Wow, celebrating 50 entries in this London blog with news of my next London trip!
I was sooo excited when we came back from London, and I couldn't stop myself from checking out flights and hotels - and before I knew it I had found an amazing trip!! So again, couldn't help myself, and now I'm in the process of planning for another London trip! *LOL!*
So I'm leaving on 5 October, will spend five nights at what I think is a really great hotel, then go back on 10 October - the flight was almost ridiculously cheap, I paid about 365 SEK for it, which is about £32 (or EUR 40, or $53)!
The hotel was quite cheap as well, by London standards £375 (about 4400 SEK, EUR 474, $625).
I haven't planned much yet, as I have a lot of other things to do right now, and the trip is still more than a month away - but I simply had to book a ticket to Les Misérables, AND I managed to get a decent seat on the evening show of 8 October - when they celebrate their 29th birthday! I am SO looking forward to that! :)
Will continue to update this blog with more news of my upcoming trip!
Showing posts with label flight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flight. Show all posts
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Day 1 - 31 July 2014
Thursday, 31 July, was the day of travel.
We had decided to fly from Rygge Airport, just south of Oslo, and went there by car from our summerhouse. The trip was pretty eventless, but I have to say I was very uptight and tense. The entire trip was ahead, and this was the first time I went with my Dad and his family on a joint trip.
I'm generally nervous about these things, and as I've learned to cope with that and my anxiety attacks alone, I tend to feel even more stressed when I am around other people ...
We arrived at the airport and found long-term parking without any problems, and had one bag to check in (we sort of shared it, which was a great solution, as we could all have shampoos and stuff in the checked-in bag, and didn't have to worry about that going through security.
There weren't even a line to the check-in so things certainly worked out smoothly. Through security without a hitch, and for me it was great seeing what it was like travelling with a family, with kids (my two little sisters are 10 and 7½ years old - they are very used to travelling and are just amazing!!). I usually think I have enough of a worry to take care of myself and my bags and my passport and my boarding cards - and here it's everything times four! Incredible!!
My Dad and his family travel a lot, so they have a routine and a familiarity with a lot of things that I don't have, but I still think it's amazing they make it work so effortless.
I think we timed everything exeptionally well actually. We waited maybe 15-20 minutes after having checked in the bag for the security checks, and then we had to wait maybe another 20 minutes before standing in line for the passport control, and I think that is great ... I'd like to have a little extra time, just in case something happens.
We did stand in line at the gate a bit early and had to wait, but not too long. I do love Ryanair's new seating system, which is fantastic and should mean that you don't have to wait in line at the gate at all (although people do anyway!). The seats are numbered, if you like you can pay an extra fee to get the exact seat you want, providing you check in online more than seven days before departure. If you don't do this you will simply be allocated a seat when you do your online check-in, without paying anything extra. As there were five of us travelling together, I know my Dad and his partner watched this very closely and logged in at midnight, seven days before our trip, both to and from London, to check in, and in doing so, we all got seats together!
But since, when you come to the gate, you already have your seat, there's no need to stand in line or board the plane early, nobody will occupy your seat, so why hurry?!
So, we did get seats together at the plane, meaning I sat with my little sisters on one side of the isle, and my Dad and his parter sat on the other side of the isle ... perfect! Although I was constantly on edge and very uptight and nervous. In retrospect, I know there were no real reason for it, but reason and sense don't quite come into it when you have problems with anxiety.
The flight was ok, almost had a hard time catching up with my sisters as they talked almost constantly, but it worked out really well. I'm not used to flying now, and I did think it was quite bumpy going up, and a lot worse going down - but I have a feeling I'm a bit oversensitive too ...;)
We landed at Stansted Airport about 20 minutes early, walked to Passport control, which worked very smoothly. I usually let my Dad and his family go before me in queues and such, as they are a whole family, they have kids etc., but usually I was done before them ... in Passport control, in various security checks - they had a lot to check when four people come up, but I am alone and they usually just waved me through! :)
Though I did make a fool of myself a little, when the officer at Passport control asked me where I flew in from and I replied: "Swede....um, Norway!!" *LOL!* Felt like an idiot not even knowing where I came from - but it didn't feel like we were in Norway! :)
Our bag came quickly and then we headed for the bathroom, before going down to Stansted Express. We decided not to stress or hurry, but still made it on the 2.15-train, and it was nice and quiet and not a lot of people at all.
At this point I was almost exhausted ... from being so nervous and dealing with anxiety the whole day (I could never really relax), and I also suffered from my usual after-flight-heading, which kept getting worse because of the anxiety ... *sigh*
We came to Liverpool Street Station and it took a little while to figure out exactly from where our bus was leaving - and there actually is a different to "just check on something" when you are alone with one or two bags, or if you are five people with seven or eight bags!! :)
It didn't take very long to find bus 23 and be on our way but I think all of us were tired and I know the kids were really hungry. We got off the bus at Charing Cross station, where we saw a McDonald's sign, and the others went on ahead to get food.
