Day1 (May 1st 2001)
My flight was at 8:30pm on a weekday. So I had to beat rush hour traffic to get to the airport. Also, I need to get to exchange shop to get some British pounds for the trip. I put that off till the last day. Time was tight, but I managed to get everything I need.
I was nervous. This is not the first time I fly, nor the first time I fly alone. But it was the first time that I travel to a place unknown to me. Ok, I was a bit scared. It was an impulsive move that I decided to go and bought the air ticket. I thought, before I graduate from university, I need to go somewhere and do something out of the ordinary. As I would find out later, I seldom see Asians backpack alone in the places I went to. So I guess I was very much a oddity to the local people.
The flight was long, 8hours and 30 minutes, and boring. There were kids screaming all the time, so it was difficult to get some sleep without the help of a couple glasses of red wine. Touch down at Heathrow at 1:20pm. Custom was easy, not much questions asked since my stay in Britain was less than 2weeks. (Canadians are allowed to stay up to 6months with a landing visa. Yeah!) Subway, or tube as Brits call it, was a smooth ride. British accent is a little hard to understand at first, but I had already start to get used to the it by the time I get on the tube. The ride from airport to London took me over the suburbs. It looked old: grey buildings, rusty red brick houses, and some abandoned warehouses. Patched of green dotted in between. There were a few places where there were modern buildings. I forgot the towns and cities along the ways now, but all the train stations looked Old.
Brits seems to be better dressed than Vancouverites. I seldom see people in runners and tights, or people wearing gortex jacket carrying business briefcases.
Living in London is ridiculously expensive, at least to my standard. I stayed in Astor Leinster hostel, which is close to Hyde park, for the first night. 20 pounds for a night (CAD$40), and I get a room with six bunk beds and shared shower on the flat. Mind you all hostels are like this. Some newer some old, some provide free bed linens some don't, and some have kitchens. The room I stayed in is half full, the other two people were actually a newly web couple staying there for a few days while their new home was under renovation.
Hyde park is a rather large green space in London. Inside, there is the Kensington Palace, two small ponds, and a magnificent statue: The Albert Memorial. I don't know who he is, and there is no plaque bearing an introduction of this figure around either. The park is large, and I spent an hour or so walking and enjoying the fresh air after the light drizzle in the afternoon. I was reading one of the leaflets I picked up from the hostel, and it described this story:
There are always one or two flocks of geese roaming around within Hyde park. Every person in the world knows that geese are wonderful food on a plate, and would make a delicious meal. An Aussie backpacker, weary and hungry and without money, can't stand seeing a flock of nice geese dinner flying in the park, decided to catch one and calm his stomach. He caught one, and was about to kill the bird when two policemen caught him in the act. It is against the law to catch a wild animal in London, and the poor Aussie got a few days behind bars. Whether the story is true or not, you be the judge. But I think this Aussie intended to break the law and made him visible to the policemen, so he can get a few free meals! Well, that's just a guess, no offence to any Aussies.
After a hot shower and a 5 British pound McDonalds meal I was ready for bed.