I've arrived!

I'm in London now! At Nick and Tash's place. Not really any dramas in getting here, although it turned out I had Tash's cellphone number wrong. So I ended up ringing the flat and luckily she was home so she came down to the tube station and met me.

The flight from Syndey was REALLY long. Nearly 15 hours I think. But once again, lots of good movies to watch. I watched Walk The Line, Good Night and Good Luck, Aeon Flux, Goal! and Rumour Has It. I think that's all! I also managed to find time to sleep. So didn't feel too bad when we landed in Dubai. The flight arrived at 6.15am local time, and the temperature was 26 degrees!

Had about an hour in Dubai airport. Because it was early morning it was quite hazy and you couldn't see the city very well. A few big buildings... and lots of sand! But there were still lovely green verges on the sides of the road and grass in the middle of roundabouts. Bizzare.

The flight from Dubai to London was really cool! We were flying at 32000ft but for much of the trip it was really clear and there was lots to see from the window. (I had a window seat.) So I saw lots of desert and mountains (some with snow on)over the Middle East. Flew over a really spectacular bit of the Turkish coast (I think that's where it was), a wind farm in Germany, and the outskirts of Berlin. And after that it was cloudy until the descent into London.

The other good thing about that flight was that I was sitting next to a couple from the Shetland Islands who had been visiting their daughter in Tauranga. We chatted a bit throughout the flight, and at the end they gave me their contact details, probably because I expressed interest in visiting there sometime during my stay in the UK.

So, arrived in London. Had no trouble with bags or customs and then got the tube into central London then out to Nick & Tash's place. I had a nap that afternoon, which was only supposed to be short, but I ended up sleeping for too long. I got up at about 9.30pm and had some dinner then went back to bed. The second day was better. I stayed up all day and went to bed about 9pm. It was definitely a struggle to stay up even that late though!

Also on the second day here (yesterday) I went to my orientation meeting with First Contact. They give a short presentation on living in London and then you meet with banking people who help you to set up a bank account. It was very useful and I should have a bank account set up within 3 working days. Much easier than trying to organise it yourself (which is apparently virtually impossible). Obviously it costs, but I think it's definitely worth it.

That's all for the moment really. Tash & I are going to the Camden markets today. :-)