Part of travelling to a new country is the excitement of new experiences. Last night I had Nando’s at Chalk Farm Road, which was delicious and somewhat expensive. You know what else is expensive in England? Everything. A lot of things here cost almost as much in pounds as they do in Australian dollars at home, and a pound costs $2.45. Thankfully, being that I am seeing London by myself, I can generally avoid the expensive tourist magnets (both literal and figurative) on offer.

London today turned on some of that weather I’d heard about. The day was spent checking out the vicinity of Westminster Bridge, including the Palace of Westminster (comprising Big Ben and the houses of Parliament), the walkway along the south bank of the Thames which goes past the Eye and the National Theatre, and a fair amount of time in Westminster Abbey. I’m a big fan of the tube, and I’d like to see Can-Do get one up in Brisbane as soon as he can. Ta.

Westminster Abbey is definitely one of those ‘must see’ paid-admission attractions (adults £10.00) and it is quite doable on one’s own, if not more so. The history and magnitude of the place is just awe-inspiring, and it almost seems like a shame to have to install signs, barricades, and other fixtures (however temporary they be) to deal with the constant flow of visitors; the Abbey is self-supporting, with no financial assistance from church, Crown, or state, and the money they get from tourism manages to keep the place in tip top shape.

I’d like to try and see Question Time at the House of Commons, but priority is given to UK citizens, so it’s probably not gonna happen. I didn’t go on the Eye—definitely a group activity.

Headed to the BK Lounge at Leicester Square, and to a Häagen-Dazs restaurant—yes, an ice cream restaurant with waiters who come to your table. Très bien.

I’ve noticed some Skype action from some of the wireless laptopers here in the hotel lobby. Whether checking on family and friends, conducting business from across the globe, or just getting advice on how to unstick a stuck zipper—Skype lets the whole world talk for free.

L

There was an incident at Brisbane customs where I was paged to find and disactivate a vibrating item in my luggage, an electric shaver. Naturally a certain Fight Club dialogue came to mind but unfortunately did not ensue.

After not getting shot by the Singaporean special forces, there were two more legs of the journey. All three legs (Brisbane to Singapore, to Dubai, to London) are the same duration—about seven hours—so they are well-placed hubs for the journey. The London leg should have been much shorter but we went around Iraqi airspace for some reason. With short stopovers such as the ones I had, with barely enough time to grab a coffee, scratch arse, and scan for publicly-accessible WiFi networks and put in my credit card details, I would make a suggestion to anyone with such short stopovers and such a long trip: consider packing changes of at least certain items of your clothing, as well as toothbrush and other items, on hand luggage. The smell of sweaty aeroplane seat arse could choke a donkey.

I’m impressed with Emirates airline, especially their comprehensive in-flight entertainment system including all kinds of audio and video on demand and a wide variety of PopCap-style games. Their fleet have the satellite phones and some planes even have WiFi, for when you just have to blog 34,000 feet above the Ukraine. I would fly Emirates again, but to be honest the farthest I have flown before this trip is Vanuatu, so I have nothing to reference to.

And then I got the tube to the suburb my hotel is in. As I wandered the streets, realising that I had not bothered to memorise the street names to get there (just the path) and I had misrotated the map in my mind, I got a newfound appreciation of why the graph isomorphism problem in computational complexity theory is so hard. But exams are over, and it is time to have fun and see the sights of London, or at least try—it is dark outside, and it is 4.30pm.

This kiosk’s keyboard is impossible to type on any faster than 10wpm.

Smo

So yeah.

Brief 45 minute stopover in Singabore.

It is true what they say, there are soldiers with automatic weapons just chilling out.

See you in 2 days at the next stopover.

King Smo

All work and no play makes Jack adult boy
All work and no play next decade old boy
All work and no play makes Jack and old boy
All work and no play and makes Jacksonville boy
All work and no play makes Jack and old boy
All work and no play makes jacket and ole boy
All work and no playmates jacket old boy
All work and no play makes Jack and ole boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.