2012 Holiday To London-NYC-Niagara - Day Two

My screen rebooted all through the night. Hand controller stopped working so I couldn't use the light or call an attendant with it. The only suggestion they could make was to swap seats - almost two hours after reporting the problem. Then I asked about purchasing a universal adapter and the attendant discovered that the plane hadn't been set up for duty free shopping - you weren't able to purchase anything - duty free or not. Tried on the eye shades to get some sleep but the chemical smell from them was a bit overwhelming. Swapped seats with The Boy and managed to get some shuteye.

Earlier I had to wait for nearly 15 minutes for some Asian chick to use the toilet. The floor was really wet and there was toilet paper stuck in the toilet. Some people shouldn't be allowed to fly.

Meals were quite nice - omelette was great. Spent much of my time watching rom-coms from the seat in front of me - without sound. Not very entertaining.

Interesting that the plane from Perth to Singapore had 55 rows of seats and we were seated in row 54. This plane we're in row 52 but it goes all the way back to row 88. And from there it goes upstairs!

Just picked up $100 in duty free shopping vouchers for my inconvenience although they did give it to the guy in front of me and put the name of the guy who had the seat originally on it.

UK Border took some 20-25 minutes to clear - and there were certainly a lot of people entering the country. I was a little bit confused in locating the underground station at Heathrow. Bought two adult tickets but was told that a child's ticket had to be purchased from King's Cross Station. Took a 45 minutes tube ride into London and changed trains once before getting to Goodge Street. Our hotel, the Ridgemount Hotel, was only a few streets away.

Too early to check in so we left our bags in the lounge room and walked around Tottenham Court Road, bought some lunch (nice sandwiches at Pret-A-Manger) and went to King's Cross Station. They informed me to go upstairs to purchase The Boy's ticket. I went upstairs and they told me to go downstairs. It turns out that 12 y.o. children can't purchase a 7-day ticket anymore, unless they are residents of London, so I ended up buying an adult ticket for him. At least we can travel before 9:30am if we want to. Noticed some cops with some kind of high powered weapons at the station.

Back to the hotel for check-in and showers. The missus wanted to have a sleep so The Boy and I went to the British Museum after purchasing a universal power adapter and some 3-Mobile sim cards for only 15 pounds each which gave 15 days of unlimited data, 3000 texts and about 300 minutes of free calls. Couldn't get over the fact that dual-sim mobiles could be bought for less than 10 pounds. The British Museum was fascinating - for both of us. Great way to spend an hour and a half - after The Boy's first ride in a double-decker.

Returned to the hotel again to collect the missus and go out for dinner. At at The Jack Horner - a 20 y.o. pub on Tottenham Court Road. It used to be a bank. My beef stroganoff was nice, Miky's soup was great and The Boy's Jack Horner house pie was superb. Music was nice, decor was lovely and the setting was great.

Caught a bus down to Trafalgar Square. Miky caught sight of Big Ben so we walked down to the Houses of Parliament. Many photos later, including the London Eye, it was time to head home. The Boy was zonked before our stop. That's what you get for not sleeping enough on the plane.

Great start to the trip.

Photo Album Vol I
Photo Album Vol II
Photo Album Vol III
Photo Album Vol IV (Final)