seldear | Entries tagged with travel2007

Home. Familiar sights, familiar scents, the damp chill of a humid Australian summer and the crickets already chirping.

[At Chiangi Airport, 8pm Tuesday night]

Ooh. I got to fly the new A380 airbus! Damn. If I'd known it was going to be the A380, I'd have upgraded to business class for the entirely flat-bed business class experience.

I got almost zero sleep on the flight from London to Singapore. Not unexpected, although a little annoying. I ended up watching Stardust and The Bourne Identity. I'm hoping that the flight to Sydney will have at least Ratatouille - which I would really like to see.

[on A380 Airbus]

Okay. I have decided that I am never flying anything but the Singapore Airlines A380 airbus ever again. Oh. Em. Gee.

Business-class seats are about a yard wide. I had to walk past business class to reach my section of economy on the upper deck, and even that's pretty swish. A ten-inch private screen to watch anything I want (hi-def, too), upgrates and funky things and...

...I've just spotted a USB port. If I had a USB cable, I might be able to play my episodes of Stargate Atlantis through my laptop and onto the screen before me. Oooooh...

But back to the funky things and the entertainment plan. No Ratatouille (alas, it seems that that's December's entertainment program and the A380 is still operating on November's). However, it does have Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End, which is blurbed thusly: "The world's end isn't a bad place to get stuck, espeically if you're in the company of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom."

*gurgles*

Anyway, I think this will be a rather nice flight.

[back home]

It was a rather nice flight. However, I have had maybe three hours of sleep in the last 36, which, by the end of today, will be 3 hours of sleep in the last 48.

I'm beginning to feel a little dizzy sitting down.

Overall it was an awesome trip and I did enjoy going to the places I went and meeting the people I met - both new and old. I'm just glad to be home again for a while. Travelling becomes tiring. I'll try to get the last photos up in the next 48 hours.

This is the travelling Sel signing off for 2007. Thank you very much, goodnight!

Current Mood: drained

Mostly wait in queues, actually.

Mental notes for next time:
1. it takes 2 hours to reach Heathrow via tube when travelling in peakhour.
2. it takes at least an hour to get through check-in, if you're not flying business class.
3. fly business class if at all possible.
4. if you can't fly business class, arrive 4 hours early at London Heathrow airport.

I think that previous times I went through London Heathrow I was a little over-ready - I arrived at the airports about 4 hours early and was checked in super-fast. Really, I think that to have been checked in by 8pm (my flight leaves at 10pm), I should have had to have left central London by 4pm.

No window seat this time, I'm afraid.

Ooh! Queue is moving! I've shifted from the first (prelim) queue to the second!

Although we've still got this one to go through.

[an hour later]

There were issues with my ticket. It nearly didn't exist. Or it existed in a kind of bureucratic no-man's land, between e-ticket and paper, accepted by neither. The ticketing agent had to go out the back twice.

*sigh*

But now I'm sitting in the waiting area of London's Heathrow airport, having just been hit in the head by a kid who stretched out his arms without looking where he was stretching (!!!?!), slightly hungry since lunch (with

sleekuk) was 8 hours ago. But we do get fed on the plane.

*breathes*

It took me over 3 hours from central london by bus and tube, through check-in and security to the waiting area in Heathrow.

Boarding starts in 10 minutes.

I'm going HOME!

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: london, heathrow

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans! This is something for you to read when you're all stuffed full of turkey!

--

Our hotel in Venice was only a few streets away from the 'parking spot', over three bridges and along a fairly busy street.

But the most important thing about Venice was that it was the point at which the tour slowed down. We were no longer rushing around, waking up at 6am to get to the next place. We got to 'sleep in' to 7:30am. Woo!

( as far as the cold went, this made absolutely no difference )

Out of all the days we spent anywhere, I think I liked the day in Venice best. The weather was perfect, the sightseeing was both historical and beautiful, and everything came together - the light, the colours, the flavours, the sense of the day - and it was very good.

Current Location: London, a friend's flat

Met

bellalarina today, had lunch, lost track of time, ended up having to race through the Castle Museum (and past all the really interesting bits, like the history and detail of the English Civil War) because it was closing in 20 minutes. :( But the meeting and afternoon itself was fantastic.