I was going to pick up my London Pass, as the place closed at 4.30, and even though I was nervous and it was extremely hot, I felt quite all right. I think it was partly because I knew where I was going and what I was going to do, as I had done this in 2012 as well, and also because this was the first time on this extremely intense day that I had some time to myself.
I know, it sounds horrible that I'm complaining so much about my Dad and his family, and trust me, it won't continue like this!! They are amazing and I love them to bits, but this particular day was very hard for me, and when I'm having difficulties dealing with things, being around other people makes it ten times worse.
So anyway, collecting my London Pass worked out really well - and I just love the place where you do it because it's almost unreal ... Maybe I'll even make a separate post about it later on! :)
I met the others at McDonald's, and believe it or not but they had just gotten their food when I got there. I hurried and ordered my meal and we were basically done at the same time.
Took another bus to Sussex Gardens, managed to get off at the right bus stop and it didn't take long to find Olympic House Hotel. Checking in was a bit ... weird... Again I let my Dad and the others go first, but we had a hard time speaking English, and the lady in the reception had a hard time speaking English (and I think she was hard of hearing as well) so it took a while before she realized we were travelling together but had booked two rooms! :)
Eventually it all worked out, the other had gotten a room on the ground floor while I was on the third floor, so I took the elevator up - and couldn't find my room! *slightly panicky!* It turned out I had my room out near one of the staircases (apparently most single rooms are situated like that, it was the same in 2012 at the Orchard Hotel). The room was quite nice, very small of course, but everything was clean and tidy and seemed to work out, with a really nice bathroom! And they had one normal EU electrical socket - meaning the adapter I had convinced everyone we needed to charge cellphones and batteries was completely unnecessary! *lol*
After a little while I heard a knock on my door and there were my Dad and my two little sisters, wanting to see how I was going to live! :) :) We decided we would get settled for a little while and that I would come down to their room in about half an hour and maybe we could go for a little walk or something.
I was completely exhausted and was afraid I'd fall asleep, so I tried not to relax too much, and managed to, after a bit of a wander, find my way to the "family room" (as I later on used the stairs, which were quite narrow, very steep and very uneven and felt like the were leading up to a tower, I came to call my room the Tower-room, with the Tower-staris leading up to it! *lol*).
We decided to go for a walk, and ended up at Paddington station. Before the trip I had read the story about Paddington to the girls and they were of course excited to be at the station where he was originally found. I didn't expect to find much there, but there's this gorgeous wonderful lovely Paddington statue (have tons of beautiful photos of the girls with Paddington, but for privacy reasons I won't publish them here) - and they also had the most amazing Paddington store!! Everything was superexpensive, of course, but it was fantastic just to go around and look at everything.
I didn't feel very well at all though, all the tension and anxiety and weariness caught up with me and after Paddington station we split up. My Dad and the girls went back to the hotel, the girls' mother went to buy something to eat and some water, and I really felt I needed to be on my own for a while, so I took a walk around the area for about half an hour. Went by the "family room" when I came back to collect some of my luggage from their bag, and then climbed up the stairs to my Tower Room! :)
I have to say that this day was the hardest. Everything worked out really well on a practical level, but emotionally it was really rough. I'm very grateful I had my own room at the hotel and that the room was so nice, because I could truly relax and unwind there, and I think I very much needed that!
We had decided to fly from Rygge Airport, just south of Oslo, and went there by car from our summerhouse. The trip was pretty eventless, but I have to say I was very uptight and tense. The entire trip was ahead, and this was the first time I went with my Dad and his family on a joint trip.
I'm generally nervous about these things, and as I've learned to cope with that and my anxiety attacks alone, I tend to feel even more stressed when I am around other people ...
We arrived at the airport and found long-term parking without any problems, and had one bag to check in (we sort of shared it, which was a great solution, as we could all have shampoos and stuff in the checked-in bag, and didn't have to worry about that going through security.
There weren't even a line to the check-in so things certainly worked out smoothly. Through security without a hitch, and for me it was great seeing what it was like travelling with a family, with kids (my two little sisters are 10 and 7½ years old - they are very used to travelling and are just amazing!!). I usually think I have enough of a worry to take care of myself and my bags and my passport and my boarding cards - and here it's everything times four! Incredible!!
My Dad and his family travel a lot, so they have a routine and a familiarity with a lot of things that I don't have, but I still think it's amazing they make it work so effortless.
I think we timed everything exeptionally well actually. We waited maybe 15-20 minutes after having checked in the bag for the security checks, and then we had to wait maybe another 20 minutes before standing in line for the passport control, and I think that is great ... I'd like to have a little extra time, just in case something happens.
We did stand in line at the gate a bit early and had to wait, but not too long. I do love Ryanair's new seating system, which is fantastic and should mean that you don't have to wait in line at the gate at all (although people do anyway!). The seats are numbered, if you like you can pay an extra fee to get the exact seat you want, providing you check in online more than seven days before departure. If you don't do this you will simply be allocated a seat when you do your online check-in, without paying anything extra. As there were five of us travelling together, I know my Dad and his partner watched this very closely and logged in at midnight, seven days before our trip, both to and from London, to check in, and in doing so, we all got seats together!
