days, I've gotten a lot of Christmasy/holiday emails from people. That's really nice and somewhat surprising, though I do subsequently feel kinda bad for not similarly writing to people over Christmas. Oh, well. I heard from both Emily and Chung, who I was hoping to meet up with whilst in London. Emily, unfortunately for me, is in Israel with Shoam and his family for the holidays. Chung is around, though, so I should definitely try to meet up with him. His girlfriend, Shu, leaves for Guangzhou tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to catch her too, alas. Note to self: call them.
Aidan's mum and her boyfriend, Ricky, came up for Christmas in London with us. It was nice, although they did end up having to stay an extra two days because Ricky snapped their car key in half trying to unlock the car on Christmas morning. They weren't able to find an open locksmiths's until this morning, three days later.
Up Next
Plans for New Year's Eve aren't yet concrete, but I'd like to go out on the town and see what's what. Perhaps we'll go to a party or few with some friends. We'll see. London public transport will apparently be running all night, free of charge, starting at 23:45. I bet that only happens once a year.
After New Years, Aidan and I are thinking of going up to Edinburgh for a few days, depending on how expensive it is. I really hope we can swing it; I haven't been to Scotland yet. If we do go, I should probably remember to bring something back for 'Tague and El. El, is there anything you'd particularly want me to get for you? Sar, that goes for you, too. Incidentally, I haven't come across your flute-playing Little Person outside the portrait gallery, but I have been keeping an eye out for 'im. ;)
I hope everyone's holidays so far have been jolly!