Thursday, April 05, 2007
Den Haag
...and here's an update since then. I'm in the Hague!
Having flown from Sydney to Dubai (it was 14.5 hours) changed planes, and flown another 7.5 hours to London Heathrow, I was feeling like a draft letter that's been screwed up and thrown in the bin. I know I slept on the flight to Dubai though, because I definitely was not conscious for that long. I got chatting to the Ozzie girl in the window seat who was on her first international flight to do a two-week mission stint in Uganda. We played a really dumb 2-player trivia game on the cool Emirates entertainment system, and talked, and she slept a lot. It was great having company. The food was good. I watched Little Miss Sunshine, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Step Up, two episodes of Extras, five episodes of Scrubs and two of the Simpsons. And maybe more, there are literally hundreds of movies and you just pick it, start and pause it, fast forward, etc. Pretty cool.
Oh! One of the coolest things was being able to watch take off, flight and landing on the screen, via cameras mounted on the front and underside of the plane. You can change views, and it zooms in on the ground a bit if you're high up, as long as there's no cloud. Isn't it amazing how sunny it is above the clouds? England looks surprisingly green from the air.
Dubai airport is huge. It just goes on and on as far as you can see. Well, as far as you can be bothered seeing when you're as alert as I was feeling. What else? The food was good, my ankles only swelled up a very little bit, and the small of my back feels like damp cardboard.
I'm going to the Peace Palace today, and possibly a museum or two, one with some paintings by Dutch hero Vermeer. You know, the guy who did that portrait of Scarlett Johannsen wearing a head scarf? I probably shouldn't have called this post, 'Den Haag', as I haven't seen anything yet... will do better later.
To complete my travels: From Heathrow I caught a coach to Luton airport for a cool 17 pounds. That's worth about a bus ride to Dunedin, if you'd like to compare. Happily, though, I met a German guy on the bus who's living in London, so I've made one friend already. He was the only person who had to sit next to a stranger, as everyone else had two seats to themselves. He wandered all the way to the back of the bus, realised he was stuck with SOMEone, and I moved my bag. So glad I did, because we talked all the hour and a half to Luton, and hung out in the airport for a couple of hours until he flew to Germany for Easter.
Something about travelling makes me strike up conversations with random people. At the Heathrow bus station I got chatting to an Indian family (I assume Indian because the guy was a sikh, but I'm not too clued up on who comes from where on the sub continent). They needed help figuring out when and where to catch their bus, so I (the box-fresh immigrant) helped them out, and ended up listening to the turbaned, white-bristled man talk about importing, NZ/Aussie agriculture, the decline of British self-sufficiency and how people can't be trusted to pay for newspapers anymore. He's been in England for over 50 years, so he had a lot of opinions, and I didn't get much of a word in, but it was nice to talk, and he and his wife were so stoked that I would talk to them and help them out. I almost thought she was going to kiss me when we said goodbye!
So, Luton to Amsterdam, then spent 10 minutes trying to get a phone to work with my credit card to phone Emily and let her know I was on my way. Then the train ticket machine wouldn't accept credit without a PIN, so I had to buy some food to break a 20 euro note (that's weird, no euro symbol on this keyboard - dollar sign instead). THEN I noticed the huge, yellow, illuminated ticket office where I could have gone instead and paid over the counter. Long story short: arrived in the Hague, met Emily and a Kiwi guy working in the Hague, and helped them figure out that they both rock climb. Emily's had her gear here for three months and hasn't climbed once because she had noone to go with... She thought. So, walked through town, stopped for a drink, walked on to Emily's apartment, showered, washed hair, slept, got up, had porridge, and here I am. Almost 11 now, so one hour is almost up, and I have things to be and places to do.
Later.
Having flown from Sydney to Dubai (it was 14.5 hours) changed planes, and flown another 7.5 hours to London Heathrow, I was feeling like a draft letter that's been screwed up and thrown in the bin. I know I slept on the flight to Dubai though, because I definitely was not conscious for that long. I got chatting to the Ozzie girl in the window seat who was on her first international flight to do a two-week mission stint in Uganda. We played a really dumb 2-player trivia game on the cool Emirates entertainment system, and talked, and she slept a lot. It was great having company. The food was good. I watched Little Miss Sunshine, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Step Up, two episodes of Extras, five episodes of Scrubs and two of the Simpsons. And maybe more, there are literally hundreds of movies and you just pick it, start and pause it, fast forward, etc. Pretty cool.