But since, when you come to the gate, you already have your seat, there's no need to stand in line or board the plane early, nobody will occupy your seat, so why hurry?!
So, we did get seats together at the plane, meaning I sat with my little sisters on one side of the isle, and my Dad and his parter sat on the other side of the isle ... perfect! Although I was constantly on edge and very uptight and nervous. In retrospect, I know there were no real reason for it, but reason and sense don't quite come into it when you have problems with anxiety.
The flight was ok, almost had a hard time catching up with my sisters as they talked almost constantly, but it worked out really well. I'm not used to flying now, and I did think it was quite bumpy going up, and a lot worse going down - but I have a feeling I'm a bit oversensitive too ...;)
We landed at Stansted Airport about 20 minutes early, walked to Passport control, which worked very smoothly. I usually let my Dad and his family go before me in queues and such, as they are a whole family, they have kids etc., but usually I was done before them ... in Passport control, in various security checks - they had a lot to check when four people come up, but I am alone and they usually just waved me through! :)
Though I did make a fool of myself a little, when the officer at Passport control asked me where I flew in from and I replied: "Swede....um, Norway!!" *LOL!* Felt like an idiot not even knowing where I came from - but it didn't feel like we were in Norway! :)
Our bag came quickly and then we headed for the bathroom, before going down to Stansted Express. We decided not to stress or hurry, but still made it on the 2.15-train, and it was nice and quiet and not a lot of people at all.
At this point I was almost exhausted ... from being so nervous and dealing with anxiety the whole day (I could never really relax), and I also suffered from my usual after-flight-heading, which kept getting worse because of the anxiety ... *sigh*
We came to Liverpool Street Station and it took a little while to figure out exactly from where our bus was leaving - and there actually is a different to "just check on something" when you are alone with one or two bags, or if you are five people with seven or eight bags!! :)
It didn't take very long to find bus 23 and be on our way but I think all of us were tired and I know the kids were really hungry. We got off the bus at Charing Cross station, where we saw a McDonald's sign, and the others went on ahead to get food.
I was going to pick up my London Pass, as the place closed at 4.30, and even though I was nervous and it was extremely hot, I felt quite all right. I think it was partly because I knew where I was going and what I was going to do, as I had done this in 2012 as well, and also because this was the first time on this extremely intense day that I had some time to myself.
I know, it sounds horrible that I'm complaining so much about my Dad and his family, and trust me, it won't continue like this!! They are amazing and I love them to bits, but this particular day was very hard for me, and when I'm having difficulties dealing with things, being around other people makes it ten times worse.
So anyway, collecting my London Pass worked out really well - and I just love the place where you do it because it's almost unreal ... Maybe I'll even make a separate post about it later on! :)
I met the others at McDonald's, and believe it or not but they had just gotten their food when I got there. I hurried and ordered my meal and we were basically done at the same time.
Took another bus to Sussex Gardens, managed to get off at the right bus stop and it didn't take long to find Olympic House Hotel. Checking in was a bit ... weird... Again I let my Dad and the others go first, but we had a hard time speaking English, and the lady in the reception had a hard time speaking English (and I think she was hard of hearing as well) so it took a while before she realized we were travelling together but had booked two rooms! :)
Eventually it all worked out, the other had gotten a room on the ground floor while I was on the third floor, so I took the elevator up - and couldn't find my room! *slightly panicky!* It turned out I had my room out near one of the staircases (apparently most single rooms are situated like that, it was the same in 2012 at the Orchard Hotel). The room was quite nice, very small of course, but everything was clean and tidy and seemed to work out, with a really nice bathroom! And they had one normal EU electrical socket - meaning the adapter I had convinced everyone we needed to charge cellphones and batteries was completely unnecessary! *lol*
After a little while I heard a knock on my door and there were my Dad and my two little sisters, wanting to see how I was going to live! :) :) We decided we would get settled for a little while and that I would come down to their room in about half an hour and maybe we could go for a little walk or something.
I was completely exhausted and was afraid I'd fall asleep, so I tried not to relax too much, and managed to, after a bit of a wander, find my way to the "family room" (as I later on used the stairs, which were quite narrow, very steep and very uneven and felt like the were leading up to a tower, I came to call my room the Tower-room, with the Tower-staris leading up to it! *lol*).
We decided to go for a walk, and ended up at Paddington station. Before the trip I had read the story about Paddington to the girls and they were of course excited to be at the station where he was originally found. I didn't expect to find much there, but there's this gorgeous wonderful lovely Paddington statue (have tons of beautiful photos of the girls with Paddington, but for privacy reasons I won't publish them here) - and they also had the most amazing Paddington store!! Everything was superexpensive, of course, but it was fantastic just to go around and look at everything.
I didn't feel very well at all though, all the tension and anxiety and weariness caught up with me and after Paddington station we split up. My Dad and the girls went back to the hotel, the girls' mother went to buy something to eat and some water, and I really felt I needed to be on my own for a while, so I took a walk around the area for about half an hour. Went by the "family room" when I came back to collect some of my luggage from their bag, and then climbed up the stairs to my Tower Room! :)
I have to say that this day was the hardest. Everything worked out really well on a practical level, but emotionally it was really rough. I'm very grateful I had my own room at the hotel and that the room was so nice, because I could truly relax and unwind there, and I think I very much needed that!
