[INSIGHT TRAVEL - EUROPEAN GRANDEUR] - London Arrival

DAY 2 - AUGUST 30/31, 2000
LONDON, THE MILLENIUM GLOUCESTER HOTEL
ROOM 230

It's 4:00 a.m. local time, Mom and Dad are asleep, recovering from the stresses of the journey. I suppose for the sake of historical accuracy I should jot down the salient points, before I block it out from my mind completely.

Air France turned out to be not as user friendly as British Airways. The hand baggage that Mom was so so sure we could check in - based on her experience with BA - made our weight allowance go over. And then we had to make sure the handcarry stuff weighed not more than 10 kilos each. It meant we had to leave behind the three plastic bottles in my carry-on bag, something I was not sorry to do!

Immigration and Customs were all right.

The flight was fine, a bit bumpy, though, out of Manila. Dad made friends with a Filipino couple resident in Paris, which was a good thing. the husband sat next to Dad and they were happily chatting away for the trip. Bangkok stopover was a little iffy -- the cabin checker was antsy about who was sitting in what seat, and then we found out Mom misplace her boarding pass. Urgh. Anyway, things sorted themselves out and we were back in the air after an hour-long stop.

Ran into turbulence over Calcutta. Lots and lots of turbulence! Pilot wisely chose to make a detour, even if it added some time to the trip, but not before Mom grew a couple of grey hairs. I'm sure the gift of tongues was never practised so much on a flight as on this one.

Tried out my French on the stewardesses/flight attendants, and it seems I still have the ear.

Dad and I got absorbed in Erin Brockovich which he enjoyed. The plane is one of those with individual TV screens, and earphones are free with the flight kit - but no cabin slippers, though. Padded about comfortably enough in my sweatshirt and new sport socks all over the corridor, though. We had seats in the middle aisle, second row right after the reserved seating at the bulkhead.

The excitement really started at CDG-2. We were given directions to disembark on the right-hand side of the plane if connecting to London. The cabin staff sent us up to the front, back to the center middle and finally out the left-hand door, which state of affairs did not amuse Mommy one bit. Note on the shuttle : It's rather like a container van for passengers that can be raised and lowered to the height of a plane's door.

The merry-go-round continued at the terminal. The flight shuttle dropped us off at 2C - then we had to walk all these miles of hallway with only two or three signages to tell us which way we were headed. Get on another shuttle bus, get off the bus, walk into the terminal (2F), up into airport check and duty-free, up into the boarding gates (where there were no pointers onthe signages, just the word "boarding", no gate numbers or anything!) and then after completing boarding procedures, DOWN to another shuttle bus, then UP into the plane! \\pout\\ Talk about "customer-careless" attitude!

Finally, settled on the flight to London - and the plane was making a funny noise that Dad wasn't worried about but was definitely trying to figure out. Really weird for a flight - the noise did disappear when the pilot revved the engines for take-off, though, which was a tremendous comfort. Service on this flight as good as the MNL-BKK-CDG2 let.

After the irritation of CDG2, it was heaven to land in Heathrow - LHR with its tons of directional signages, orderly arrangements and polite Immigration officials who don't ask impertinent questions! Baggage claim was a breeze, had a bit of a snag looking for the Insight rep meeting us, but it was all right. Mom and Dad even managed to make friends with the Pinoy moneychanger at the airport - Mar is from Passi, Iloilo, of all places! We're supposed to go out with him later today.

The hotel transfer took us on the scenic tour of London. Got to see at least four hotels before winding up at the Millenium Gloucester, and then the driver - as per the head porter's comment - was "very naughty" in leaving us on the curb outside the hotel, instead of going through the driveway. Arrived at the Gloucester around 11:00 a.m. London time, so we checked in the bags and went exploring around the vicinity of our hotel.

One thing I can say for certain, I like the location of this hotel! Tube station and a mini-mall at the corner, even a Burger King, KFC and other small shops on Gloucester Road.

(traveling with parents is a distraction of major proportions when writing in the early morning)

A pretty Japanese girl named Masako took care of getting us checked-in. Managed to try out my Japanese on her (see, anime does have its uses after all) and she's a sweetie. A real Masako-chan, though I don't think I'll call her that before we leave for Manila!

Bags having been sent up after us, it was the usual chaos of trying to settle in. They put my bed (and it's comfortable, too!) beside the dresser, which means I have all the space in the world to spread out my stuff. All the better to review and figure out what should go where.

Having settled the parents down to sleep, I had myself an adventure -- took out a one-day pass for the Tube and went to Oxford Street for a look at the shops. I must say the place begins to remind me of Divisoria with its banketa sales. Considerably more immigrants here than there were 16 years ago. Mostly black and Indian - lots of Jamaica accents running around, one or two neo-Nazi types. A nice merry mix.

I actually walked down Carnaby Street, and if I'd had a mind to it, I'm sure I'd have gone poking into SoHo. I'd love to have a picture of that street sign! Walk down Carnaby and you see the Palladium theatre - The King and I is playing there now. There's a Laura Ashley boutique that Desiree would die for. Saw an animation shop down a street off Regent, but didn't go see - something about the guys hanging out in front. Had me a brisk walk in my good shoes, over most of Oxford Street - saw The Body Shop store, Benetton's flagship store, and quite a few new department stores. Clark's is having a sale on shoes - not that we need any more bulky stuff, considering the weight restrictions we're under.

After an hour of poking about, back to the Tube for Gloucester Road Station. Fell in love with the supermarket called Waitrose - it has about six different kinds of take-out food bars for salads, fruit salads, noodles, cold cuts, joints (meat), deli cuts and bread. Amazing! And there's even free tasting for the roast jointed meat. Yum!! Ended up with 8.99 worth of groceries : water (6 liter bottles), whole wheat bread, two fruit salads and one couscous mix that tasted pretty good - but then, it had cilantro in it, which I've always loved.

Guess that about covers arrival adventures. Time to sort out everything for the rest of the day.