Oh! One of the coolest things was being able to watch take off, flight and landing on the screen, via cameras mounted on the front and underside of the plane. You can change views, and it zooms in on the ground a bit if you're high up, as long as there's no cloud. Isn't it amazing how sunny it is above the clouds? England looks surprisingly green from the air.
Dubai airport is huge. It just goes on and on as far as you can see. Well, as far as you can be bothered seeing when you're as alert as I was feeling. What else? The food was good, my ankles only swelled up a very little bit, and the small of my back feels like damp cardboard.
I'm going to the Peace Palace today, and possibly a museum or two, one with some paintings by Dutch hero Vermeer. You know, the guy who did that portrait of Scarlett Johannsen wearing a head scarf? I probably shouldn't have called this post, 'Den Haag', as I haven't seen anything yet... will do better later.
To complete my travels: From Heathrow I caught a coach to Luton airport for a cool 17 pounds. That's worth about a bus ride to Dunedin, if you'd like to compare. Happily, though, I met a German guy on the bus who's living in London, so I've made one friend already. He was the only person who had to sit next to a stranger, as everyone else had two seats to themselves. He wandered all the way to the back of the bus, realised he was stuck with SOMEone, and I moved my bag. So glad I did, because we talked all the hour and a half to Luton, and hung out in the airport for a couple of hours until he flew to Germany for Easter.
Something about travelling makes me strike up conversations with random people. At the Heathrow bus station I got chatting to an Indian family (I assume Indian because the guy was a sikh, but I'm not too clued up on who comes from where on the sub continent). They needed help figuring out when and where to catch their bus, so I (the box-fresh immigrant) helped them out, and ended up listening to the turbaned, white-bristled man talk about importing, NZ/Aussie agriculture, the decline of British self-sufficiency and how people can't be trusted to pay for newspapers anymore. He's been in England for over 50 years, so he had a lot of opinions, and I didn't get much of a word in, but it was nice to talk, and he and his wife were so stoked that I would talk to them and help them out. I almost thought she was going to kiss me when we said goodbye!
So, Luton to Amsterdam, then spent 10 minutes trying to get a phone to work with my credit card to phone Emily and let her know I was on my way. Then the train ticket machine wouldn't accept credit without a PIN, so I had to buy some food to break a 20 euro note (that's weird, no euro symbol on this keyboard - dollar sign instead). THEN I noticed the huge, yellow, illuminated ticket office where I could have gone instead and paid over the counter. Long story short: arrived in the Hague, met Emily and a Kiwi guy working in the Hague, and helped them figure out that they both rock climb. Emily's had her gear here for three months and hasn't climbed once because she had noone to go with... She thought. So, walked through town, stopped for a drink, walked on to Emily's apartment, showered, washed hair, slept, got up, had porridge, and here I am. Almost 11 now, so one hour is almost up, and I have things to be and places to do.
Later.
# posted by Doug @ 08:23 
Comments:
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Hello Doug! Soon I'll be posting on my own blog again. Maybe. In the meantime I might rss feed to yours so I get email updates when you update it. But only till 1st June (last day of work). I had choir tonight and then supermarketed and then helped a friend shift flats and tomorrow I'm off to Ahipara (near Kaitaia) for Easter... will be cool!! :) Joyeux Pâques...
Hey doug
Glad to hear things are going well!
How long have they had cameras on the plane??? I've wanted them to do that for ages! Hurrah! Who were you flying with?
Hope the job hunting goes well!
Nathan
Glad to hear things are going well!
How long have they had cameras on the plane??? I've wanted them to do that for ages! Hurrah! Who were you flying with?
Hope the job hunting goes well!
Nathan
Nathan, what is your email?! I want to reply to you properly :(
I assume you have mine, so mail me there.
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I assume you have mine, so mail me there.
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