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flight to Buenos Aires

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Apparently, there is a heat wave in the UK.  That is what the bbc news report I saw at the airport said.  It got to 30 degrees in London (the hottest of anywhere in the country), while I was there, I thought it was a bit warm, similar to the weather in Paris the day before, but ‘heatwave’?  They were issuing a health advisory as well!  The forecast is for 31 tomorrow, and possibly the mind blowing 32 degrees later in the week.  Some British people seem worried, Australians everywhere are laughing hysterically at this now I’m sure.  I wish I was staying there to ‘suffer through’ it, (though not riding the tube during it) temperatures like that are nowhere near Buenos Aires this time of year.

Anyway, I flew out of Terminal 5 at Heathrow, 1st time I’ve done that since it was built, everything worked seamlessly I was very impressed.  No queues at check in, they have virtually everyone using self check in machines (naturally my ticket wasn’t valid for that but I’m used to that by now).  I also got through security and passport controls with essentially no waiting!  The departure lounge is large and full of shops, bars and restaurants, one of the nicest I’ve been in.  My only complaints were that the wifi wasn’t free (not too surprising) and, here’s the big one, that Andy Murrays 4th round game at Wimbledon was not being shown on any of the tvs!  I could scarcely believe it.  I was in London, during Wimbledon with the British No 1 playing and it wasn’t on tv.  Truly shameful.

Moving on from that, to Argentina.  Longest flight of my life, and the last of my long haul flights on this trip.  Over 16 hours all together including the 2 hour stop in Sao Paulo.  Can’t complain about anything on it really though, more legroom that usual in economy it seemed.  I sat next to another backpacker going to the same countries as me for the next few months, first time I’ve sat next to anyone interesting on a flight!   Now I’m in Buenos Aires, at an awesome hostel, I now have no concept of time after that flight and will complete the day by visiting one of the world renowned steak restaurants here.

England

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

I haven’t bothered to update this blog for the last week since I haven’t been anywhere sightseeing, just catching up with some friends and family in the UK.

I had a good flight from Cape Town to London, a bit bumpy to start off with but that soon steadied out and I managed to sleep for a fair bit of it. In contrast to the gorgeous last day I had in Cape Town, I arrived in London to grey skies and cold air. The threatened tube strike had gone ahead as planned, though some workers defied it so one line managed to be running, this was not the airport line however. Once I finally figured out how to get where I needed via bus, it was pouring down with rain. Nothing says welcome back to England better than a good rain shower.

I spent a couple days in London with my cousins, the weather cleared off after the first morning and was sunny and warm the rest of the time. It only took the first few hours that I was in the centre of the city before I remembered how much I loved London.

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After that I headed North to visit a couple friends at different Universities, had a couple good nights up there before heading back the Bedford, my hometown to see a few more people. The weather has been great for this last week, only a couple half days of rain with the rest of the time being warm and sunny, it’s light until after 10:00 at night now here with the longest day of the year approaching which is so refreshing after the 5:15 sunsets in South Africa.

I’ve had a great time seeing everyone again in the UK, spending time in the best pubs on earth and taking time off from hostels and tourism for the most part. I don’t count my exploration in London for a couple days tourism because even when I walked through Trafalgar Square many times and didn’t take any pictures of it (why do I need any more photos of it?). I’ve also shipped a box full of cadbury products back to the States so it will be waiting for me when I return.