LONDON, DAY 1

Hello friends! I have arrived in London and, as promised, will be photoblogging this trip.

The downside, however, is that the hotel's internet centre doesn't allow you to plug in a camera and download pictures. I'm told there's an internet cafe just across the street that will allow it, so i'm off there next.

In the meantime though, I should comment a bit on a place that many of my friends have referred to as the greatest city on earth.

They're right.

I haven't been here a day, and I already love London. I'll post some pics soon, but here's how its gone down so far:

I left home in Victoria Saturday morning at about 9:30 thanks to a free lift from my friend John McVie. After a leisurely trip over on the Spirit of Vancouver Island, John and I made our way into town and hung out with Andrew (who is also John's son), Kristen, and Eleni for a couple of hours before I headed for YVR.

Now I wouldn't be me if I didn't comment on the flight :)

British Airways knows how to run an airline. I checked in almost 3 hours early with no trouble at all. Scamming a free upgrade didn't work, but I at least got a seat towards the front of the World Traveller (their fancy word for Economy) section. The seat itself was actually quite comfortable, although it was a bit tough to sleep given how tall I am. We took off about a hour late, but made up all but 20 minutes of that enroute.

This was also my first trip on a 747. These airplanes are truly amazing feats of engineering and they fly like a dream. Even though we had nearly constant chop the whole way over and hit a few patches that would have made other aircraft send their passengers bounding into the aisles, our trusty crew needed only turn the seatbelt sign on once (over Alberta).

The flight itself was a bit bumpy, as I say, but was certainly enjoyable. It was a clear night over most of Canada and I could pick out most of the city lights as we passed over the rockies heading northeast. The lights of Edmonton were clearly in view shortly before we flew over Lac La Biche. I also caught a glimpse of a frozen Hudson Bay before I closed the blinds so that the impending daylight wouldn't wake my seatmates.

The blind came up again once we began descent over England. I have a picture of this that i'll post when I get a chance. Seeing the English countryside for the first time and realizing that i'd actually made it here brought a tear to my eye.

Touchdown at Heathrow probably wasn't BA's finest given that it was incredibly windy, but c'est la vie. After a 30 minute wait or so in the Immigration line I was downstairs just in time for my bag to pop onto the carousel. Before leaving Heathrow, I bought a phone card and tried to call my folks in Kelowna... but I couldn't remember what the country code was.

Luckily, though, I met a fellow Canadian (from Vancouver, no less) at the Tube station at Heathrow. Ironically, he too was heading to the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden. Some questioned my logic when I said I was heading to the Canadian bar as soon as I got here, but it started the trip off right.

I'll let the pictures tell the story, but I can now say that I have friends in London and, when they return to Vancouver, new friends back home.

I slept off the jet lag wonderfully last night, and am now ready for my first full day of adventures here in London.

I'll post pictures as soon as I can... stay tuned...

Cheerio!