There and Back Again

Pondering: When it’s three o’clock in New York, it’s still 1938 in London. (Bette Midler)
Listening: American Girl (Tom Petty)

Day One in London. My sister and I are checked in at the K West Hotel and Spa located in Shepherd’s Bush. The room so far is more than comfortable, larger in size than most European rooms I’ve checked in to. The nice looking bed with white sheets and a goose down comforter is beckoning me to lie down and relax but I am resisting, lest jet lag will get the best of me. What’s missing are just a few more watchable channels on TV. All we have in the room are three kinds of BBC, two kinds of Sky News, and MTV-Germany. Sometimes I really think the Brits only watch news or football and nothing else.

The Virgin Atlantic flight was a long one, as expected. It was a restless, miserable, forgettable flight. The family behind us couldn’t keep the youngest daughter from breaking into an irritating wail of misery every so often. And while everyone in the aircraft were trying to make an attempt at getting a few winks, the entire family was eating their own packed dinner which caused a lot of noise activity from the entire row they occupied. The man next to me was oddly quiet and had a tendency to start smelling odd if the flight went on a bit longer. The food sucked - can’t blame the family behind me for packing their own - and the leg room was what you’d expect from an economy flight.

There were loads of in-flight entertainment to choose from but after watching House of Flying Daggers which was so-so though enjoyable, I couldn’t get into any other movie. I started to watch The Incredibles and found it, to my dismay, very boring and the script kind of corny so that I couldn’t continue. I’m sure it was just because of the environment I was in. I then started to watch Criminal, starring Diego Luna and John C. Reilly but a few minutes after the show started, tiredness kicked in and my eyes couldn’t focus anymore though it wouldn’t sleep either.

Anyway, we arrived at Heathrow Airport around 11 AM, London time, tired, sleep-deprived and in need of a shower to rejuvenate our energy. From Heathrow, we took the Underground’s Piccadilly Line to Earl’s Court, moved to the District Line to Notting Hill Gate and moved again to the Central Line for our final destination, Shepherd’s Bush.

In a few minutes, my sister and I are going out instead of sleeping in and falling into the abyss of jet lag. I’m just now waiting for room service to get here because I am so hungry, I can’t last another tube trip without eating.

This is going to be a wonderful holiday! Can’t wait to get going…