San Francisco to London

The aircraft engineering crew came through with the win. Spare parts were found, and the engine was fixed. We left around two hours later than originally scheduled. Phew. We really didn’t need to spend an unnecessary night in America.

Our next flight was with United Airlines, who we flew with on our first-ever trip to Europe back in 1999.

It was a 10-hour flight, and we both decided to skip the sleeping pills this time. After a pretty average meal (dinner?) and a movie, we tried to get some sleep—more of a snooze than actual sleep. Maybe an hour in total. Eventually, I gave up, read my book, and then watched some TV.

Two more light meals were served—heat-and-eat, army-ration-style. They filled a gap, but I wouldn’t call them nice.

We arrived in London just over an hour and a half later than planned, which was fine—we didn’t have anywhere we needed to be at a set time. We picked up our backpacks and cleared customs very quickly. It’s always a relief to see your bags on the carousel.

Leaving Heathrow was simple. We headed straight for the Elizabeth line, which runs into central London. It's part of the Underground network, but runs above ground, so we got to see some of the surroundings from the train. Our stop was the fifth one: Ealing Broadway Station.

The walk to the Airbnb was longer than I would have liked. Just 1.5 km, but it felt like twice that after a long-haul mission.

We thought we were renting just a room with a shared bathroom in someone’s flat/apartment, but it turns out the guy doesn’t actually live here. His mother sometimes stays when she visits London, but she isn’t here at the moment. It’s a split-level apartment over three floors in a block of flats. Pretty basic but comfortable enough—and amazing value at $135 NZD per night.

The neighbourhood is very nice and super quiet. Lots of lovely green trees and classic two-up, two-down houses line the streets.

The bottom level has a combined kitchen and dining area, plus an office. The second level has his mother’s room and a good-sized lounge. Level three has the bathroom and two bedrooms. We have access to all the levels—just not the office or the mother’s room.

I’m going to say this counts as flashpacking standard, especially since we’re not sharing it with anyone.

It’s 3 p.m. and we’re exhausted, so we decide to have a short nap until 4:45 p.m. The alarm goes off and we drag ourselves out of bed for a walk into the nearby town.

As soon as we open the front door, a shower of rain starts. Welcome to London!? A coffee sounds like a good idea while we wait to see if it’ll rain enough to warrant getting our jackets out.

Fifteen minutes later, the sun is out and we wander into town, which is only five minutes away. The street is called Pitshanger Lane, and it has a pub (of course) and about 30 shops. Our main objective is to find a dairy or supermarket to grab some basic breakfast supplies—and perhaps a takeaway for dinner.

We find a Co-op store, similar to a small Four Square. It has the main things we need: bread, milk, muesli, eggs, etc.Neither of us is particularly hungry, so we decide against the takeaway and save that idea for another evening. Instead, once back at base, we cook eggs on sourdough toast for dinner. Yum. Total shopping cost $20.64 NZD. 

If I have this right we got up at 6.30am Tuesday to kick off this travel day. It's now 7.30am Thursday morning in New Zealand. 48 hours later! Time for bed!!! Good night. 

PS I think I have the photo rotation issue sorted now. That was slightly frustrating. 😬