Day 1 in London - what a buzz!

I'm in that "I can't believe I'm in London" state of mind! Now, I've been here before - several times in fact - but it's either been during a cold Spring or a cold Autumn. But right now is perfect. At around 20C during the day, and with a light breeze, it doesn't get much better for tourists.

Yesterday I spent the day with my old friend, Rick Steves, who writes the best travel guide I've ever come accross. With his quirky sense of humour, cute hand-drawn maps (which still remain accurate) and his knack of taking you down back alleys, and to out-of-the-way eateries, days with Rick are a real blast!

I started with breakfast near Leicester Square (boarded off and under reconstruction in preparation for the Olympic) then did his West End walk. It was supposed to take about 3 hours, but as my friends and family know, I'm easily distracted... and everywhere has sales on right now... so it was over 4 hours of great sights before I staggered back into Trafalgar Square!

After a coffee shot (I'm amazed - the coffee in London is so much better than last time I was here) I hit the National Gallery. It's a very diverse and confusing place if you try to look at everything, but Rick gives a brilliant highlights tour, so I stuck mainly to that... well apart from the Impressionists rooms where I wallowed for far longer than Rick would approve of... (sigh...)

My jetlag cure is to keep local time from day1, so I bought a cheap ticket to Billy Elliot, and had dinner first at a recommended restaurant somewhere south-east of Victoria Station. Great meal, but felt like that song "Master of the House" from Les Miserables: a charge for bread and olives, whether you wanted them of not, 12.5% service charge (you could ask for it to be removed, but who would dare?), and all veges charged seperately! Still, with the strong NZ dollar, it was still reasonable.

And the show? Well I lasted until half time. I think they were having an off night with a second-tier mid-week cast. Or was I just too tired? Anyway, I crashed out at 11pm having had a wonderful day - sleep only delayed by the full-on domestic happening in the room above me. I don't think they could have had any idea how thin the walls and floors are in this place...

London - I made it!

After all the uncertainty of the past week, it was great to be able to finally get away on Monday afternoon. The flight was late, but I wasn't complaining. I had great flights, showers etc in the Qantas lounges in Melbourne and Hong Kong, and arrived all together in very good shape - Business Class does that I guess!

I managed to find the Hotel without too many problems, and would probably rate it as "tolerable"  - I knew that anyway, but with the heavy demand in London right now, I'm lucky to have anywhere to stay at all so close to the city centre. I've already seen two "walk-ins" turned away for tonight.

So tomorrow I hit London running. I will be trying to fit 11 days activities into 6 days, so it's going to be busy. I think my Rick Steves guide book is going to get a real hammering...

All systems are go!

After 5 days being grounded by the Chilean ash cloud hovering over New Zealand, trans-Tasman flights are operating again today. Yeah! That means my adventure can finally begin. Not that I'm complaining - I've had 5 days of "Indian summer", which have been very enjoyable.

So my aim now is still to do everything I had planned on doing in London in 6 days instead of 11. It will be tight - maybe the trip to Bath will have to be canned... or maybe only one visit to the British Museum instead of my usual 3... hmmm, will have to work on a plan.

Talk to you from London.

All Change...

Today has been like playing a board game: I landed on a square which said "go back 5 days". So I now leave Wellington on Monday next week, and have 5 fewer days in London. Apart from that, ash cloud willing, everything else stays the same. Fingers crossed again!

Thank you so much Qantas and Wotif helpdesk operators. What brilliant service! Prompt, efficient, and friendly. Very impressive...

And now, having got everything in order for leaving today, I can enjoy 5 relaxing days at home :-) So it seems that even ash clouds can have silver linings!

Cancelled!

Late last night the online status for flight QF38 changed from green to red, and that nasty word "Cancelled" appeared... But I'm all packed! I'm excited! I've said "bye" to everyone! What do you mean I'm not flying today???

The Qantas call centre message says they will endeavour to contact everyone as soon as possible, so I guess it's a day of wait-and-see... and keeping the phones charged of course. Glad I'm not supposed to be joining the cruise tomorrow :-)

One day to go - but it could be more!

As I continue to pack and do all those last minute things that always crop up, the ash cloud is again threatening to disrupt my departure... I watch with interest as various flights in and out of Australian airports are cancelled, and have decided there's nothing I can do about it, so I might just as well go with the flow. I'll take some Aussie $$ with me just in case I get stranded in Melbourne :-)

Family dinner out tonight, then I'll try to get a good night's sleep. No doubt I'll be on the net early tomorrow morning to see if I'll be flying or not. Hmmmm......

Holding my breath - as if that would help!

Qantas flights from New Zealand to Australia have resumed after several days of cancellations. I'm hoping that flights will still be operating on Wednesday, otherwise I'll be delayed. At least I only have cheap accommodation booked in London, so I won't be losing too much if I don't get there on time...

Dire warnings though that the ash cloud could cause disruption for weeks, if not months... so fingers crossed and WATCH THIS SPACE :-)

Are we heading for Ash Wednesday?

Just when I thought I had it all nailed down (in the last few days I booked a flight from London to Vienna, accommodation in London, Prague, Dresden and Berlin, and got everything in to the accountant for the end of the financial year) Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano decided to erupt. The resulting ash cloud has now spread to New Zealand and Australia, causing many flights to be cancelled. Qantas has canned flights between Wellington and Melbourne, which is the first leg of my flight to the UK.

So I guess it's a case of waiting to see what happens. This little glitch has 9 days to come right... now if anyone knows how to appease the volcano gods, please let me know!

2 weeks and counting...

Yikes! Just two weeks to go, then it's farewell winter, hello summer... I hope. Hey, can anyone tell me if they're doing summer in London this year?

The only thing between me and the start of the trip is the list. It's a list with magical properties - cross something off and the list still gets longer! I think most people have lists like this on the countdown, but knowing that doesn't make it any less stressful... And everyone wants to add to the stress: my dentist, my doctor, my lawyer, my insurance company, my gym, my accountant... well, you get the picture... :-)

The Dawn Princess is still limping along, with only 3 of her 4 engines working. Check out the blogs I'm following for more on that. Can't wait to join them, crippled ship and all!

Dawn Princess engine problems - again!

I've heard from people already on the Dawn Princess that the ship is having engine problems again. That's caused alterations to the itinerary, with a couple of ports being missed, and others added. All sounds horribly familiar - we limped from Dubai last year, and it was a couple of weeks before things got back to normal. Cabin credits help - free drinks are great!!

But I have this image in my mind of sitting on my suitcase on the wharf in Amsterdam, waiting for days for my ship to arrive... abandoned in foreign parts... oh so sad!