London

Well it's the first day of my trip - ok technically the second day of my trip, but I spent the first day on planes, so it probably doesn't count.

Speaking of planes, I'm well and truly sick of them and I've only just started my holiday! From Singapore to London I was in the new Airbus A380. I have to say, it's absolutely huge, but not particularly more spacious if you are in economy. From what I can gather there are about 80 rows in total, so nearly 800 people on the one plane! It wasn't too bad though, because it was actually a relatively quick flight, it only took 12.5 hours. I ended up sitting next to 2 very nice people, one a woman from Brisbane who was flying to London for a 3 day conference and then straight home again! And the other a sheep shearer from Christchurch.... yes we've all heard the jokes! They were both very nice, but were rather fond of talking about plane crashes and that the safety slide and the lifevests wouldn't be particularly useful if we did crash land. That put a slight edge on the flight that I really could have done without.

The service on the plane was lovely and they fed us so much food. It was ridiculous. For breakfast we had a choice of an omlette with sausage or beef and noodles, it also came with a bread roll, fruit, cornflakes, orange juice and tea and coffee. I don't think I've ever eaten so much for breakfast before!

Anyway, I'm sure no one is particularly interested in my flight so I will skip ahead.

We got into London very early but because of immigration and baggage collection it takes forever to get out of the airport, and can I say that a smile from the immigration officers every once in a while would be appreciated.

Caught the tube into London and it was a very different experience this time to last time for a couple of reasons. Firstly, although I came in at the same time on my last trip to London, it was the middle of winter then, so it was pitch black and I saw absolutely nothing coming in on the tube. This time it was incredibly light at 7am. It was actually disorienting. Not only is your body telling you that it should be 7 hours later than it actually is, the sun appears to be telling you the same thing as well. It didn't seem to take as long to get to Russell Square this time as it did last time, but I was probably a lot less attentive to all the stops this time as I was last time.

I think the second reason that the ride in this morning seemed so very different was because it wasn't all new and exciting. In fact I didn't feel excited at all. None of it felt new and interesting and I didn't feel the same level of anticipation to get out and explore as I did on my last trip. I think that's because it's ... London.

I like London, but it's not my favourite place in the world. I could never see myself living in London. I find the people aren't particularly friendly and the city seems cold and imposing to me. It doesn't help that you have set images of certain places in your mind and it's very rare that the reality lives up to your imagniation.

However, I think this initial blog is probably very tainted by my lack of sleep and the fact that I can't check into my hostel until 2pm!

I knew that before I arrived, but it's still really irritating. I've been in the city since 8am, and it's now 11:30, but I've still got 2.5 hours before I can go to my hostel. I did go straight there from the airport and drop my suitcase off, which is a relief, but I've had to lug my laptop and backpack around all morning. All I really want to do is go to the hostel, have a shower, have a sleep and get my energy levels back up. I think once I get some sleep I'll be in a more positive mood and be excited to explore parts of London that I haven't seen before.

I think it's started to sink in that I'm really going to be away for 6 months. I'm already missing home a lot.

Oh well.

Hopefully I will be feeling better after a good night's sleep tonight. I hope the people in my dorm are nice and don't party all night.

Will try to post again soon.

Casey.