Leaving/Arrival Post

Wednesday night at about 1am, I decided to check my itinerary. I figured, Wednesday, I can get everything I need to get done, and Thursday, I'll have plenty of time to take for double checking. The stark realization my flight is on Wednesday came at about 1:10am. No biggie, flights not till 9PM. I'll work until 12, go to Echelon for my new jacket, to Deptford for my new camera, and be done before dinner. Piece of piss. Except I managed to stay at work until about 2:30pm. Jersey driving fixed most of that. I went home and double checked all my gear, making sure I didn't leave any chargers or batteries, oh or clothes, and everything was looking good.

Drove to my parents' house, where I repacked my bag into a larger one so I had room for some UK treasure. My dad was nice enough to make me some dinner before I left. I dropped off some keys, and care instructions for my apartment which consisted of: "Feed the fish every other day." Sorted. My mom will no doubt clean my apartment while I'm gone. I'll never find anything again. Dad drove me to the airport about an hour and forty five to go.

Arriving at the airport was pretty easy. Checked in, dropped my bag who weighed in at a svelte 32 pounds. After 50, they charge you some zany extra luggage fee. That means I have 18 pounds for UK stuff on the way back! They gave me my ticket and told me to go upstairs. Looking at it, I see 13A. I'm standing near gate 24. Crap. There's a giant gap between 1-20, and 21 and up. I have plenty of time so I walk to the opposite end of the terminal which looks like a ghost town. I sat down for about thirty minutes or so. 830 rolls around, and there is NO ONE there. I recheck my ticket, and I'm to be at gate 21! Ugh. I grab my junk and hustle on over to gate 21 where everyone is already queued up for the plane. As soon as I got in line, it started moving right along.

Get to my seat and jam my giant messenger bag under the seat in front of me. My next door neighbor came a bit later. She was an older English American lady from Lancashire who now lives in North Carolina. She tells me all kinds of interesting stories about her family. After we got airborne, I noticed an awesome entertainment screen in the back of the seat in front of me. Movies, TV, music, it was quite good. My neighbor needed a pair of headphones so I let her borrow my iPod phones. She also had a ton of difficulty with the entertainment thing, so I set her up with Tchaikovsky's No. 5 at her choice. Oh, and "Madame Butterfly" is her favorite opera.

After a rather uneventful flight, I landed in Manchester. Moved right off the plane and into incoming foreign people lane. The exchange went like this:

Passport Lady: "Where will you be staying?"
Me: "University of Manchester."

At this point I was waiting for "And where are your papers for that?"

Luckily:
Passport Lady: "What is the nature of your visit?"
Me: "Visit a friend."
Passport Lady: "What is your friend doing there?"
Me: "Finishing her Genetics degree."
Passport Lady: "Oh, and I guess when she's done she'll be going to the US right?"
Me: "Er, no idea, we like to keep our options open."

Two stamps and a smile later I picked up my bag. I came out the door and saw Michelle waiting in the lobby. After meeting up we decided to take a cab. And here is where the adventure begins. Black cabs in the UK are a bit legendary. We grab a guy and jump in. It was VERY spacious inside. The first thing I hear over the in car speaker system is: "Today my luck has been shite." Michelle and I laughed, thinking the guy was just putting it on to be funny. After the third roundabout, we realized this dude was just ranting. "They got me driving all over this fucking place, and I've been getting shite fares everywhere."


Got dropped off out front of Owen Hall in Fallowfield. Went to Michelle's flat, which was very interesting. It was a bit windy outside, not cold, but windy enough to make you upset.
Dropped off all my gear, and we went to get something to eat. Walking around in Fallowfield is very interesting. Yes, cars are on the opposite side of the road. Crosswalks have buttons, but they actually work very quickly. Subsequently, they only stay on for a short time.

We went to the Trof, my current internet connection, and I had a Fried Brekkie with a white coffee. English breakfast is great. We ate up, and walked out. We then went to Sainsbury's, a grocery store. Everything is completely different than in the US. Things are smaller, liquor is available off the shelf. Bought a four pack of Heinz beans. Hatchback cars are everywhere! Took a pic of a Land Rover Defender, its in my flickr stream.


Met Michelle's flatmates, and gave them the box of salt water taffy I got. Everyone seemed pretty jazzed by it. Sat up talking to Tom till about 11pm. Then we all went to bed.

The wireless here at the Trof is acting up a bit, so I'll add more photos later today.

EDIT: Photos added. Additional fun can be found in my flickr stream. I also bought a usb wireless joob at the local computer store and now ninja'd an access point out of Michelle's computer. Sorry for the monolithic post but a lot happened.