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Day 6 - September 29
I woke up fairly early, which was good as I had to make an early start.
Turned out, however, I think I did make it a bit too early! :-)
I found it difficult to estimate how longer travel time would be needed for different things, especially in central London, and since I was a bit unsure of procedure at Stansted Airport I wanted to have a lot of time ... well I did ...
I checked out of the hotel at 7 a.m., or shortly after - no problems at all, I basically only had to leave the key! :-)
Walked up to Praed Street and got a bit worried! In the direction from where the buses were coming, there were lots of blue lights blinking, so I was afraid it had been a traffic accident, and that it would cause stops or delays in traffic.
However, traffic seemed to move fairly quickly and it didn't take that long before a no. 23 bus arrived.
And wow - what an experience to ride a bus through central London at 7.30 a.m. on a Saturday morning! For one thing, we had green lights constantly, all through Oxford Street from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus! That is not supposed to happen - it's like ... against the law or something! *LOL!!!*
The bus ride, that normally takes about 1h 10 minutes or so ... took 30 minutes!! YIKES!!
We arrived at Liverpool Street at 7.45 and there was a Stansted Express train due to leave at 7.55 - perfect timing! Basically no people on the train either, which was a pleasant change to the ride from the Airport some five days earlier ...
We arrived at Stansted Airport at about 8.40 a.m. ... and my flight wasn't due to leave until 12.25 - yikes! Still, at this point, I was glad of the extra time, actually! It gave me the opportunity to walk around the airport, and figure out what was to happen when (okay, this sounds like I have had no experience of travel at all, which is not the case, but I hadn't been abroad since the summer of 2009 and this was pretty much the first time ever I was on my own .... ), and that was good.
I had a sandwich and some water and the check-in desks for Malmö opened earlier than expected.
I had no problems checking in my bag and then it was time for the security check. For some reason it always makes me nervous and uncomfortable, even though I know I have nothing to hide or nothing that is dangerous. However, it went almost strangely smooth for me this time!
Placed my bag in the box on the band - the girls before me had to remove their shoes/boots, one of them was pulled aside for a body scan - but they just waved me through and I got my bag and that was it! Cool!
I bought a coke (to get rid of a headache that threatened to set it) and some snacks and waited for our gate to be listed. Walked around a bit, and bought some cool postcards - and waited for our gate to be listed. And waited. And waited. And waited!
Every other flight had gotten their gate, eventually even three or four flights leaving after the flight to Mamlö had a gate - but not Malmö ...
At this point I got a bit worried, thinking about delays and problems with gates and whatnot - and pretty much standing, pacing and sitting watching a monitor for about an hour was quite annoying!
Finally, around 11.50 we found out that the plane for Malmö was leaving from gate 48, so I set off ... and yes it is quite a distance to walk, that's for sure.
By the time I got to the gates, it was basically time to form into queues - which I hadn't expected ...
Things went smoothly however, although I think there were at least some minor problems - that none of the passengers were told about of course.
First of all, that the gate came up so late. Then we had to stand in line, they started to check passports and boarding cards and let people through, but we were stopped in a stairway and had to wait before being allowed to board the plane. After a while we were allowed out of the stairway and walked toward the plane, but were stopped at the stairs to the plane and weren't allowed to board ....
We ended up being about 10 minutes late from Stansted Airport, which after all, didn't feel that bad - and the flight went really well.
The touch-down in Malmö was not so pleasant though - apparently they had had stormy and rainy weather, so it was quite turbulent coming down, a bit too much so for my taste, and when we landed, the runway was soaking wet so it was quite slippery - however, no incidents.
When we got out of the plane however, we were apparently going to be shipped by bus to the main terminal - when did that happen in a tiny airport like Malmö?!?!?!
We ended up just at the Passport control, which was nice, and I was through very quickly, and had to wait for my bag.
They had, all in all, two conveyor belts at Malmö, at one of them would come bags from some Greek resorts and on the other, would be the bags from London. I went to the bathroom but they still hadn't started our belt - and then there were talks of the fact that all bags was on single conveyor belt .. so I went over to check - and within a few moments I saw my bag there!
I got it and went outside ... there were some issues with the Airport Transfer Buses which was quite annoying as I just wanted to go home, but in the end, at least, I got to Lund and were able to take a bus home! :-)
Was home about 6.30 p.m. - and it felt quite unbelievable that the whole trip, door to door, had taken almost 12 hour (yes, I know most of it was my fault because I was so darn early! *lol*)!!
Turned out, however, I think I did make it a bit too early! :-)
I found it difficult to estimate how longer travel time would be needed for different things, especially in central London, and since I was a bit unsure of procedure at Stansted Airport I wanted to have a lot of time ... well I did ...
I checked out of the hotel at 7 a.m., or shortly after - no problems at all, I basically only had to leave the key! :-)
Walked up to Praed Street and got a bit worried! In the direction from where the buses were coming, there were lots of blue lights blinking, so I was afraid it had been a traffic accident, and that it would cause stops or delays in traffic.
