We set off on the 15th. Our flight was delayed by about 30 minutes, but what's half an hour when out of a ten hour flight? Everything went smoothly (Cathay gives you 20-odd movie channels, which on this flight included Lucky Number Slevin (worst title ever), Over the Hedge, The Terminator (!!!) and a variety of other sitcoms, drama shows and episodes of Top Gear. The food was pretty standard airline food, the seats were pretty standard airline seats (which meant sleeping wasn't too easy, so I didn't really try much). By the time we got to Hong Kong, everyone was starting to get pretty tired. Siu Yuat crashed out on the floor by the departure gate to everyone else's amusement. If we'd been thinking clearly, we'd have followed his example.
Having only seen bits of Hong Kong airport, and only from the inside, the only impression I got was that it's very very big. We took a little subway-like train from the Arrival area to the transfers/Departure area, then explored a bit until we found a nice food court full of American staples like Burger King -- I had Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits. It was good (if you allow for the fact that I was very tired and hungry, and therefore would have been grateful for anthing that didn't taste like asphalt). The stopover was four hours, which was a decent amount of time -- we could walk around a bit, buy some food, then rest up for the final leg.
Getting some stretchng in while waiting in Hong Kong
Hong Kong to London was a 13 hour flight, and it was a killer. I tried getting some sleep, but that didn't work out -- too cramped, noisy and uncomfortable. I managed to doze on and off for a few hours, but eventually just gave up and watched movies (Finding Nemo was the only one that kept my attention) and played PSP games to pass the time. And that was a *lot* of time to pass. Being stuck in the same chair for half a day is not my idea of fun (stuck because I was in the middle of three -- Richard was at the window, and on the aisle was the man with the biggest bladder in the world -- twelve hours and he didn't go to the toilet once, which meant I had to ask him to move any time I wanted to get up).
We stumbled into Heathrow at 6 in the morning, expecting queues stretching for miles, but it was fine -- we got our passports stamped and then just wandered through the baggage claim and out of the airport ompletely unimpeded. I guess all the big security measures are in place for people leaving London, not entering it. Two nice young ladies were waiting for us in the arrivals section, and took us out to where a bus had been organised to get us to the hotel.
By this stage I was one "braaaiiins" away from walking dead, and all that had been sustaining me for the previous few hours was the thought of getting to the hotel, showering and collapsing into a coma on a comfy hotel bed. But it was not to be. We arrived at the St. Giles at around 8AM, to be told that check in time is at 2PM, and a bus would be coming for us at 1:30 to take us out to lunch for who knows how long. We were at least allowed to go into the buffet for a big English breakfast, but then it was another five hours of sitting around waiting and wishing I was asleep. We went and explored a bit, which at least allowed me to get some caffeine into my system (courtesy of an ASDA supermarket down the road), but I still ended up flopped on a hair in the lobby for several hours. By 1:40 the bus hadn't shown, so we decided to see if we could check in anyway. We could, which meant I could at least dump my lugage, change my stinky socks and t-shirt, slap on some deodorant and splash some water in my face before heading back down to wait for the bus.
The Russian team arrived while we were waiting, and the bus (a big blue double decker) soon after. It took us and the Russians on a 40-minute ride to the chinese restaurant that would be providing our meals for the next couple of days. Why they didn't pick somewhere closer to the hotel is still a mystery -- there are two hotels where competitors are staying; I guess it must be closer to the other one. Lunch was nice, but didn't change the fact that we spent more time in transit than we did eating. Once we got back, I finally had the chance to wash myself for the first time since Tuesday morning -- I actually had a bath, which was very pleasant even though the tub wasn't really big enough for a decent soak.
A bit about the hotel. It's not as swanky as its website lead me to believe, but it's no worse than any other hotel I've stayed in (apart from the absence of a mini fridge -- dunno what that's about). Our room has a double bed -- and another single one as well. I took the single on the first night, on the understanding that we'd swap each night (on the understanding that the maids would be changing the sheets each day...) Apart from that there's the usual TV, phone, power outlets, shower/tub, mini soaps, safe, kettle and so on. We are on the 9th floor (room 920) -- the rest of the team is scattered all over the place. Vince and Tom are two doors down from us in 924, while the others are on the 4th and 6th floors.
The St. Giles Hotel Heathrow
By the time I was out of the bath and dressed, Richard was returning from exploring the hotel gym. Dinner was not far off, and since we didn't feel like more bus rides (and since lunch hadn't been that long ago anyway), we decided to dodge out, using the excuse of going to catch up with our ols flatmate Eleanor. This would prove to be our first experience of London's public transport system, and it was a fairly painless experience all round. There is train station right near the hotel, from which we bought a return ticket into London for £5.30, then wandered onto the train that appeared just after we bought our tickets, wondering if were meant to give them to someone or swipe them through something or similar. As it turned out, we were fine -- ticket inspectors come around to check them (although there wasn't one on the trip in). The train ride was a comfortable 30 minutes into Waterloo Station, from where we had ben instructed by Eleanor to "take the Jubilee line north to Baker Street station". More tickets purchased (these ones you did have to stick through a machine, but it was the machine that let you through into the tubes, so it's not like we could miss doing it) and we were on our way. Everything was clearly signposted and we made our way out to Baker Street without difficulty, to be met by a sqeualing Eleanor.
She took us for a quick walk around London, with the destination of a favourite pub in mind. Unfortunately, this one was packed full, so we went to another, which brewed all it's own drinks (including soft drinks - my cola was very nice). After a few hours of boozing and catching up, she escorted us to the Marylebone Station, and we did the trip in reverse, which was even easier once we knew more or less what we were doing.
It was a bit after 10:30 when we got back to the hotel. I showered, put on pyjamas and settled into bed for my first real sleep in more than two days.
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