11/24/02 - 15:56
Room 121, Gresham Hyde Park Hotel, London
Well, we're here. I just set the timezone to GMT +0 on the "disposable" laptop I brought and my watch got switched somewhere near Greenland so it's official. The trip was fairly uneventful, with only a few bumps along the way.
We got to LAX a tiny bit late (2 1/2 hours before departure, technically within airline guidelines) and when we made it to the counter, the guy told us that "the computer has run out of seats". He said we had to go to the gate where they'd assign a seat to us. That made me hellaciously nervous. We dutifully went to the counter only to be told, by the snottiest airline employee I've ever met, that "he just made an announcement which said they'd be calling people's names and so would we *please* just have a seat and wait". I didn't hear what he said on the PA, and said so. I felt like spitting on him, but I was nice. We went and sat down like nice sheep. About 15 minutes before actual bording, I got antsy and decided to be the squeeky wheel that got some grease.
As politely as possible, I told the guy (different guy; the assmonkey who "helped" us earlier was doing passport checks in the boarding line) that someone said earlier that our names would be called, but our names have not been among the dozen or so that had already been called. I said I was getting nervous, what with boarding almost over and us with no seats. He was very nice and had a look at what was what. Turns out we'd been fogotten about. Boy Wonder was *supposed* to take our temp, no-seat boarding passes and put them in a queue. When seated people volunteered to give up their seats, he'd assign seats from the queue. They had a bunch of boarding passes all laid out on the gate counter like tarot cards, and he waved ours over them methodically, looking for our names. When they weren't found, he got a very nervous look. A quick phone call, some fervent keyboarding banging and we had seats. We not only got to sit together (I overheard two other groups who were sitting apart), but we also got seats behind the toilet bulkhead. That meant an extra fold out table to put stuff on and about two whole feet of legroom. It was a nice aversion of a near-disaster.
We had another bump due to the need to buy some Immodium before takeoff. Tess got something unsettled and so had a less than pleasant flying experience. Then I got something unsettled. I'm in the room now. Tracy's out at Hyde Park checking out Speaker's Corner. I started feeling really unwell after slamming a Red Bull and I'm staying near a bathroom. I've got that jet-lagged, no sleep dizziness. Every once in a while, the room will start spinning around a bit and then stop. The floor will feel like it's moving up and down just slightly (imagine an elevator right before it comes to a stop). I'm not prone to vomiting, but the queasiness makes me want a restroom close by. Besides, I have to unpack and such.
I've got the laptop out, and I need to make sure the power transformer works. Then I'm going to go see what locals outgoing calls cost so I can try to get online. I just bit the bullet yesterday and downloaded AOL's client from a UK web site. It'll find a new number, dial up and then get online. Picking a screen name will be a hoot.
In fact, I think I need to take a nap, even though 4:00am is really going to suck if I do. I could use like an hour of nap time, though. Besides, it's stormy out (real lightning and thunder) and so seems like the weather gods are telling me to curl up in a blanket.
11/25/02 - 01:38
Room 121, Gresham Hyde Park Hotel, London
So that one hour nap turned into a 7 hour sleep. I napped at and slept for almost exactly the worst time/duration I could have and now I'm doubly screwed: it's 1:30am local time and 5:30pm "internal body". It's too late to do anything locally about my body's perceived need for dinner. And obviously I'm not tired, so boredom makes the lack of options worse.
I decided to admit defeat and wake up for a bit. I turned on Sky News (kind of like an independant CNN; I watched them a lot last time I was here). Sky News has rather somber reporters which put a realistic face on world news that's more refreshing than you'd think. I especially like the part were they hold up the morning's newpapers (which haven't yet hit newstands) and literally show you what the headlines will look like.
After taking in some news and getting over my bleary eyes, I looked around for sleep aids. I couldn't find much except for some codeine left over from recent (and more than little paintful) dentalwork and some Barcardi I bought (10 pounds for a litre bottle) from the duty free cart on board our flight. Sounded like just the ticket. I downed a tab, and poured about a centilitre of rum into a water glass. All I had for a mixer was a sparkling water chaser. It's five o'clock somewhere. At least that's what my internal clock says.