Two films down and still plenty of time left on this flight. Though it's not been too bad so far. Iron Man 3 wasn't all that though I did miss most of the explanation of the plot due to too much coffee and an emergency toilet visit. The end of 42 was good though on these flights you can't select when to start it so I missed the beginning due to a drama with my lunch tray. The lasagne was OK - well for plane food! We have been travelling for practically a day now what with the train to London, a very squished tube ride to Heathrow and now. Never a fan of travelling in someones armpit on the tube!
As we travel over the beginning of Canada from looking at the map I begin pondering about airports. Mainly - what is the obsession with Toblerone? Everywhere we went there were piles of the chocolate - Smiths, Duty Free - Why? Who knows.
Anyho back to our flight, still over the northern reaches of Canada with some awesome views out of the window of great expanses of white glistering ice - we took a photo - it looks like outer space! At this point Daniel starts signing 'Trapped in the mighty darkness of the Tundra' - a song I've never heard of but the Mighty Boosh apparently sum the area up nicely - 'Ice ice nowhere to go!' - Well it could melt not to get too geographical about it!
Woohoo Codeword almost done - don't think I've ever completed one before (though Daniel is doing most of it!)
Codeword now complete - Yay!!
According to our flight map we are just crossing the border from Canada to the USA so shouldn't be too long before we land in San Francisco!
Lets hope it's not San Fran Foggy!!
Showing posts with label Airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Airport. Show all posts
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Waiting in Wuxi
So after a little lie in and big breakfast we were off to Wuxi to go to the airport to catch a flight to Beijing. Look at their awesome public art!
We got to the airport in plenty of time, weather was nice, all was going smoothly until...we make it through security (i didn't get searched - yay) but our plane was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. Our gate didn't even have a plane at it! Turns out the weather was bad which means it was late leaving Beijing to get to us before going back. On its way to us we had massive storms which meant it couldn't land so it went to another airport. Several hours later, after a free drink and having read most of the guide book a plane appeared. It was not ours, boooo. We did then hear that we'd changed gate and was leaving at 5, over 3 and a half hours late. We were going to miss the opera and the Temple of Heaven and instead saw lots of Chinese people sitting and waiting. No ones fault, an act of nature but still, annoying. If we had driven it would have taken 14 hours so still better, but only just!
Once boarded the plane we did get an in flight meal which we did not expect. A can of some strange porridge type substance that was horrible, some what looked like pickled gherkin, shrimp crackers, artificial cake and a chocolate wafer. A very odd meal indeed. Eventually when we made it to Beijing we were greeted by 'Megan' our guide whilst in the city. Still raining i might add we boarded our bus to go to our hotel having missed everything from today. Turns out we are going to the opera after the great wall and ming tombs tomorrow so all is not lost.
Megan was very informative on our journey. She started by telling us about the name Beijing. Bei means north and jing means capital. This was the capital of new China. The previous capital was Nanying, Nan meaning south, so you had the capital in the south then the north. The jing is the character you see at the start of every Beijing based number plate so you know they are from here. She was also telling us about the layout of the city. The CBD is in the east and to the north you have silicon valley and i think she said the university. The south east is the BDA - Beijing Development Area for Science and Technology and to the west is the financial district. In the centre is the ancient town, hudong meaning alleyways. This looks like a crazy version of the Burgess Model.
Throughout Beijing they have 6, yes 6, ring roads in and around this city model. This city must be huge! She also said that statistics say that each month there are 58000 more cars on the road, crazy. During the Olympics they tried to control the congestion and pollution by not allowing people to drive their cars on one day a week, so number plates starting or ending (i can't remember which) with 0 or 1 on one day, 2-3 the next day etc. All can drive on bank holidays. Very interesting, takes me back to A level coursework and the nethos in Athens. Anyho enough of the lesson, we got here eventually.