( but we're not here to talk about York, but from Innesbruck to Venice! (with extra added Shakespeare!) )

And if the pictures in this section were pretty average, the pics of the next day (our full day in Venice) are spectacular! We had awesome weather - everything was great!

Of course, it rained on the way out of Venice. But that's the day after the next day and I shouldn't borrow trouble. :)

Naturally, on a day when I needed it to be sunny and dry, it rained.

It rained and rained and rained and rained and...

I ended up just wandering rather aimlessly around York, although I did attend the Minster Eurcharist

( Mostly on the Eucharist )

Tomorrow, I'll take a tour of the Minster, Jorvik (Viking centre), meet

bellalarina and hopefully have time to check out the castle museum. It would be nice if it stopped raining.

More Europe photos coming tomorrow.

Germany and Austria have a lot of history, way more than can be covered in the course of our tours. Probably the main family that dominates the history of the two countries is that of the Habsburgs, and the name that is most notable is Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria. She was the only female empress of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and gave birth to sixteen children, enough of whom survived to adulthood to gain her the name as the Mother-in-law of Europe.

( The rest of this post is mostly photos and What I Did On My Holidays )

The next few posts will probably be pretty big ones, since the weather and the land got much more hospitable after Innesbruck as we headed on down to Venice. I'll probably set them up on while on the train to York tomorrow.

Speaking of which, if you've asked for a postcard, I sent three from France, and have posted another eight in the last couple of days. I think that leaves only about 10 to go... I'll try to get all the requests out before I leave for York, but we'll see how time and finances work out. And I think that some of you may want pictures of York. Most of you have gotten postcards of Paris, Disneyland, and a couple of people get ones from Death Valley down in California/Nevada. Although I bought a dozen (10p each!) from this little store last night so...

Originally written Friday 16th Nov, but unable to be posted.

Have put in my federal election ballot, reaffirming my right to whinge about the government for the next four years!

Trying to book tickets to York, and arrange a meeting with

bellalarina.

Except I've just discovered that tickets to York will cost me around £100. CRAP. By contrast, cancelling a booking at the YHA York will cost me considerably less.

*rethinks this really fast*

eta: Bus is slower, but much cheaper - £30. Will still see York.

I am so going to be paying for this trip! :(

Europe is at once both fascinating and disappointing.

Its history is layered, generation upon generation, life upon legend, like layers of snow falling until the region can barely hold its weight. On the other hand, the winter-bound European landscape is distinctly wintry and grey, with the cold stone castles towering over the valley villages, and themselves towered over by the sheared peaks of the mountains.

So, really, there are elements of both excitement and disappointment to my trip here. And that's not even counting the rather nasty cold I have, which I have been assured is not bacterial, but for which I am presently dosing myself with copious quantities of lemon-honey hot water.

( but you don't want to hear about my health woes, you want to hear about the tour! )

One of the problems with the tour is that it's pretty much a fly-by look at Europe. Even the cities where we stayed for two nights instead of just one - Venezia, Luzern, and Paris - were rushed, because there was so much to do and no time in which to do it!

It definitely whets the tourist appetite, though!

Current Mood: sick
Current Location: Starbucks, Hollen St, London, England

After 8 days on the road, travelling, travelling, travelling, wishing I had people I could *poke*, who'd understand why the sight of the Parisian airport sign ORLY cracked me up, and someone to hug me because I've come down with something viral and somehow I don't think it's going away without antibiotics, I'm in a classy hotel in Paris on the last stop of the 10 day tour with a nice room and a reasonable view and a whole city to explore...and all I want to do is sleep, or curl up in the armchair and watch the Stargate Atlantis eps I've missed...

I'm so tired. So's my room-mate, who's tired of sharing a room with an invalid who keeps her up 90% of the night coughing.

Probably, most of the tour is also tired of me since they've not come down with whatever it is that I have. The bus to Paris was like a convention of Hypochondriacs R Us.

This would all be manageable if I was home, or somewhere familiar, or able to reach familiar people who cared about me. My family has been incommunicado this last week, I haven't had a decent internet connection in the last ten days.

So, yes, I'm feeling bloody awful. I broke down and wept at the morning tea stop on the way to Paris. I don't think anyone noticed.

