Friday, October 20, 2006
Wed 18/10 Travel Day
Early departure today. Ungodly 6am departure to London. Avignon to Lille by fast train and then Eurostar to London. I went under the channel. took about 1/2 hour!
It was quite weird arriving in Lille where English was used. I had finally got used to French saluations and suddenly had to use English. Took me most of the day to switch back to English mode. I was very suprised that I had got an 'ear' in just 10 days. A few more months and I might have known what was going on...
Good to have some time today to do some housekeeping and catch up.
I didn't get lost!!! Arrived back in London after 7 weeks without a map and managed to find the hostel, the book shop, internet cafe, tourist office, chocolate shop, post office, used the tube and all!My nose remembered my haunts in Leister Square, Picadilly, St Pauls, Charing Cross Road, etc...Go girl!
Thurs 19/10 Nearly got a bonus of $1000
Off to Cairo today. Turned up for my flight and it was seriously over booked. BA were looking for volunteers to stay behind for 24hours. They were offering a hotel room and 3 meals, plus GBP500 cash. So I said YES. It is the last three days of Ramadan this weekend and then a 3 day 'its over' festival so of course the flight was in high demand. I was just getting excited about what I would spend my cash on and what posh hotel and meal would be the treat when they said they'd managed to fit everyone on and the three backpacker volunteers weren't going to be left behind. BUGGER. Got an upgrade though to premium economy (like business) with a bulkhead seat. Treat in itself.
Very lucky to sit next to an Egyptian Englishman who works for Emerates consultate and airline as their VIP liaison in London. Ahmad gave me some great handy hints on Cairo, food, costs, etc. The time went very quickly. He was going home to see his mum for Ramadan. He had some great stories about the Sheiks' shennanigans when in London.
Early departure today. Ungodly 6am departure to London. Avignon to Lille by fast train and then Eurostar to London. I went under the channel. took about 1/2 hour!
It was quite weird arriving in Lille where English was used. I had finally got used to French saluations and suddenly had to use English. Took me most of the day to switch back to English mode. I was very suprised that I had got an 'ear' in just 10 days. A few more months and I might have known what was going on...
Good to have some time today to do some housekeeping and catch up.
I didn't get lost!!! Arrived back in London after 7 weeks without a map and managed to find the hostel, the book shop, internet cafe, tourist office, chocolate shop, post office, used the tube and all!My nose remembered my haunts in Leister Square, Picadilly, St Pauls, Charing Cross Road, etc...Go girl!
Thurs 19/10 Nearly got a bonus of $1000
Off to Cairo today. Turned up for my flight and it was seriously over booked. BA were looking for volunteers to stay behind for 24hours. They were offering a hotel room and 3 meals, plus GBP500 cash. So I said YES. It is the last three days of Ramadan this weekend and then a 3 day 'its over' festival so of course the flight was in high demand. I was just getting excited about what I would spend my cash on and what posh hotel and meal would be the treat when they said they'd managed to fit everyone on and the three backpacker volunteers weren't going to be left behind. BUGGER. Got an upgrade though to premium economy (like business) with a bulkhead seat. Treat in itself.
Very lucky to sit next to an Egyptian Englishman who works for Emerates consultate and airline as their VIP liaison in London. Ahmad gave me some great handy hints on Cairo, food, costs, etc. The time went very quickly. He was going home to see his mum for Ramadan. He had some great stories about the Sheiks' shennanigans when in London.
# posted by The Essence of Good Taste @ 3:03 PM 
