6pm. I like to be amongst the earleir passengers to arrive so that I have more
chance of getting the seat I have set up on line. There were about 20 in the
queue but only 2 check in operators, so progress was slow.
The flight was full and departed more than 40 minutes late. The excuse to get
the right number of meals loaded and some special meals which had not turned
up. So we were a little late arriving in LAX.
Meals were resonable, fresh and never seemed over cooked or over warmed up. BUt
not exactly memorable. For movies I watched Lonely Bones and an old western The
Gunfighter from around 1950. I also watched The Simple Man.
The flight had to gothrough some bumpy weather - what the flight captian later
described as a "roller coaster ride". At one point the plane suddenly dropped
for several seconds followed by a bump as it reachers stable air.The drop must
have seemed longer than it actually was. It did produce quite a few screams and
shouts in the cabin.
.
LA International Airpot lived up to its reputation of being stuffy, slow,
congested and requiring lots of lining up.
Despite being transit on the same plane, we still had to join a long line
stretching down a hallway. There were three officials fron US Immigration
processing our arrival, taking imprint of the right hand finger prints and a
facial photo. The official I dealt with though was much friendlier than I have
usually experienced at LAX.
We spread over the same two rooms we were in 6 or 8 years ago. The haven't
changed except that the bisuits and chips di not run out this time. Ity would
be too generous to call the rooms "lounges". Holding pens would be a better
description.
LAX to LHR was again packed and similar endurance test, although a couple of
hurs shorter than across the Pacific.
Films watched: The second half of Avatar, having seen the first half on DVD
recently but not finished it. Also another classic movie from around 1949 - Key
Largo and it stood up very well. A great example of the studio factory system
which existed at the time.
I had a fiver hour layover in Terminal 1 at Heathrow airport in London. So it
was a chance to wander around the shops and have a hot drink and a sandwich.
Just imagine the price of a sandwich in NZ and just change the pound symbola
NZ$ sign. That made the sandwich around $NZ12. A copy of The Guardian newspaper
was one pound, ut it was nice to get it in full for a change. I get the Guardian
summary emailed to me eqch day and have done for several years. Strangely
today's print edition was not very interesting unless you are following the UK
election run up.
I travelled to Warsaw on LOT Polish Airlines. At Heathrow you have to keep
watching a departure baord to fine out which gate to go to. They only put the
details of the gate up about 35 minutes before bording. Actually it was a 20
minute walk to gate 46 for Lot. The plane wasriendly establishment. full but
luckily I was in row three so did n't have to push down the plane. However,
they boarded from the back and by the time I got to my seat all the overhead
lockers were full so my backpack had to go under the seat in front which did
not give me much leg room. It apperas everyone brings a trolly cabin bag.
The plane was a little worn but they served a fresh filled roll, beverages and
then a chocolate coated waffer biscuit of the type so like by Eastern
Europeans. Although I had a window seat that was not much use as we flew
through or sometimes above, cloud. Over Poland I did manage to see the
twinkling lights of a few small towns.
We this was the only passport check since I landed in EU.
I caught the route bus into town as it stopped right outside the hostel. Turned
out to be a very simple task. The hardest thing was climbing the 88 steps to
the top floor hostel. A small f
Flight times: Auckland to London = 26 hours 30 mins
Waiting at Heathrow terminal 5 hours
London to Warsaw = 2 hours 30 mins.
Adds up to a total travel time of 34 hours
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