Sometimes you just need for things to stay the same. And when they don't, everything goes bad.

My nose stopped running for fifteen seconds. Then it started up again.

The hotel info says it has a doctor available at all hours. I'm going to check that out and hope that he can prescribe me some antibiotics. If it was non-viral, I'd have been over this on the third day. I'm usually way healthier than this.

Have cold. Damn tired.

Finally posting my Boston photos. I don't know when I'll have a chance to upload the next set of photos, although thank heavens for Boingo's $9.95 3-month unlimited deal that's accessible on the BTOpenzone!

( mostly architecture, although a couple of people got snapped )

As I write this, I'm trying to work out how to work the SIM card I bought here in the UK with the Palm Treo I bought on my way out of the US.

*sigh* Bloody international compatibility issues.

Tomorrow, Europe!

The flight from Dulles, DC was delayed due to mechanical failure. We were supposed to leave at 11pm. By the time we got the show on the road, it was around 1:30am. Repeated delays and delays and delays... So we only got to London around midday.

The London weather loves me. Even if the buses and the transport system doesn't. The weather is sunny and clear, if very Sydney-winter. (ETA: clouds coming over now at 2:30pm, but still sun in the west.)

( oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clement's! )

Will make a post with the touristy Boston pics later.

Snapshots of Boston and the parade to welcome home the Red Sox for winning the World Series (baseball, Grand Final).

( lots of red, white, and blue )

I'm about to upload my Pics Of Boston II, but I don't have time to do more than that right now. Flight to the UK is in six hours and I have a story to finish for someone going into an operation tomorrow.

I pondered an upgrade to Business for the flight to London, but decided against. It's only 6 hours and I won't sleep anyway!

Philadelphia reminds me a little of Sydney. Maybe it's just the streets and skyscrapers, the public transport and the ability to walk everywhere, the parks and the weather (kind of late autumn/winter).

( Cream Cheese )

Really, I could have spent a lot more time in Philadelphia. Although my waist would probably have been non-existent by the time I left - the food there was wonderful! No offence to the south-west, but I much prefer the 'international' food options.

Tomorrow, I have decided to wake early and head in to Salem before I meet up with

chiroho for a late lunch. That's right, I'm going to Salem, MA. on Hallowe'en!

It's gonna be mad.

Went to the Red Sox Homecoming Parade. Got all kinds of photos that probably won't be of any interest to anyone unless they're a Red Sox fan. (Incidentally, the "not a Red Sox fan" angle also encompasses me, so...)

I've run into more Australians in this hostel in the last day than I have in the US for the 4 weeks before today! There are four from Perth (two couples: one middle-aged, one young), one from Brisbane, one from Melbourne, and myself. All we need is someone from Adelaide, and someone from Canberra, and we've got all the major cities covered... Although I'd hesitate about calling either Adelaide or Canberra major cities. (Sorry,

lyore!)

Met

wneleh last night, meeting

chiroho tomorrow. Then it's off to London to meet up with

venom69 at the hotel on Friday...um...I should probably check up exactly which hotel this SG-12 convention is at...and hopefully see

stef94 in Amsterdam on Sunday. I just have to shake the tour group!

--

Dear B1 and B2,

Please appreciate this icon of half-naked Jamie Bamber, a.k.a. "Mr. Battlestar Galactica" that I have included with this post. Your postcards should be forthcoming. (Just as soon as I work out how to get two 41c stamps to equal 90c.)

love,
Selina.

Death Valley is apparently the lowest point on continental US, being some two-hundred and ninety-something feet below sea level.

sjhw_tolerance thought it would be an educational stop.

It was, actually. :)

( the low point of the trip...literally! )

I didn't end up taking any shots of Vegas. I'm not sure why - perhaps because this part was really a 'vacation' time rather than a time to see the sights - and the pics of Vegas are always better when professionally done. Vegas through the camera of a rank amateur looks cheap.

( The Phantom of the Opera is there inside my mind! )

After the decadence of Vegas, Sacramento was quiet.

pandora_576 was welcoming. The cats were friendly. (Pics to come.) RenFaire was...interesting. What follows is a varied and various set of photos of persons I encountered while at the Folsom RenFaire.