However, traffic seemed to move fairly quickly and it didn't take that long before a no. 23 bus arrived.
And wow - what an experience to ride a bus through central London at 7.30 a.m. on a Saturday morning! For one thing, we had green lights constantly, all through Oxford Street from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus! That is not supposed to happen - it's like ... against the law or something! *LOL!!!*
The bus ride, that normally takes about 1h 10 minutes or so ... took 30 minutes!! YIKES!!
We arrived at Liverpool Street at 7.45 and there was a Stansted Express train due to leave at 7.55 - perfect timing! Basically no people on the train either, which was a pleasant change to the ride from the Airport some five days earlier ...
We arrived at Stansted Airport at about 8.40 a.m. ... and my flight wasn't due to leave until 12.25 - yikes! Still, at this point, I was glad of the extra time, actually! It gave me the opportunity to walk around the airport, and figure out what was to happen when (okay, this sounds like I have had no experience of travel at all, which is not the case, but I hadn't been abroad since the summer of 2009 and this was pretty much the first time ever I was on my own .... ), and that was good.
I had a sandwich and some water and the check-in desks for Malmö opened earlier than expected.
I had no problems checking in my bag and then it was time for the security check. For some reason it always makes me nervous and uncomfortable, even though I know I have nothing to hide or nothing that is dangerous. However, it went almost strangely smooth for me this time!
Placed my bag in the box on the band - the girls before me had to remove their shoes/boots, one of them was pulled aside for a body scan - but they just waved me through and I got my bag and that was it! Cool!
I bought a coke (to get rid of a headache that threatened to set it) and some snacks and waited for our gate to be listed. Walked around a bit, and bought some cool postcards - and waited for our gate to be listed. And waited. And waited. And waited!
Every other flight had gotten their gate, eventually even three or four flights leaving after the flight to Mamlö had a gate - but not Malmö ...
At this point I got a bit worried, thinking about delays and problems with gates and whatnot - and pretty much standing, pacing and sitting watching a monitor for about an hour was quite annoying!
Finally, around 11.50 we found out that the plane for Malmö was leaving from gate 48, so I set off ... and yes it is quite a distance to walk, that's for sure.
By the time I got to the gates, it was basically time to form into queues - which I hadn't expected ...
Things went smoothly however, although I think there were at least some minor problems - that none of the passengers were told about of course.
First of all, that the gate came up so late. Then we had to stand in line, they started to check passports and boarding cards and let people through, but we were stopped in a stairway and had to wait before being allowed to board the plane. After a while we were allowed out of the stairway and walked toward the plane, but were stopped at the stairs to the plane and weren't allowed to board ....
We ended up being about 10 minutes late from Stansted Airport, which after all, didn't feel that bad - and the flight went really well.
The touch-down in Malmö was not so pleasant though - apparently they had had stormy and rainy weather, so it was quite turbulent coming down, a bit too much so for my taste, and when we landed, the runway was soaking wet so it was quite slippery - however, no incidents.
When we got out of the plane however, we were apparently going to be shipped by bus to the main terminal - when did that happen in a tiny airport like Malmö?!?!?!
We ended up just at the Passport control, which was nice, and I was through very quickly, and had to wait for my bag.
They had, all in all, two conveyor belts at Malmö, at one of them would come bags from some Greek resorts and on the other, would be the bags from London. I went to the bathroom but they still hadn't started our belt - and then there were talks of the fact that all bags was on single conveyor belt .. so I went over to check - and within a few moments I saw my bag there!
I got it and went outside ... there were some issues with the Airport Transfer Buses which was quite annoying as I just wanted to go home, but in the end, at least, I got to Lund and were able to take a bus home! :-)
Was home about 6.30 p.m. - and it felt quite unbelievable that the whole trip, door to door, had taken almost 12 hour (yes, I know most of it was my fault because I was so darn early! *lol*)!!
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Day 1 - September 24
I didn't have to leave home until about noon, as I had an afternoon flight to London, and that felt really good!
I wasn't in great shape as a lot had been happening just before the trip, and I didn't feel as prepared to go as I would have wanted, and so it was very nice not to be able to rush away at the crack of dawn.
I had everything packed and was on my way just before noon, took a bus to the railway station and a train to Lund. Had to wait there for about 40 minutes for the Airport transfer bus - I guess I could have taken a later train, but I felt I didn't want to take a chance in case that train was late.
Everything went well, I had bought my bus ticket (return ticket) online, and all I had to do was hold the printed code on my E-ticket against a reader in the bus and that was it.
The busride took about 40 minutes, and we arrived at Malmö Sturup almost exactly at 2 p.m. My flight was due to leave at 4.40, so I figured the check-in desks would open about 2.40. Still, I'd rather have the wait, as I was insecure on pretty much everything, than have to rush and feel totally stressed out.
I had some waiting to do, ended up sitting next to this woman who started chatting with me. At first it was rather nice, took some of the stress away from me, but as she went on and on and on, it became a bit annoying after a while. She didn't have any luggage to check in so right before 3 p.m. I went over to the check-in desks, basically the whole area was completely deserted, it felt almost spooky ... occasionally one or two people came, but I'm kind of used to airports being crowded ... Still, realizing there was no one in line (!) for the check-in, I made my way there and was through without a hitch!
