Jet lagged in London
I've made it to London! Just being in this city for a few hours is enough to make me disappointed that I'm here for such a short while. There is something different about the energy in European cities that I find difficult to describe, but whatever it is I love it. I could spend a lot of time exploring London, as long as someone else was footing the bill!
My flights over were fairly uneventful, though I was a little delayed by thunderstorms coming out of Toronto which made my connection in New York a little tight. Instead of a leisurely 2 1/2 hour layover, it was more of a mad dash across the airport to get to another terminal for my connecting flight. Fortunately I got there just as they were starting boarding, and more importantly (and impressive) was that my luggage also managed to make that journey and arrived safely in London with me.
Once I was through customs and picked up my bags, I met up with Sarah (one of the other staff) and we were off to find out hotel. Arriving at 6am local, we managed to get checked in before 10am and caught a couple hours of sleep before we decided to head downtown for some exploring. I had originally hoped to tour the Tower of London, but between my exhaustion and the cost of admission decided to stick with admiring from the outside, wandering the north side of the Thames and then along the Strand taking in the sights and atmosphere, eventually making our way up to Covent Gardens to meet up with some of Sarah's friends for dinner.
It's just after 3am local as I write this. Despite not getting much sleep during the flights, after only a few hours of sleep the jet lag had me wide awake. I'll be able catch another 4-5 hours of sleep before it's back to the airport to meet all the kids! I feel sorry for the kids who are going to have a rough travel day when they finally show up in London. After their late flight out of New York (leaves ~10pm EST and arrives ~10am GMT) we grab a quick bite to eat before we catch our bus to Dover for the ferry over to Calais. They will be exhausted and hopefully get to catch some sleep on the bus, but in the end it might be the best to help them get quickly acclimatized.
I came across a quote today that really stuck out to me. Considering my love of books and travel it seemed perfect for me:
I had to do a lot of Google research to track down the origin of the quote, and it turns out that the original is falsely attributed to St. Augustine. Apparently he didn't really like travel all that much and never really wrote anything good about it. (Check out Fauxtations for more.) Instead, I found that at best it can be attributed to John Feltham in his The English Enchiridon from 1799.
My flights over were fairly uneventful, though I was a little delayed by thunderstorms coming out of Toronto which made my connection in New York a little tight. Instead of a leisurely 2 1/2 hour layover, it was more of a mad dash across the airport to get to another terminal for my connecting flight. Fortunately I got there just as they were starting boarding, and more importantly (and impressive) was that my luggage also managed to make that journey and arrived safely in London with me.
Once I was through customs and picked up my bags, I met up with Sarah (one of the other staff) and we were off to find out hotel. Arriving at 6am local, we managed to get checked in before 10am and caught a couple hours of sleep before we decided to head downtown for some exploring. I had originally hoped to tour the Tower of London, but between my exhaustion and the cost of admission decided to stick with admiring from the outside, wandering the north side of the Thames and then along the Strand taking in the sights and atmosphere, eventually making our way up to Covent Gardens to meet up with some of Sarah's friends for dinner.
It's just after 3am local as I write this. Despite not getting much sleep during the flights, after only a few hours of sleep the jet lag had me wide awake. I'll be able catch another 4-5 hours of sleep before it's back to the airport to meet all the kids! I feel sorry for the kids who are going to have a rough travel day when they finally show up in London. After their late flight out of New York (leaves ~10pm EST and arrives ~10am GMT) we grab a quick bite to eat before we catch our bus to Dover for the ferry over to Calais. They will be exhausted and hopefully get to catch some sleep on the bus, but in the end it might be the best to help them get quickly acclimatized.
I came across a quote today that really stuck out to me. Considering my love of books and travel it seemed perfect for me:
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."
St. Augustine of Hippo
I had to do a lot of Google research to track down the origin of the quote, and it turns out that the original is falsely attributed to St. Augustine. Apparently he didn't really like travel all that much and never really wrote anything good about it. (Check out Fauxtations for more.) Instead, I found that at best it can be attributed to John Feltham in his The English Enchiridon from 1799.
“St. Augustine, when he speaks of the great advantages of travelling, says, that the world is a great book, and none study this book so much as a traveler. They that never stir from their home read only one page of this book.”
John Feltham (emphasis mine)
Comments
Post a Comment