( RenFaire: an exercise in exhibitionism and amusement )

And, just to finish the section on Sacramento, pics of

pandora_576's cats!

( here, kitty, kitty, kitty! )

Philadelphia next. I hope to catch up with my photos by the time I leave the US. Maybe.

Several pieces of advice when it comes to Disneyland.

Rule #1: Definitely go at a time other than summer. The crowds in October are significantly smaller than they were the last time I went in August 2000.

Rule #2: Fastpass, fastpass, fastpass. And start getting the fastpasses early in the morning, because by lunchtime, you're looking at waiting until 5:30pm.

There's no way to describe Disneyland, I think. I could give you a blow-by-blow description of what we did, but there's nothing that can really convey they experience.

I guess I'll just leave it to the pictures.

( Disneyland itself hasn't changed that much since 2000... )

geneeste? I'm in Boston now and safe and sound!

It was lovely to meet up with you and

slm76 and

ileliberte over the weekend, and I'm just sorry I didn't get to see

snoggingpicard and

raisintorte while I was at it! *sadface*

So far, I liked Philadelphia better.

The taxi trip in from the airport was nice (if expensive) but arriving at the Youth Hostel... I was assigned to a lower bunk, which seemed to already have someone's stuff in it as well has having been slept in last night. The corresponding locker has a lock on it. The three other beds around it appear to have been used, while two lie pristine in the far corner.

It may be that someone just left their stuff on the bunk. Or that someone hasn't checked out. But it's not a nice feeling to come in to where you're staying and realise that someone else hasn't moved out yet. It leaves a distinct feeling of unwelcomeness.

The plus side is that the hostel has free wireless if you have a laptop...but requires you to pay if you don't have a lappy! BWAHAHAHA!

Now, tonight's spot of fun: working out how to get across to Cambridge (Boston's University City) in time to meet

wneleh...

chiroho? Are we doing lunch tomorrow or Wednesday?

In the absence of any contact or response from my contacts in the UK, I went ahead and booked my places to stay.

( UK and London )

I still intend to see

beefree88 in a future trip, but the logistics of flying out to Hungary and back weren't practical for the situation this time. Next time I go through Europe, I think I'll take the really slow-and-adventurous route, flying into the East and touring my way through the countries via trains and hostels.

(Hey, that's adventurous for me!)

--

( meanwhile, back in Philly )

More on Philly later. I'm still trying to scrape Disneyland together!

Arrived in Philly, hale and sound, to cold and rainy weather.

The flight from Sacramento to Phoenix, and then from Phoenix to Philly went okay, except for not getting any sleep on the Phoenix->Philly leg. Which was pretty much expected. Still, as a result, I'm sitting in the lounge of the hotel at what is 5am Sacramento time and 8am Philly time and trying not to think about all the sleep I didn't get last night.

I think that today will be a day of getting my bearings. This section of Philly (S. 12th St x Spruce) seems to resemble New York, somewhat. Except that nobody uses the public transport system. At least, nobody was using the line from the Airport into Downtown, and the Market East station was almost deserted.

It was kinda creepy, although not in an "I'm going to get mugged" kind of way, so much as a "if this was Sydney, you wouldn't be able to move for people - what is wrong with Philadelphians that they're not using the public transport system" way. Yes, I know that public transport is for those who can't afford to go by car in the US, but it's pretty much the backbone of the Sydney workforce. Admittedly, the backbone in Sydney is presently suffering osteoperosis, but you get the drift.

Anyway. I think the lack of sleep is making me a bit dizzy. Time for MORE COFFEE!

Current Mood: ditzy

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Writing In Twilight

Where Nobody Reads

Entries tagged with travel2007

A380 Airbus home!

what I did on my holidays

Venice: the weight of history

Europe: Innesbruck to Venice

York

RTW: Germany and Austria

life stuff

Insight's Winter Spotlight Tour: London-Amsterdam-Heidelberg

exhausted

In Venice

last photos of Boston

arrival in London

I'm Not Too Good At Ping-Pong

Philadelphia

Boston Brief #1

Death Valley and Sacramento

Disneyland: the most feet-hurty place on earth!

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything!

Europe and the UK