london trip 1: the flight/hotel

long-ass flight - 10.5 hours non-stop
center seat on side - 100% booked flight
it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be
sat between Australian woman (mid-20s) and very cute British man (mid-40s)
shortly before the flight took off the flight attendant came running back to our aisle
looking at the British man she said - you're the one with the machine right?
turns out he suffers from severe asthma and sometimes requires a ventilator
we were asked to get the flight crew's attention should he pass out...lovely
luckily for him (and us) there were no situations
as we landed (after circling for 20 min) we flew right over central London (at sunrise)
beautiful!

I made it through 1/2 the Davinchi Code on the flight
they are still in Paris so I'm not doing a Davinchi Code tour here...perhaps next weekend

LHR sucks!
after a 10.5 hour flight had to wait another 1.5 hours to get through immigration, customs, etc.
then the bus ride to hotel (well, 5 blocks from hotel) took another 1.5 hours (morning traffic)
by the time I got to the hotel I was sick from the diesel fumes
of course, they didn't have any rooms available so I had to kill 3.5 hours
at which point I'd been up nearly 24 hours - less about 1/2 sleep on plane

to make matters worse on my jaunt from the bus to my hotel my wheel broke
now I have to find a new bag that will fit all my crap
I should have forced myself to fit everything into one small bag - what was I thinking
the bellman at the hotel was completely out of breathe when he arrived at my 5th floor room
they don't have a 'lift' (aka elevator for all you ugly americans)