After that came the security checks, and for some reason they always make me nervous ... I know I don't have anything dangerous with me and that it shouldn't be a problem, but I still get really stressed out! The lady before me "beeped" going through the scanner, and that of course made me even more nervous, but nothing happened to me, and I could just grab my bag and go - nice!
I had some waiting to do, but again it felt good to be on time, especially since it took me a great long while to actually find the gate! *lol* Apparently they had hidden away a number of gates for abroad travel behind the major passport controls, but it took me a few walks around the terminal to figure that out! :-)
The passport control was closed, but I didn't have to wait long before it opened, and from there we were sent directly to the gate for further checks on boarding cards/passports.
A bit more waiting there, but the way they organized the waiting areas with Priority Boarding and Other was very good. I have a bit of a regret here though ... I felt a bit nervous and stressed out over the whole travelling thing, since it was a long time ago since the last time and also, I pretty much have never done it on my own before - so as soon as people started lining up I joined in. However, our gate was at the very end of the terminal, and just a few meters from where we were waiting was this big room with great windows facing the runway - and there were a few planes taking off and landing as we waited. Had I kept my cool a bit I think I could have gotten some awesome photos ...
Boarding went very quickly, and I got a good seat at the window, and apparently the flight wasn't full, because nobody sat in the seat next to me - which was quite nice as the Ryanair planes are quite tight normally!
The flight went really well, though the weather in Malmö when we took off wasn't great, stormy and rainy ... it was a bit turbulent taking off and you didn't see much either as the clouds were really low. However, once we were above the clouds, the flight went well, and quick!! We landed at Stansted Airport (quite windy, though no rain) about half an hour early! Yikes!
I had actually almost forgotten how long it takes to walk from the gates at Stansted and into the mail building for the Passport control, it's quite a bit to walk, but I was quick off the plane and there weren't that many people in line for the Passport control ... and the guy there just scanned my Passport, said thank you and that was it! :-) Figured I had to wait a while for my luggage though, but after only a few minutes my flight was up on the monitors. Figured then that I probably had to wait a while for my bag ... well, bag number 3 or 4 that came was mine! Incredible!!
Took a short bathroom break before heading down to the Stansted Express platforms where I quickly found the ticket machines and was going to pick up my tickets. The first thing I had to do was put in my credit card (for verification purposes only, as I had already paid when I bought the tickets online. And the machine simply refused to take my card no matter how hard I tried. I figured that I had to try another machine before seeking assistance, and yes, the other machine happily accepted my credit card and my reference number and gave me my tickets! :-)
A train was standing on the platform, but I figured it was the 6 p.m.-train and it was basically 6 p.m. so I figured I'd take it easy and wait for the next train (they leave every 15 minutes), but all of a sudden there was this ticket controller-looking guy there, quickly checked my ticket and said that I should hurry, it was this train here and it was about to leave - so before I knew it I was on the 6 o'clock train toward London Liverpool Street!
Pretty amazing considering we were supposed to land at Stansted Airport at 5.30 (we landed about 5 though, but still...)!!
There were a lot of people on the train, I had to stand all the way to Tottenham Hale and I was quite tired, but the last stretch was kind of nice - it was nice to sit down (!) and the weather had cleared up so I watched a beautiful sunset as we were coming in toward London!
We arrived at Liverpool Street at 6.50 and I was really happy to already have my Travel Card, as all I had to do was make my way up to the buses, and within five minutes came a bus 23! The bus trip wasn't so great though ... a lot of people on the bus, it was getting really dark, and was a bit stressed out about my hotel. As you may have read here in a previous post, there was a bit of drama regarding my booking, and I felt that I really needed the hotel to work out as I was going to stay for so long ...
I managed to get off at the right bus stop (Sussex Gardens) and after a little bit of looking around it turned out that the hotel was only about 100 meters from the bus stop - amazing!!
Checking in went supersmooth, I just filled in a form, paid for the room and got my keycard, and that was it. Took the elevator to the second floor and found room 201 just around the corner from the elevator. And realized there was no slot to put your keycard in .... Panicked a little bit, until I realized that it was a touch-keycard, so all you had to do was hold the card against the lock on the handle of the door, a green light blinked and you were in! :-)
The room was really really small, which I was quite prepared for, but it was so nice and clean and fresh and had everything I needed! The view from the windows wasn't very exciting (lol!) - see photos for that - but hey, I didn't go to London to sit in my hotel room and look out the window, right?!
I was completely exhausted but it felt amazing and absolutely fantastic that the entire day had gone without a hitch! Marvellous!!
I wasn't in great shape as a lot had been happening just before the trip, and I didn't feel as prepared to go as I would have wanted, and so it was very nice not to be able to rush away at the crack of dawn.
I had everything packed and was on my way just before noon, took a bus to the railway station and a train to Lund. Had to wait there for about 40 minutes for the Airport transfer bus - I guess I could have taken a later train, but I felt I didn't want to take a chance in case that train was late.
