My London stopover didn't start promisingly. The air traffic controller (or someone) at Heathrow airport had miscalculated and so when we arrived there was nowhere for our plane to go. They finally parked us in Bay 432 (this is when I got the 1st inkling of just how big Heathrow really is), and provided shuttle-buses to the terminal. Then the normal airport stuff (customs, collect bags etc) and I was ready to head out to London. I hopped onto the Tube (calling it 'the Underground' is something of a misnomer - almost my whole 1hr trip into London was aboveground), which started off nice and comfy, and ended up squished and with me fighting to get my bags and myself off at Picadilly Circus station before the doors closed. Amazing, they really do squeeze people into those trains like sardines. And yes, in case you're wondering, I did remember the 'Rules of Tube Travel' e.g. never make eye contact, don't speak to anyone, and above all never smile at anyone!

Unlike in Hong Kong, I wasn't going back to the same airport (fly in Heathrow, out Stansted) so I couldn't put my bags in storage. So here's where I discovered for the 1st time that I really really ought to have practiced walking around with all my bags. Here's the problem: put the big backpack on 1st, and there's absolutely no way I was going to be able to lean down to pick up the others. However, if I loaded myself up with the other bags 1st, there wasn't a chance in hell that I was going to be able to swing the big one on. Fortunately the arrivals lounge had enough seats that I could put my other bags on so I could reach them without toppling over. This is a problem that doesn't go away (as you'll see).

Anyway, knowing I'd have all my bags, my plan in London was to go the tourist office in Picadilly Circus and decide where to go from there. At least I'd be able to sit down in a warm place to do so. Good plan, you say? Well, it would have been except of course I'd failed to take into account that I'd arrived on a Sunday, a day when office hours are typically horribly shortened or worse, non-existent. In the end, I arrived at the Tourist office about 5 minutes after it closed. So, feeling horribly conspicuous with my double turtle-shell (bag on back and front), and two more bags hanging off my arm, I leaned against the wall out of the wind (I wasn't about to sit down; re bag problem see above). After all, I was a traveller, off to see the world by myself and if I couldn't deal with this change in my plans, I might as well turn around now and go home! (great for self pep-talks, aren't I?)

So I went to Ares(?) fountain (loads of tourists around) and decided to people-watch for a while. It's a great spot for it too, in the middle of the convergence of several busy streets and a shopping district. I discovered a major drawback to travelling alone while I was there: I had no-one to help watch my bags so I couldn't take photos or walk around to stretch my legs and get warm. After about an hour, I decided I'd see London some other time and headed straight for the airport where at last I'd be warm and could lie down (at this stage I'd been approx 36hrs without sleep). I caught the bus from Picadilly to Victoria, and from there could catch the Stansted express (about 1hr 45mins, only £10 and so easy) straight to the departure lounge.

Here is when my luck started to turn. I was sitting next to a guy called Quentin (American in the army serving currently in Germany). We hit it off, had loads in common (conversation started by the sci-fi book in my hand) and it was great to talk to someone. When we got to the airport he had about 2-3hrs before checking in so we went for coffee (hot chocolate for me) and he looked after my bags so I could go to the loo (I believe I've already expounded the difficulties of using the toilet in airports; see HK post). Then he had to leave and I found myself a nice long bench (without arms!) on which to doze off.

So London was a bit of a bust, but on the upside I met some great people, and I was the 1st to check into my Easyjet flight to Lyon (France) so I got the buzz of seeing No. 1 written on my boarding pass(!?).