Tonight we were left to our own devices to sort dinner, hmmm easy option - the hotel buffet, or hard - attempt a local restaurant. We as always make it hard. We tried pizza but the wave the guy gave us was goodbye not hello so we went over to Sizzler. After somehow making the guy understand we wanted food we were seated and ordering steak teryaki medium rare - oh yeah i managed it. We went back chuffed we braved it alone!
We got to the airport in plenty of time, weather was nice, all was going smoothly until...we make it through security (i didn't get searched - yay) but our plane was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. Our gate didn't even have a plane at it! Turns out the weather was bad which means it was late leaving Beijing to get to us before going back. On its way to us we had massive storms which meant it couldn't land so it went to another airport. Several hours later, after a free drink and having read most of the guide book a plane appeared. It was not ours, boooo. We did then hear that we'd changed gate and was leaving at 5, over 3 and a half hours late. We were going to miss the opera and the Temple of Heaven and instead saw lots of Chinese people sitting and waiting. No ones fault, an act of nature but still, annoying. If we had driven it would have taken 14 hours so still better, but only just!
Once boarded the plane we did get an in flight meal which we did not expect. A can of some strange porridge type substance that was horrible, some what looked like pickled gherkin, shrimp crackers, artificial cake and a chocolate wafer. A very odd meal indeed. Eventually when we made it to Beijing we were greeted by 'Megan' our guide whilst in the city. Still raining i might add we boarded our bus to go to our hotel having missed everything from today. Turns out we are going to the opera after the great wall and ming tombs tomorrow so all is not lost.
Megan was very informative on our journey. She started by telling us about the name Beijing. Bei means north and jing means capital. This was the capital of new China. The previous capital was Nanying, Nan meaning south, so you had the capital in the south then the north. The jing is the character you see at the start of every Beijing based number plate so you know they are from here. She was also telling us about the layout of the city. The CBD is in the east and to the north you have silicon valley and i think she said the university. The south east is the BDA - Beijing Development Area for Science and Technology and to the west is the financial district. In the centre is the ancient town, hudong meaning alleyways. This looks like a crazy version of the Burgess Model.
Throughout Beijing they have 6, yes 6, ring roads in and around this city model. This city must be huge! She also said that statistics say that each month there are 58000 more cars on the road, crazy. During the Olympics they tried to control the congestion and pollution by not allowing people to drive their cars on one day a week, so number plates starting or ending (i can't remember which) with 0 or 1 on one day, 2-3 the next day etc. All can drive on bank holidays. Very interesting, takes me back to A level coursework and the nethos in Athens. Anyho enough of the lesson, we got here eventually.
Tonight we were left to our own devices to sort dinner, hmmm easy option - the hotel buffet, or hard - attempt a local restaurant. We as always make it hard. We tried pizza but the wave the guy gave us was goodbye not hello so we went over to Sizzler. After somehow making the guy understand we wanted food we were seated and ordering steak teryaki medium rare - oh yeah i managed it. We went back chuffed we braved it alone!
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
On the jet plane...
So 5 hours and 46 minutes left of our 11 hour flight and so far what has happened? Well we have seen some questionable people at the airport - namely someone who looked famous and another who spat on the carpet! Having said that our wait went by quite quickly when they invited Premium Economy - yes, that is us! - to board the plane. After waiting for a very inconsiderate sol's luggage to be removed as they were too late for the plane we were on our way! Needless to sya me being me I've already had some blond moments - food falling down my top into my bra, putting my earphones on but, doh, forgetting to plug them in and trying to get out of the chair with a seat belt on! Oh well, ney mind. Enjoyed some nice food and a constant supply of drink and Haagen Daz is keeping me entertained as well as the odd film, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past wasn't all that bad. So what now? Well writing in turbulence is interesting but am listening the the Killers which are always good! Won't be too long til we land in the city of glitz and glamour ready to start our adventure! Does the US know what is coming? It will do soon!!! Haha, watch out! Oh, mental note - next time don't go to the loo on a plane bare foot! Not good!! Right lets look for another romcom bad film to watch...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)