Everything went well, I had bought my bus ticket (return ticket) online, and all I had to do was hold the printed code on my E-ticket against a reader in the bus and that was it.
The busride took about 40 minutes, and we arrived at Malmö Sturup almost exactly at 2 p.m. My flight was due to leave at 4.40, so I figured the check-in desks would open about 2.40. Still, I'd rather have the wait, as I was insecure on pretty much everything, than have to rush and feel totally stressed out.
I had some waiting to do, ended up sitting next to this woman who started chatting with me. At first it was rather nice, took some of the stress away from me, but as she went on and on and on, it became a bit annoying after a while. She didn't have any luggage to check in so right before 3 p.m. I went over to the check-in desks, basically the whole area was completely deserted, it felt almost spooky ... occasionally one or two people came, but I'm kind of used to airports being crowded ... Still, realizing there was no one in line (!) for the check-in, I made my way there and was through without a hitch!
After that came the security checks, and for some reason they always make me nervous ... I know I don't have anything dangerous with me and that it shouldn't be a problem, but I still get really stressed out! The lady before me "beeped" going through the scanner, and that of course made me even more nervous, but nothing happened to me, and I could just grab my bag and go - nice!
I had some waiting to do, but again it felt good to be on time, especially since it took me a great long while to actually find the gate! *lol* Apparently they had hidden away a number of gates for abroad travel behind the major passport controls, but it took me a few walks around the terminal to figure that out! :-)
The passport control was closed, but I didn't have to wait long before it opened, and from there we were sent directly to the gate for further checks on boarding cards/passports.
A bit more waiting there, but the way they organized the waiting areas with Priority Boarding and Other was very good. I have a bit of a regret here though ... I felt a bit nervous and stressed out over the whole travelling thing, since it was a long time ago since the last time and also, I pretty much have never done it on my own before - so as soon as people started lining up I joined in. However, our gate was at the very end of the terminal, and just a few meters from where we were waiting was this big room with great windows facing the runway - and there were a few planes taking off and landing as we waited. Had I kept my cool a bit I think I could have gotten some awesome photos ...
Boarding went very quickly, and I got a good seat at the window, and apparently the flight wasn't full, because nobody sat in the seat next to me - which was quite nice as the Ryanair planes are quite tight normally!
The flight went really well, though the weather in Malmö when we took off wasn't great, stormy and rainy ... it was a bit turbulent taking off and you didn't see much either as the clouds were really low. However, once we were above the clouds, the flight went well, and quick!! We landed at Stansted Airport (quite windy, though no rain) about half an hour early! Yikes!
I had actually almost forgotten how long it takes to walk from the gates at Stansted and into the mail building for the Passport control, it's quite a bit to walk, but I was quick off the plane and there weren't that many people in line for the Passport control ... and the guy there just scanned my Passport, said thank you and that was it! :-) Figured I had to wait a while for my luggage though, but after only a few minutes my flight was up on the monitors. Figured then that I probably had to wait a while for my bag ... well, bag number 3 or 4 that came was mine! Incredible!!
Took a short bathroom break before heading down to the Stansted Express platforms where I quickly found the ticket machines and was going to pick up my tickets. The first thing I had to do was put in my credit card (for verification purposes only, as I had already paid when I bought the tickets online. And the machine simply refused to take my card no matter how hard I tried. I figured that I had to try another machine before seeking assistance, and yes, the other machine happily accepted my credit card and my reference number and gave me my tickets! :-)
A train was standing on the platform, but I figured it was the 6 p.m.-train and it was basically 6 p.m. so I figured I'd take it easy and wait for the next train (they leave every 15 minutes), but all of a sudden there was this ticket controller-looking guy there, quickly checked my ticket and said that I should hurry, it was this train here and it was about to leave - so before I knew it I was on the 6 o'clock train toward London Liverpool Street!
Pretty amazing considering we were supposed to land at Stansted Airport at 5.30 (we landed about 5 though, but still...)!!
There were a lot of people on the train, I had to stand all the way to Tottenham Hale and I was quite tired, but the last stretch was kind of nice - it was nice to sit down (!) and the weather had cleared up so I watched a beautiful sunset as we were coming in toward London!
We arrived at Liverpool Street at 6.50 and I was really happy to already have my Travel Card, as all I had to do was make my way up to the buses, and within five minutes came a bus 23! The bus trip wasn't so great though ... a lot of people on the bus, it was getting really dark, and was a bit stressed out about my hotel. As you may have read here in a previous post, there was a bit of drama regarding my booking, and I felt that I really needed the hotel to work out as I was going to stay for so long ...
I managed to get off at the right bus stop (Sussex Gardens) and after a little bit of looking around it turned out that the hotel was only about 100 meters from the bus stop - amazing!!
Checking in went supersmooth, I just filled in a form, paid for the room and got my keycard, and that was it. Took the elevator to the second floor and found room 201 just around the corner from the elevator. And realized there was no slot to put your keycard in .... Panicked a little bit, until I realized that it was a touch-keycard, so all you had to do was hold the card against the lock on the handle of the door, a green light blinked and you were in! :-)
The room was really really small, which I was quite prepared for, but it was so nice and clean and fresh and had everything I needed! The view from the windows wasn't very exciting (lol!) - see photos for that - but hey, I didn't go to London to sit in my hotel room and look out the window, right?!
I was completely exhausted but it felt amazing and absolutely fantastic that the entire day had gone without a hitch! Marvellous!!
Photos
Okay - so first a little something about photos! :-)
At the very last minute I decided on not taking my zoom lens with me, although I had thought I would. But I still haven't found a decent case for it, so it's still in it's original package, and it is quite heavy ... and I still haven't managed to get used to switching lenses smoothly, it's quite a big deal for me to change them, I'm really afraid of getting dirt on the lenses or in the camera house, and it's basically all a mess. I don't regret not taking it actually, I think it would have been more of a bother than a benefit to carry it around with me all the time in London - though there were a few times when I kind of with I had it! :)
I have loads of photos to sort through now, will do that before I start updating the blog, so the next entry probably won't be for a little while yet.
I think the easiest way to share everything I have done is to make one post about what I did on a particular day, then a separate post with photos from that day ...
Also, there are no photos from Day 1 and Day 6, which was when I went to and from London, as I never had the camera out these days. However, I have to make one comment here - I really wish I'd gotten around to get my camera out during the flights! First of all, I just love the take-offs and landings (although around Malmö we had some rough weather, both taking off and landing), so it would be cool to photograph a bit then. But also during the flight, when you get above the clouds ... I love clouds and seeing them from "above", with the bright blue sky, it was just amazing!! Next time I fly, I'll definitely have my camera ready! :)
I hope you enjoy the coming entries, and the photos, and if you want me to add anything or tell you more about something, please let me know!! :)
At the very last minute I decided on not taking my zoom lens with me, although I had thought I would. But I still haven't found a decent case for it, so it's still in it's original package, and it is quite heavy ... and I still haven't managed to get used to switching lenses smoothly, it's quite a big deal for me to change them, I'm really afraid of getting dirt on the lenses or in the camera house, and it's basically all a mess. I don't regret not taking it actually, I think it would have been more of a bother than a benefit to carry it around with me all the time in London - though there were a few times when I kind of with I had it! :)
I have loads of photos to sort through now, will do that before I start updating the blog, so the next entry probably won't be for a little while yet.
I think the easiest way to share everything I have done is to make one post about what I did on a particular day, then a separate post with photos from that day ...
Also, there are no photos from Day 1 and Day 6, which was when I went to and from London, as I never had the camera out these days. However, I have to make one comment here - I really wish I'd gotten around to get my camera out during the flights! First of all, I just love the take-offs and landings (although around Malmö we had some rough weather, both taking off and landing), so it would be cool to photograph a bit then. But also during the flight, when you get above the clouds ... I love clouds and seeing them from "above", with the bright blue sky, it was just amazing!! Next time I fly, I'll definitely have my camera ready! :)
I hope you enjoy the coming entries, and the photos, and if you want me to add anything or tell you more about something, please let me know!! :)
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
A Quick Decision - Or Not?
I really have thought about going to London ever since Annika and I went there in 2009 - I very much wanted to go on my own and prove to myself that I really could cope with it in a good way (I went on a short London trip by myself in 2004, info on that will be available eventually, but that really wasn't a good trip, it was way too soon!) ... but somehow life in general got in the way of my plans.
During late spring and summer this year I did start to think about it a bit more, but it was still nothing like actually planning or checking out available flights or hotels, but still, I did think about it.
Then, about 1½ weeks ago, I had nothing much to do and started just checking flights and hotels in London - and before the day was gone, I had booked a trip! *yikes!!*
I really don't make decisions that quickly so it was a bit of a chock, I'm still not sure it has completely sunken in! Still, I think I got a lot for my money! :) I have a return flight with Ryanair and five nights at what seems to be a really nice hotel in Bayswater/Paddington for about 4500 SEK (about £430, $690, 530 Euros)!
There is a lot going on in my life right now, apart from this London trip, so I'm feeling quite stressed out and rather nervous about pretty much everything, but so far, I'm totally excited about London! Nervous too, of course, this will really be the first time I go anywhere truly on my own, but at the same time I'm really confident I actually CAN cope with this on my own, and do so in a good way.
I have compiled this blog/website to really try to make the most of this London trip - even though of course I will update my Swedish blog about London stuff as well (though for details I will refer my Swedish readers here as well) - to get in the spirit of the trip by remembering my previous trips! :)
The 2012 blog will of course be all about this trip - I will try to update as I plan my trip, and when I get home, you will get detailed entries about my trip as well as tons and tons of photos (I will check in one bag so I'm taking my both my cameras, and hopefully my zoom lens as well!).
On the other pages of this blog you will find entries and photos from my previous London trips as well as my musical experiences in London too ... these pages are currently under construction, and I will let you know as more and more stuff become available!
I hope you will enjoy this London focused blog/website - maybe almost as much I as I enjoy making it! :-)
Take care!
/Jessica
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